guardianship of my grandson

[shelina]

My jurisdiction is: california

My son died in 2004 and the mother of his son, my grandson keeps bouncing from address to address and she is always making us try to find her. Now i was resently told that she has left my grandson with a friend of hers for going on two years! she always makes it hard for myself and my family to be apart of my grandson life. me being grandmother can i file and get guardianship of my grandson and if so how do i go about doing this: I would feel much better if i could file papers that would allow me to go to this friends house and pick up my grandson and let him live with family who love and care for him and want to be in his live. sincerely shelina

 

[irish223]

That's not likely to happen since you don't currently have the child in your care.

If your son was the child's legal father, either through marriage or paternity acknowledgment, and you had an established bond with the child prior to his death, then you would have had standing to file for visitation rights.

Unfortunately, it seems that you do not have a relationship with the child at this time, so it would be very difficult to argue that it's in the child's best interests. However, I suggest that you consult a family law attorney in your area to see if you have any options.

 

[Duranie]

Grandparents have very few rights. You could possibly get some visitation rights but you need to see an attorney. Guardianship or custody is likely not to happen though.