So here it is my dad came to me the other day asking if I could take guardianship of my sister which is perfectly fine with me. So heres my problem...I went to the county she lives in right now and they said that I have to file for it in the county I live in. The county that I live in says that I have to have a attorney file the papers and I have to pay $250.00. Right now it is very hard for me and our dad to come up with this kind of money. The other county was going to waive my court fee's but with me having to contact an attorney I dont think this is possible now. I dont know what to do. The whole point of this is to get my sister focused in school and have better supervision. Why is it when you try to help someone out it never works that easily? I'm getting upset and frustrated. Please give me any suggestions you can. Thank you!!!
Maybe the Ohio Bar Association can give you advise on how to get some legal aid. I can't imagine you are the first person to have this happen to you. Good Luck!!
This is a great deal simpler than you think. Your father signs a paper giving you legal guardian ship for the year. In it he authorizes you to seek medical help and sign for whatever she needs. You don't say how old she is.
Next year your father signs another authorization. This is an in familly kind of thing with consent on both sides. So it only needs notorized statements.
Is your sister an American citizen? Is your father? Either one having citizenship will make the task even smoother.
Can't she just come and live with you? I don't think you have to have guardianship papers.
Check with your school district and see what papers are necessary. We were given a form to have notarized that gave us permission to have "educational guardianship" and make decisions regarding enrollment in school, testing and access to information. The school told me it is quite common since some kids end up with family members or family friends when parents are deployed, incarcerated or unable to care for their children. You might also need to get a medical power of attorney to get medical care. If you are filing for full guardianship then additional legal forms are required and you may need to visit with an attorney or a paralegal.
The only suggestion I have is to look into a paralegal. They can often draw up the legal documents and it will be much cheaper. Good luck to you and you are a GREAT sister!!!
I had Grandparent power of attorney for 2 of my grandgirls for 3 years. All I had to do was take papers to juvenile court and they filed them. I don' know if there is something similar for siblings. I would ask the juvenile court in her county (by phone if too far away), if they say no you are no farther behind then now. Or they may have a different program. In Ohio this is state rules, I found it online.
If you two can't come up with $250 for this, have you talked about the plan for how to pay for her schooling? Food? Clothes? Please, please discuss this before you go further. This is something that can tear your family apart -- even though the intent is to help your sister. Please talk through all the details, and there isn't much time left with school around the corner. Sounds like this will be stressful for a while. =(
She can come live with you but your dad will have to come every time she needs something like a field trip, a doc's appt. It will be hell to try it without the papers. Plus if you have legal guardianship you can get child support from her parents and claim her on your taxes.
Talk to an attorney, ours let us pay him out over a year. We had him file the papers and when we went to court he came and did everything. It was very easy.
If you want to you can just go before the judge and have him sign off on it too. The court clerk can give you the forms and then you do have to pay court costs which you will have to pay regardless. The judge can waive most of them if he wants to, I think our judge only had us pay $45. The attorney was what cost us but it was so worth it since we were dealing with my daughter, and the different dads of my 2 grandkids. One wrote a glowing letter and said he was very satisfied with the care his daughter was receiving and that if he had his way we would have her all the time until she was grown.
But we still had to have a judge sign off on the paperwork.
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Most places will not accept a signed letter anymore due to anyone being able to say that the signature is what it seems to be. You could kidnap your neighbors kids and write a letter yourself stating you have permission to do anything needed to provide for her care. Since it is not a legal document there is no proof it is a legitimate document and not just some made up paper.
If she needs to be seen in the ER for example. They would look at the paper and pretend to treat her but in reality would be calling a judge in the clerks office asking for a court order for treatment. They would most likely send you away if it was not a true emergency. It is in your best interest and for her protection that you have an actual court order paper that you can pull out with the court seal on it.
