Can an Aunt Get Custody of a Child

[Annam999]

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Florida
I was wondering if there were any legal professionals that would have info on my situation. I have my nephew, who is 15 and a half living with me. He's lived with me on and off for his whole life, but this stint has been the longest, he's been with me since he was 12. His father hasn't been in the picture since he was in diapers, no contact, no child support, we don't know anything about him. His Mother is unfit. She just got herself kicked out of yet another place and has no where to live at the moment. She left him with me when he was 12 and moved to a different state, but is currently back in Florida where we are, but only because I moved her down here because I thought it would be better for her son, psychologically. to see her once in a while, while still safely residing with my husband and I. (Now I'm rethinking that.) He does not like his mother, although I insist that he's nice to her and sees her once in a while, and I try never to talk negatively about her in front of him and make excuses for her behavior when ever possible. Again, for several reasons, she is unfit to raise him. I would like to get legal custody of him to make things easier on us for various reasons, like him getting his license, schooling situations, etc. Can anyone, who actually knows, tell me how hard this would be for us? I don't want her out of his life, just want the legal things to be easier, but I know she won't give us actual custody, even if it is for his benefit. Will this be a huge blown up thing if I do this? Or would they be able to just talk with him and look at the situations?

[cbg]

Do you currently have legal guardianship? And if you do not, would she agree to that, even if not to full custody?

[Annam999]

Do you currently have legal guardianship? And if you do not, would she agree to that, even if not to full custody?

The only thing we've ever done is had a quick note written up and notorized saying that I would have temporary custody of him so that we could get him into school, because she was living in Tennessee at the time. She keeps threatening to make him move back in with her, and even though I feel that if it came down to that and she tried to enforce it by calling the police, they would see she's homeless and leave him where he is, but I still don't want him to have that stress all the time. He ends up really stressing out about it every time she starts saying that stuff and she only says it when she's mad and wants to bother him. Other than that she really doesn't have a lot to do with him. Plus, we're trying to give him some semblance of a real life, and one of things we want to do is take him on vacation to the Bahamas, but getting him a passport seems like it's going to be impossible when she's not being helpful. These little things like this come up all the time, and she makes it miserable on him. I'd like him to not have these worries because other than her interference, he's doing really well.