Adoption & Guardianship

Love Makes a Family

Adoption & Guardianship

The family law attorneys at the Law Offices of Shirley D. Jacobs help build loving families that provide children with a stable home environment through step-parent adoption, grandparent adoption, and independent adoption, as well as through guardianship arrangements.

Adoption

A step-parent adoption is usually an easy process if all parties agree, and it can pay huge dividends in terms of the emotional security and sense of belonging that it gives a child. A home study is required even if the non-custodial birth parent voluntarily relinquishes legal rights over the child (if the non-custodial parent is living).

Grandparent adoptions, aunt or uncle adoptions—as well as independent adoptions—require that both parents relinquish legal rights over the child, or that both parents are deceased. A family may choose for grandparents to adopt if a parent is facing a lengthy imprisonment or they may decide upon a guardianship relationship.

With adoption, the child becomes eligible for all the legal benefits of a parent-child relationship:

• The benefit of a caring adult making decisions for the child
• The right to financial support
• The right to inherit
• The right to Social Security should the step-parent or grandparent die
• The same last name as the parents and the sense of love and belonging that entails.

Guardianships

Guardianships, unlike adoptions, are temporary arrangements. In a guardianship relationship, the adult guardian gains decision-making authority for the child’s education, living arrangements, medical care and financial management. Guardianship ends at age 18; adoption lasts a lifetime. In a guardianship situation the child does not gain the legal benefits of adoption.

Guardianship can a simple legal process when all parties agree.  However, in some cases guardianship cases are highly litigated, and an attorney can be especially helpful. If a parent is not capable of caring for a child due to illness, drug addiction or incarceration, you may request court orders to become a guardian to ensure that the child is enrolled in school and receives medical care.

Contact the Law Offices of Shirley D. Jacobs to speak with a Walnut Creek, Fremont or Pleasanton guardianship lawyer about the best way to ensure that a child you love receives the benefit of a caring adult in his or her life. Your initial consultation is free.

From our law offices in Pleasanton, the guardianship lawyers at the Law Offices of Shirley D. Jacobs provide legal services to residents of the East Bay area of California, including Alameda County and Contra Costa County and the nearby cities of Martinez, Danville, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Livermore, San Ramon, Union City, Hayward, San Leandro, Alameda, Emeryville, Dublin, Berkeley and Oakland.