QUESTION
How do i get custody of 13 year old sister?
Asked on Jun 20th, 2020 on Child Custody - Louisiana
More details to this question:
My mom is in a very toxic relationship, her husband is insane my sister tells me that he almost hit them with a fan, she told me he kicked my mom and her out more than twice at 11pm and locked the door on them, he has bitten my mom and while i was living with them he accused my fiancé of sleeping with my mom that he broke the front door i called the police but my mom didn't want to make a report, this all happened in Oregon. My mom and sister are now in CA visiting family and my sister has expressed to me how much she doesn't want to go back she's not happy and she says she wants to be with my fiancé and i. I am 24 and have a 1 year old daughter i am also a stay at home mom going to school. My sister tells me she is depressed and is adamant of not going back to OR. My sister really thinks that he is capable of hurting her or my mom. Is there anyway I can get custody of her, i live in Louisiana
1 ANSWER
The quickest and easiest method under Louisiana law, though also the easiest to undo, is to have your mother sign a temporary guardianship of your sister over to you. Mind you, this may not be valid or enforceable under California or Oregon law.
A temporary guardianship can simply be a written statement signed by your mother stating that she is granting you temporary custody of your sister. Though a temporary guardianship is revocable at will, so if your mother changed her mind then any rights to guardianship that you would hold would be immediately revoked.
The other issue to contend with is that you would need to get your sister back to Louisiana after getting that temporary guardianship signed over to you. Once she is in the jurisdiction of a Louisiana Court, and you have reason to believe that an imminent harm to your sister exists, you can petition the court for emergency custody based on that reasonable fear. The court would then set a hearing date to determine whether or not a permanent custody arrangement needs to be made.
If you have any questions regarding this issue, please feel free to contact my office at 337-237-0492 so that we can discuss how to resolve your concerns.
Answered on Jun 24th, 2020 at 1:47 PM