Guardians

The Appointment of a Guardian or Special Guardian for Children.

Guardians.

A Guardian is a person appointed by a parent to care for their child if they are unable to do so themselves.
. They can be appointed by parents either by way of a Deed of Appointment or in a Will. They may also be appointed by the Court. As an appointment by the Court may well not be in accordance with the wishes of the parent it is important that parents (especially unmarried mothers) appoint guardians during their lifetime and do not just leave to fate who should care for their children if they are not able to do so.

A parent must have parental responsibility before being able to appoint a Guardian. If a father does not have parental responsibility he will not have the right to look after his children after the mother’s death and if the mother wishes him to do so she must appoint him as a Guardian either by Deed or in her Will.
Once appointed, a Guardian will have full parental responsibility just as if he or she were the parent. The appointment of a Guardian does not take effect until the death or after the parent with care or with a residence order become incapable of caring for their children themselves.

The Legal-Zone Appointment of Guardian Deed is in the approved form and costs only £9.99 with immediate download.

Special Guardians

Special Guardians are very different. They are appointed by the court where it is held that the best interests of the children is met by them having permanence and security but where adoption is not appropriate. A typical case where Special Guardians may be appointed would be where children are being looked after permanently by grandparents or their wider family.

The consequence of a special guardianship order is that unlike adoption, the legal relationship between a child and his or her birth parents is not severed. Parental responsibility will remain with the birth parent or parents but the Special Guardian will also be able to exercise parental responsibility. They may also remove a child from the UK for up to three months without obtaining the consent of anyone else with parental responsibility.

Unlike with adoption, with Special Guardianship the legal relationship between the child and the birth parents remains intact. A special guardian can exercise their parental responsibility to the exclusion of anyone else with parental responsibility (apart from another special guardian).

.Unlike ordinary guardians, special guardians can be appointed during a natural parents lifetime. The people who can apply for special guardianship are:-

Any guardian of the child
Anyone with a residence order in relation to the child
Anyone with whom the child has lived for 3 years
Anyone who has the consent of everyone with parental responsibility

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Guardians and Special Guardians of Children

The Appointment of a Guardian or Special Guardian for Children.