I am a mother of a 17 year old son with severe disabilities. My husband and I will need to establish guardianship for him. I live in Texas and would like to know if resources are available for parents to handle this themselves. I cannot afford an attorney!
Tags: Attorney, Child, Establish, Guardianship, Handicapped, Without
Every county or city has a legal aid society to help folks in your situation.
Yes you will need an attorney because a court must approve a guardianship. I assume you need one because he will soon be 18 and still needs someone to control his assets .
You may have to have an attorney. You can probably have one appointed to you. If Texas does it anything like Michigan does, they will just ask your son who he wants to live with. My friend had to do this and my cousin will have to do it in about 6 months. Just teach your son (if you can) to say “My mom and dad” when asked “Who do you want to live with?”.
It seems weird to have to teach your child to answer a question a certain way, but the lawyer told my friend that is what you have to do. His first answered that he wanted to live with Superman and Batman. The judge laughed and said that Superman and Batman did not have any extra beds and asked him again in a different way, basically leading him to answer his mom and dad. I think that the courts know if the home is a good one and will help the child say the best answer.
My cousin has already started working with her daughter. She won’t say she want to live with mommy. She will only say that she wants to live with “her Jenny” (her mom) and no boys–meaning her brothers. Sometimes she wants to live with me because she likes my dog.