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My question involves guardianship in the State of: Massachusetts
i was going through a tough time in my life and signed guardianship of my daughter to my mother. I'm starting to get my life back on track and i want my daughter back when i move to my new apartment. i just want to know what i have to do to get her back and how hard is it going to be. I'm completely clueless when it comes to this and i really need help and maybe a push in the right direction.
It depends on the full facts. If the guardianship was voluntary, and your mom is willing to return your child to you, it should be fairly easy to get done. If it was involuntary in some way, it will be a bit more difficult. The best thing to do would be to get a consult with an experienced local family law attorney who can review the full facts of the case and advise you how to proceed.
Free9 is right, getting guardianship back can be either really easy or really hard, depending on your particular situation. If the current guardian doesn't mind giving your daughter back to you, you can easily complete a petition to the family court to authorize the change. Typically, aside from the old guardian's okay, the biggest hurdle would be a possible evaluation from a social services worker.
If your mom isn't okay with giving her back, then prepare for a legal fight. It gets very fact specific here, so talking to an attorney for help would be best.
Basically if I didn't sign it they were gonna grant custody to my mom... I had no where to live at the time. Now I'm in a shelter I have a 5 month old son I go see my daughter every weekend... I'm about to get housing and I'm looking for a job. My mom said all she wanted was to see me back on my feet... but sometimes she's a tricky person. I dnt kno if she will give her back willingly or if I will have to fight. And I can't afford a lawyer....
You haven't bothered to tell us what it is that you signed. If you mean that you consented to a court's appointment of your mother as guardian, you will have to petition the court to end the guardianship. If you mean something else, you need to tell us what you signed.
well what happened was my mom called dcf on me a few times so they would open a case and then before they had a chance to take my daughter from me my mother filed for temp. guardianship then because i wasn't in a position to have my daughter and i didn't have a lawyer my moms lawyer told me its better for me to sign permanent guardianship to my mother so that the court wouldnt see me as unfit and grant my mother permanent custody (she told me it would be harder for me to get her back that way) so now where im about to have a stable place for me and my children to live i want my daughter back with me.
So you stipulated to make your mother the child's permanent guardian. What does the order say about the steps you must take to regain custody? Have you taken all of those steps?
as far as i know there werent any stipulations.... it all kinda happened fast... but the judge did tell me to get my life in order and come back.
It sounds like you'll actually have to prove that you're now fit to take care of the child.
This is not a normal guardianship matter and it's not going to be as straightforward as simply revoking the guardianship. You need a copy of the actual orders though.
How old is the child, and when did this actually happen?
my daughters 6 and it happened 2 yrs ago next month
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how do i get a copy of the order can i just go to the court house and request it?