Conservatorship is a legal term that comes up frequently when discussing the care of minor children in a custody setting. There are a few types of conservatorships that can be established depending on the situation and extent of each parent’s involvement in their child’s life.
A Sugar Land conservatorship lawyer could help you determine an arrangement that best meets your child’s needs. The experienced attorneys at Romano & Sumner could protect your rights throughout the process of pursuing conservatorship and help you better understand this legal construct’s specific nuances.
Guardianship and conservatorship are often confused with one another, but in Texas, these terms are not the same. A person granted guardianship rights has limited or broad statutory authority to make personal and financial decisions for their ward, who is usually a child or someone who is incapacitated. On the other hand, a conservatorship is a specific construct that indicates the legal obligations and privileges of a child’s parent and often becomes relevant in situations involving divorce.
Conservatorship is used interchangeably when discussing custody matters. A legal adult who is not a child’s biological parent can sometimes be designated as a conservator by the court. When the issue of who should be granted conservatorship involves one or both of the child’s parents, the case will generally be adjudicated by family court.
However, the probate court may handle the case if the child’s parents are no longer living and a legal adult who is not their biological parent is seeking to be granted conservatorship. A local legal advisor could assist someone who wishes to be named conservator of a child and help them determine if they have a legal right to pursue the issuance of such an order.
There are a few primary types of conservatorships that a Sugar Land representative could help an individual pursue. A Sole Managing Conservatorship is established when one parent is granted the legal authority to handle the child’s personal and financial concerns.
Another type of conservatorship, and the one that a court is often more likely to grant unless it can be shown to be averse to the child’s best interests, is known as a Joint Managing Conservatorship. In this type of arrangement, the legal authority to make determinations about the child’s welfare is granted to both parents.
It should be noted that an adult seeking conservatorship who is not the child’s biological parent may also be named Sole Managing Conservator or a Joint Managing Conservator in certain cases. An individual named Joint Managing Conservator may exert this authority with a co-parent who has also been granted conservatorship rights but is not the child’s biological parent, or in conjunction with one of the child’s actual biological parents.
The obligations and privileges granted to a conservator will depend on the type of conservatorship named by the court. When someone is designated to act as the Sole Managing Conservator of a child, they have broad decision-making authority in that respect, including the ability to decide where the child will live, the education they will receive, their medical care, and other obligations.
When a Joint Managing Conservatorship is established, these vital decisions are typically shared equally by both parents. However, one parent may have specific decision-making authority for some issues of concern, such as where the child will live.
A Sugar Land conservatorship lawyer can help you file for rights and establish a favorable plan that serves the child’s best interests. Whether you are the child’s parent or a nonparent seeking to be named conservator, an attorney could evaluate the circumstances involved and help you determine the next steps. Call a Romano & Sumner legal advisor today to receive a no-obligation review of your legal case.
Romano & Sumner, PLLC
