Guardianship Ireland

draz1

Hi,

Can someone tell me how long it usually takes to obtain guardianship at the District Court in Ireland for an unmarried father.

Cheers,

Draz1

Nevyn

Contested or uncontested?

And then you also have to factor in how busy the court is some may have a wait time of 3 months for cases to be called and some may have a wait time of a year or more.

MojoMaker

In reality, in the busiest district family court in Ireland - Dolphin house - you'll be unlikely to wait longer than 10-12 weeks to be called. Hearing itself will be considerably less than 30 minutes in duration.

wolfpawnat

If I am not mistaken, can you not just get the form signed in front of the commissioner of the oaths as long aas both parents consent for guardianship?

MojoMaker

lol.

wolfpawnat

MojoMaker wrote: »

lol.

pray tell, is that directed at me?

Orion

wolfpawnat wrote: »

If I am not mistaken, can you not just get the form signed in front of the commissioner of the oaths as long aas both parents consent for guardianship?

Correct. Peace Commisioner or Commissioner of Oaths (local solicitor is usually the latter). Linkage

Guardianship form attached to post. Fill it out and bring it along to him - it's a formality as long as both parents sign it.

MojoMaker wrote: »

lol.

Nice contribution. Well done. You have made mojo. :rolleyes:

MojoMaker

wolfpawnat wrote: »

pray tell, is that directed at me?

Would you be asking the original question if there was a chance the child's mother was going to voiluntarily consent to joint guardianship? The 'lol' was in reference to the irony concerning that it is a really easy process to obtain guardianship unecessarily complicated by (in most cases, but not all) the mother.

In a rose-tinted world yes all it takes is a witnessed memorandum consenting to guardianship. However it can often be, and unecessarily so, more complicated sadly.

wolfpawnat

MojoMaker wrote: »

Would you be asking the original question if there was a chance the child's mother was going to voiluntarily consent to joint guardianship? The 'lol' was in reference to the irony concerning that it is a really easy process to obtain guardianship unecessarily complicated by (in most cases, but not all) the mother.

In a rose-tinted world yes all it takes is a witnessed memorandum consenting to guardianship. However it can often be, and unecessarily so, more complicated sadly.

I am an unmarried mother, and I came to boards to ask if there was a chance I could get my partner joint guardianship without having to go through the courts.

Not all unmarried mothwers are total b!tches.;) I wouldn't have it any other way with my partner!

Orion

MojoMaker wrote: »

Would you be asking the original question if there was a chance the child's mother was going to voiluntarily consent to joint guardianship?

wolfpawnat wrote: »

I am an unmarried mother,

wolfpawnat 1 : MojoMaker 0

K-9

Macros42 wrote: »

wolfpawnat 1 : MojoMaker 0

Except wolfpawnats' circumstances has nothing to do with the thread! All we have is a 1 line question from the OP.

However, the original point is good. It can be done without the courts.

Still, the OP posted:
[quote=draz1[/quote]
Can someone tell me how long it usually takes to obtain guardianship at the District Court in Ireland for an unmarried father.
[/quote]

In my experience up to 7/8 months, but I got it awarded by the judge without the mother being in court. Be wary of constant adjournments.

ElectraBlue

If you are willing to sort guardianship together like this then I would advise you to get a Joint Custody agreement drawn up. The latter is much stronger and can incorporate guardianship, access and other details .

A good family law solicitor will draft it up, won't be cheap but its worth it in the long run and saves a lot of heartache later.

Good luck

Evolute

If she says yes to your guardianship then said forms are fine.
If she says no then your local court can sort it out if she confirms you are the father if not then a dna test is in order. Well thats how it worked out when my brother got joint custody of my nephew.

Superdaddy

If you are willing to sign a Statutory declaration, (the form above), that will do. You can strengthen it by getting your solicitor to have it made a court order, this is very simple and you don't even need to attend the court when it is being done on consent, once the motion is put before the court it would be very quick, no more than a couple of weeks, it would take about 3 minutes of court time. But legally it makes little difference. Nice to see a mother being proactive with regards to guardianship. I had to fight hard for mine.

fathersrights1

Hi Dazz

I applied through the dublin district court in MAY for guardianship , it took 6 weeks for hearing...i got it no problem.

i found a good video on youtube today from the solicitor who represented the father in the most famous legal guardian court case "the G case"

http://www.youtube.com/user/SolicitorsinIreland#p/u/4/DwAZCqtlzp8

Klingon Hamlet

fathersrights1 wrote: »

Hi Dazz

I applied through the dublin district court in MAY for guardianship , it took 6 weeks for hearing...i got it no problem.

i found a good video on youtube today from the solicitor who represented the father in the most famous legal guardian court case "the G case"

http://www.youtube.com/user/SolicitorsinIreland#p/u/4/DwAZCqtlzp8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwAZCqtlzp8

rolly1

As others have stated, it partly depends upon how busy the district court is in your area; it also depends upon how busy your solicitor is and your ability to prioritise your case with him/her; if you do decide to seek a solicitor.

The days each district court sits can be found here

e.g. district court 1, Buncrana has Civil Jurisdiction: Scheduled sitting days on the Second Thursday in each month at 10.30 a.m.
&Fourth Tuesday in each month at 10.30 a.m. A phone call to the local district office may shed further light as to whther family law hearings have a specific time in the day here.

A minimum of 21 days notice is required notifying the mother of the scheduled hearing date and time. Therefore, in theory, with a solicitor who can turn it around quick and if the date of hearings fall right it could be done within 4 weeks.

Of course emergency applications to the court can also be turned around in a couple of days by a good solicitor.

I'm not too fond of Con Pendred's value judgement on the quality of parenting, rather than guardianship, by an unmarried father being important in child removal cases. As the recent Supreme court case in which an unmarried father's 3 children were snatched to england by the mother shows, the quality of his parenting wasn't in question; it was his lack of legal guardianship that made the children snatching legal.

James Jones

ElectraBlue wrote: »

If you are willing to sort guardianship together like this then I would advise you to get a Joint Custody agreement drawn up. The latter is much stronger and can incorporate guardianship, access and other details .

A good family law solicitor will draft it up, won't be cheap but its worth it in the long run and saves a lot of heartache later.

Good luck

A joint custody agreement has no bearing on guardianship.
Access, Custody and Guardianship are related but separate matters. Guardianship is the legal relationship between a parent and child whereas custody governs the living arrangements while access governs the contact a child has with the parent they do not live with.
Joint Custody is quite rare without having the rider “with main care and residence to the mother”.
Also, Joint Custody, even in the shared parenting 50%/50% style, does not have any bearing on Guardianship, which is automatic for married fathers, or can be granted by either the court or the mother in the case of unmarried parents.

This is now all up for debate shortly and, if the Law Reform Commission gets their recommendations implemented, Guardianship will become Parental Responsibility. They recommend that this new position be granted to single fathers automatically but have not publically admitted that the position will be greatly weakened, as pointed out HERE, and so unmarried fathers will be equal to married fathers but still a long way behind mothers.

nowwalehtdna

MojoMaker wrote: »

Would you be asking the original question if there was a chance the child's mother was going to voiluntarily consent to joint guardianship? The 'lol' was in reference to the irony concerning that it is a really easy process to obtain guardianship unecessarily complicated by (in most cases, but not all) the mother.

In a rose-tinted world yes all it takes is a witnessed memorandum consenting to guardianship. However it can often be, and unecessarily so, more complicated sadly.

I have applied 3 times , refused 3 times without any sworn evidence heard.

LegacyUser

Sorry to jump in on your thread OP but just wondering- if a couple sign the document above in the company of a Peace Commissioner- is that it then?? Does the document need to be lodged somewhere or anything?

My partner and I are due our first baby this year and I want to sort out Guardianship for him asap after the birth...

Wish they would change the law in this area so it wouldn't be so much hassle for fathers- can't imagine not having automatic guardianship rights to my child!

James Jones

mum2be2011 wrote: »

Sorry to jump in on your thread OP but just wondering- if a couple sign the document above in the company of a Peace Commissioner- is that it then?? Does the document need to be lodged somewhere or anything?

My partner and I are due our first baby this year and I want to sort out Guardianship for him asap after the birth...

Wish they would change the law in this area so it wouldn't be so much hassle for fathers- can't imagine not having automatic guardianship rights to my child!

There is no central registration for these documents which leaves a father in a difficult position if he loses the declaration and you fall out in the future and separate. Advise him to make a number of copies (3?) and leave them with a relative, his solicitor etc.
Best bet is to marry you. This is not from some moral point but for him to be recognised as a father to his child. As a married father, he is granted constitutional rights where his Guardianship is granted automatically and cannot be taken away whereas a Statutory Declaration can be reversed by the Courts. He can always get divorced but will remain a Guardian.
Single fathers, even living with the mother of their children for years, have NO RIGHTS WHATSOEVER. Whatever rights they are given by the statutory declaration can be taken away and so are not really rights.
Having said that, married fathers are generally ignored anyway. See HERE, HERE and HERE.

Brineybay

...as it regards guardianship...but..in the case where a single mother wants to grant joint guardianship rights to a man who is still married, and neither of her children are naturally his...can this still be done?

campo

Brineybay wrote: »

...as it regards guardianship...but..in the case where a single mother wants to grant joint guardianship rights to a man who is still married, and neither of her children are naturally his...can this still be done?

Doubt this very much especially if the real dad of the children is still in the picture, also why would she want to do that what if it does not work out with this guy and he now has joint guardianship of HER children

Brineybay

Hi, the two children have different natural fathers, neither of whom have recognised either child or are named on their births certs. My question is more a legal one..can a married (about to divorce) person be awarded joint guardian rights even when still married in Ireland?

rolly1

Brineybay wrote: »

Hi, the two children have different natural fathers, neither of whom have recognised either child or are named on their births certs. My question is more a legal one..can a married (about to divorce) person be awarded joint guardian rights even when still married in Ireland?

Under guardianship law, when at least one guardian is still alive, only parents can be guardians of their children.

See sections 6,7,8 and 9 of this act http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1964/en/act/pub/0007/index.html