Adoptions & Guardianships
Adoptions:
A child can bring great joy to the life of a parent. However, this joy can sometimes turn into conflict. At Mindi Lasley, P.A., we represent clients in adoption proceedings and do everything possible to ensure that the adoption process runs smoothly. Our firm focuses primarily on stepparent and family member adoptions and will guide you through the maze of governmental regulations, from home visits to the final hearing, and assist in getting the child’s biological parents’ consent to terminate their parental rights.
Guardianships:
Guardianships can be similar to adoptions in that a third party, not necessarily biologically related to a person, is granted decision making authority over another person and/or his/her property, whether that person is a child or an incapacitated adult.
Guardianship is only warranted when no less restrictive alternative—such as durable power of attorney, trust, health care surrogate or proxy, or other form of pre-need directive—is found by the court to be appropriate and available. To avoid the extensive and costly process of appointing a guardian, it’s best for an adult individual to have in place a durable power of attorney or designation of health care surrogate.
Florida law provides for limited as well as plenary adult guardianship. A limited guardianship is appropriate if the court finds the ward (meaning the person for whom a guardian has been appointed) lacks the capacity to do some, but not all, of the tasks necessary to care for his or her person or property; and if the individual does not have pre-planned, written instructions for all aspects of his or her life. A plenary guardian is a person appointed by the court to exercise all delegable legal rights and powers of the adult ward after the court makes a finding of incapacity. Wards in plenary guardianships are, by definition, unable to care for themselves.