Guardianship

What is a guardian?

A guardian is a legal term to describe the person or persons who have specific responsibilities to a child.

What are a guardian’s responsibilities?

A guardian’s responsibilities to a child include:

• Providing day-to-day care for the child
• Contributing to the child’s development as a person. In different ways, and at different stages of a child’s life, guardians help children build a life for themselves, so they can learn about the world and their culture, make friends, achieve goals, cope with setbacks, and all the other things that growing up involves
• Helping make the big decisions in a child’s life. These include important things like
• where they live and go to school
• major medical treatment
• what their culture, language and religion will be
• any changes to their name.

Who may be appointed a guardian?

A child can have more than one guardian, and they may include parents and any number of other people. Parents are in most cases automatically a child’s guardian. Other people can become guardians by:

• Being appointed a testamentary guardian in a parent’s will
• Appointment by parents if approved by the Family Court
• Being appointed by the Court after application.

In some cases the Family or High Court may become the guardian of a child.

Typical situations where someone other than a parent might be appointed as a guardian include; grandparents who want to be appointed as a guardian for a grandchild; or where someone wants their new partner appointed as a guardian of a child from a previous relationship.

We can help you apply to the Court to obtain guardianship of a child. We can also represent you if your guardianship is being challenged.

Guardianship Disputes

Guardians sometimes have disputes regarding the big decisions they need to make for a child. Often these are related to where the child will live or where they will attend school.

We encourage our clients to resolve their guardianship disputes out of Court, for example through lawyer negotiation or mediation. If the matter progresses to Court, then the Court’s decision will be included in the Parenting Order. We are experienced in providing advice and representation in all guardianship matters. Please call us to discuss your situation.