How to Become a Legal Guardian in Minnesota

How to Become a Legal Guardian in Minnesota

Congratulations is in order. You or someone you know probably wants to become a legal guardian in Minnesota.

At least, you’re thinking about the topic. Guardianship takes a lot and guardianship lawyers are there to help you work out the minor details. There is paperwork that must be done, you must be of a certain age to be a legal guardian, and there are all sorts of things listed below that need to be accounted for. It can be a very peaceful process given the right situation. Though, that doesn’t mean that you should try to accomplish everything by yourself. There’s legal stuff standing in your way. You need to overcome several obstacles.

Figure Out the Situation

Volunteering to be a child’s guardian is a wonderful idea. It allows you to be there for them and be a huge blessing in their life. Nonetheless, there are only three circumstances that will normally grant you the title as guardian. Yes, it can be true that the child’s parents are not always taking the best care of them. But to become the child’s guardian, it still must be agreed upon that keeping the child in their parents’ care will actually be detrimental. Potentially, a judge will need to reach such a decision.

On the other hand, there are still two other such situations which would enable you to become a legal guardian. Neither of these situations is dependent on how the parents treat their offspring when the child was/is in their care.

Abandonment by the parents is one of those situations. If the child has been left alone, the parents have, more or less, abandoned their right to stop anyone from becoming the child’s guardian. The other situation involves the parents’ voluntary consent. This can normally occur if you’re a close friend or family member and the parents want you to be there for their child’s best interests.

Work on Paperwork

In light of how big the situation is, there’s an equally sized stack of paperwork for you to get through. That’s not to say that you can sign on the dotted line for every ten pages and be done by mid-day. Various details must be accounted for.

Having the parents’ permission and assistance may speed the process up slightly, but leave room for something to wrong and be ready to address it. Work with a lawyer as you would work with a tutor when you’re going over the paperwork and treat the documents with utmost care.

To create a better picture, think of the paperwork that you’ll go through as being the symbolic birth pains; you’re giving the child a second birth. Otherwise, consider the future paperwork as a birth certificate for the child’s second birth, granting you the legal privilege of being their caretaker.

Ideally, if you’re seeking to be the guardian for a relative, your mutual heritage may give you an advantage. Genetics, sadly, don’t always have weight when it comes to legal matters. You need these papers well-documented regardless of having a common ancestor.

Meet Four Qualifications

Not everyone can be a legal guardian. Doing all the paperwork doesn’t grant you instant guardianship over any given minor. You yourself must possess four qualifications in order to even be considered as a potential guardian.  It is also important to understand the powers of a legal guardian in Minnesota.

The first is easy though it takes eighteen years as you must be a legal adult. If you’re already in your mid-twenties, you have at least this necessary qualification.

The second involves your physical capabilities. While you don’t need to possess the athletic prowess of most Olympic champions, being able to physically accommodate for the child in question is a must. Don’t let disabilities stop you. At the same time, know your capabilities.

Time is the third qualification. You must have the time on your hands to properly care for any kids in your care.

And lastly, you must have the funds to take care of the minor. This can be in the form of income or money that was left for the child’s livelihood.

Talk to the Right People

Because of how many lives will potentially be affected by you becoming a legal guardian, you need to inform a few people of what’s going on. You shouldn’t just go to the judge and expect them to hand over the kid. There are a few other people that you need to eventually notify that you’re trying to obtain legal guardianship.

That primarily involves granting them copies of the court papers.

There are up to four different categories that you may need to notify. The first involves the party’s age. If the child that you’re seeking guardianship over is at least fourteen and they haven’t given their consent, they’ll need to be notified.

The second is the parents of the aforementioned child. They should know what’s happening to their offspring. The third encompasses anyone who cared for the child within sixty days of your filing. And lastly, you may need to notify anyone that the Judge of Probate wants you to notify.

Assistance with the Process

To get help with obtaining legal guardianship, you may want a guardianship lawyer to be there with you.

The law firm of Flanders Law Firm LLC might be able to make the paperwork a little bit easier for you. While you may already meet all of the qualifications of how to become a legal guardian, it never hurts to have someone help ensure that everything is in order. This is a huge step for you and you don’t want to run into any potential issues. Moreover, you’ll probably want their help even more should potential issues arise.

Call them at 612-424-0398 to see how they can assist you with the process.

Sources:

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/setting-up-guardianship-child-faq.html

https://family.findlaw.com/guardianship/being-a-guardian-documents-to-gather.html
https://ptla.org/guardianship-minor