My 12 year old niece has a variety of emotional and behavioral problems. My sister has agreed to let me have my niece for the summer.

My question is, do I need to get legal temporary custody of her to have her for the two months during the summer? Especially with her medical issues (counseling, seeing a psychitrist, prescriptions? I am assuming that if I get legal temporary custody that I will be able to get her on my health insurance here. Does obtaining legal temporary custody involve court and lawyers or can we just have something notarized giving me temporary custody and medical power of attorney?

Thank you for your input! :confused:

Yes temp legal custody means having to go to court. They can give you power of attorney to act on their behalf, but that would not get you on their insurance.

I would say yes. When I was a child I stayed with friends of the family for the summer and was hurt in a car accident. The hospital would not treat me until my mother arrived after a 2 hour drive. So just to be on the safe side I would file for guardianship instead of temp custody so you canmake any needed medical decisions.

By the way all they had to do was write out a letter granting her guardianship and have it notorized.

By the way all they had to do was write out a letter granting her guardianship and have it notorized.


You answered a question from April 2007 - that being said if you have custody/control of a child for a period all you need is a notarized authorization from the parent allowing you to provide medical treatment, access to records, etc. for the child.

You do not need formal custody. My neighbor has a foster child, nothing official, agreement with the parents, and she has an authorization to also cover school matters and events.

I get a signed authorization to cover when I have my nieces and nephews, even for a weekend.