Grandma wishes to be legal guardian

Dear Mrs Macaulay,

I am 58 years old and I would like to get legal guardianship of my granddaughter or adopt her. I would like to know how to go about it since I am now living in the States. She is almost eight. Do you think it’s possible because of my age?

I shall deal with your concern about your age first. I do not think that because you are now 58, that this is or will be a bar against you being appointed your granddaughter’s legal guardian or for you to adopt her. The reality of so many children who had been brought up and those who are presently being brought up by grandparents in the best of ways, dictates against any such bar being placed against you.

The questions which must be resolved by a court on an application by you for legal guardianship, and of course, custody, care and control of the child, would be about your health and your personal circumstances, that is to say, living conditions and financial ability to care for the child. These you can satisfy evidentially in your affidavit by attaching and exhibiting thereto a medical report about your health and some facts about your home, the persons therein, whether she will occupy her own room and if not, who would share it with her. You ought to also say something about your income to satisfy the court that you can financially provide for the child. You must also add in your affidavit what arrangements you have arranged or are arranging for her upbringing. These should deal with specifics about her education, and that a named school has agreed to enroll her as a pupil or has enrolled her. You must also satisfy the court on the matter of her religious instructions and practice and also the provision or coverage in place for her health.

You must, of course, also make very clear in your affidavit supporting your application why you are applying to be her legal guardian and to have custody, care and control of her. This must, of course, deal with the situation of her parents and her current home environment. In other words, why you feel that you need to take charge of her life and upbringing and that it is in her best interests for you to do so.

You must also make clear whether or not her parents consent to your application. If they do, it is advisable that they file an affidavit wherein they themselves swear to the fact of their lives or life circumstances which made them conclude that it is in the best interests of their child for you to be appointed their child’s guardian and to be granted legal custody, care and control.

Your application for legal guardianship, custody, care and control of your granddaughter must be made to the Supreme Court of Judicature of Jamaica. You will have to retain the services of a lawyer to prepare the necessary application and affidavits in support of it and see to the filing. Thereafter, on the appointed day of the hearing, which you must attend, they would appear, present, and argue the application on your behalf.

The order may be made then if all relevant and necessary information and documents have been filed and service which was necessary to be effected on anyone was proved to have been effected. Or, if the judge requires further information, it may be adjourned for another date for it to be provided. In such a circumstance, your attorney can apply to the judge that, as you reside abroad, you be excused from attending in person on the subsequent date. Care must be taken that this appears in the orders made that day, if it is granted. One cannot guarantee that this would be granted as your presence at the actual hearing is most important.

Let us assume that you applied and your application was successful. Then, once you have your order appointing you the legal guardian of your granddaughter and an order granting you legal custody, care and control of her, you will have the right to make all decisions relating to her upbringing and to have her reside with you.

You can, when you travel here to attend court for the hearing of your application to the court, go to the Adoption Board at the Child Development Agency and commence the process to adopt your granddaughter by way of a licence matter as you reside abroad. Once you are approved for further processing, the board will give you a package with all the forms and information you would need to go through the process of adoption.

It will be for you to decide whether or not you still wish to or need to adopt your granddaughter after you have obtained the orders of the court by which you would have been appointed her legal guardian with legal custody, care and control of her. You need not go for adoption after the granting of your orders, but there is no reason why you cannot also adopt her if you really wish to do so and can satisfy them of your good health and ability to take good care of her.

Act as soon as you can as time is marching on. You ought to be able to obtain your orders of guardianship and custody, care and control in the next few months, and in the extreme, within a year from now.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via

e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver. com; or write to All Woman,

40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5.

DISCLAIMER:

The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.