[daddyof2]

How do I go by signing over the rights of a child. To the grandmother

[ScottGem]

Generally you can't. The grandmother can either apply to be guardian or adopt the child.

Can you give us more detailed info about the situation?

[daddyof2]

Generally you can't. The grandmother can either apply to be guardian or adopt the child.

Can you give us more detailed info about the situation?

OK well here is how it goes. My ex wife is keeping my daughter from me and I need a way to be able to fight for the custody rights. But I live in a different state then my daughter. And I can't always make it down to pa to take care of the custody hearings and I have no idea on how to represent myself cause I can't afford a attorney. I need to know if there is some kind of paper work that I can fill out in order to give my rights to my mother temporarly. Until I can get on my feet.

[ScottGem]

No. However, you may be able to assign your mother as your representative in court. Frankly, if you are in a custody battle you can't afford NOT to have an attorney. But you should be able to designate your mom as your representative at the hearings. Of course, that may work against you.

[cadillac59]

Giving your rights to your mother temporarily? Wow, that's a weird question!

If you were a minor or mentally incompetent your mother could petition the court to be appointed your guardian ad litem thereby being the one designated to act on your behalf. That's about it as far as I know. Your mother cannot represent you in court unless she is a lawyer, and then licensed by the state in which the case is pending or is admitted pro hac vice (that's admitted specially for one case only in association with local counsel).

But no, I don't think you can do what you want to do frankly. I've seen this happen often: a self-represented person shows up in court with a firend or relative and he wants to designate that person his spokesperson, or "representative"; they both approach the counsel table when the case is called, the spokesperson starts to speak and the first thing the judge says is "HOLD IT!" "Are you a lawyer?" And just as soon as the person says "no" the judge interrupts and says "Then you cannot speak for this person, and in fact you are not even allowed to sit at the counsel table so go back and take a seat in the audience." Some judges will say "I cannot let you say anything for this person unless you are being called as a witness or translator, it's illegal unless you are a lawyer, so do you have a Bar Card? If so, let's see it. If not, take a seat in the audience."

Hey, this is what we lawyers are suppose to do, remember? This is what we spend 3 years in law school for (and 4 years in college before that) and take a 3 day bar exam to be able to do. Sorry.