When Guardians divorce

[SLYarnell]

I totally agree with you.  We need to file NOW.  And we want to.  We are in Seattle, the case is in central California.  We have to file this ourselves and we are truly trying to do the right thing!

I found out today there has been an arrest warrant issued for the host mom.  

I have a call into the county clerk to try to set an exparte hearing.  If they will set it for us we will be leaving Seattle to go to court.  

I am trying to do this the "correct" way so that we dont fail on emotionally based actions.

And of course the "host parents" continue to not be forthcoming with any info that might help us, as it will hurt them.

The solution is to get this in front of the judge ASAP, the problem is the best way to accomplish it.

[socrateaser]

An arrest warrant? OK, that puts an entirely different spin on things. If you have a copy of the arrest warrant, then I suggest that you go to the court and file an ex parte domestic abuse prevention OSC for a TRO.

Ordinarily, this would be used against a spouse/partner, but the law permits the court to issue an order if you can show grounds that the child is in imminent danger. You can also file the petition to terminate guardianship, but the court will take some time with that decision. You could also file an OSC with the petition, requesting temporary emergency custody, but I think that the domestic violence restraining order is a more powerful device, under the circumstances.

If you want to do this, you can call have the family law facillitator at the courthouse fill out the necessary papers.

I really don't know if this will work, but it may be worth a shot. You definitely will need some proof of the arrest to pull this off, however.

[SLYarnell]

There is a current restraining order against the "mom" restraining her from the dad and the kids including SD, she has to have supervised visitation as she is a danger to the kids and a risk to flee.

I did call the county family law facilitator but was told that they will not/cannot help me because they only handle family law and guardianship (at least this one) is in probate court and they dont address probate matters.

I have been told we should file a new petition to terminate and ask for an exparte hearing and ask for temp custody (and have an order ready) to be able to take SD home with us pending a final resolution.  I have a call into the clerks office that handles exparte hearings for the judge and she should return my call in the morning.

Is this a reasonable way to proceed?

I understand an exparte hearing will occur within 24 to 48 hours and we will need at least 24 hours to get there.

[socrateaser]

>Is this a reasonable way to proceed?

I see. OK, well that blows that idea, because the mom is restrained already, so in theory, she's no threat. Frankly, you may still have a problem, now, because the guardian father will still be viewed as a viable parent to the child, and the child may not feel particularly good about leaving the guardian father.

You will have to file the petition to terminate in probate, and with it an OSC for temporary physical custody. But, I don't think that the court will grant you a TRO giving you immediate custody of the child, because, with the mom restrained, there is no longer a threat of imminent harm to the child. I have a feeling you are in for another long fight.

[SLYarnell]

I will be talking with the judges clerk in the morning to see if they will give us an exparte hearing.

[homerette]

Knew this host mom pulled a knife on sd before last court appearance wouldnt that be something to note in the declaration?

[SLYarnell]

In part 2 of our petition...