Free Temporary Guardianship Form

Child Travel Consent Form
Child Medical Consent Form

Your printable Free Temporary Guardianship Form without going to court, makesprovision for local travel with a temporary guardian as well asbeing a child medical consent form.

Should the child be traveling across borders oreven locally for a once-off excursion with a school ororganization, you can use the stand-alone free child travelconsent form.

Be sure to read the important information before using theform lower down on this page as is, or downloading it as a fillable PDF or Word document.

Difference Between Temporary Guardianship and Temporary Custody

The purpose of the free temporary guardianship form supplied hereis for voluntary and temporaryuse and is an informal letter issued by the parents in aprivate agreement. There is no need to have court approval forthis purpose.

In this instance Temporary would mean for a limited time(normally not exceeding 30 days) and Guardian denoting a personlawfully invested with the power to take care of and manage theproperty and rights of a person (such as a minor).

Note: This does notin any way diminish or terminate the rights of the parent!

On the other hand, only a court order can grant custodyof a child and can do so without the consent of the parent.

Use our printable free temporary guardianship form above as is, or follow the links below to download a fillable PDF or Word template.

Important Information Re Your Free Temporary Guardianship Form:

• If the child's last name(surname) is different from the parent youmay need a marriage certificate, name change document, adoptionpapers etc. to prove the relationship.


• To avoid administrative hassles during an emergency you shouldattach a copy of your Medical Aidor Health insurance to your TemporaryGuardianship Form.


• Make sure you initial wherever alterations are made with fullsignatures at the end.


• Witness signaturesmust be by independent persons and not by anybody listed on thetemporary guardianship document.

Does a Temporary Guardianship Need to be Notarized?

If you use our free temporary guardianship template or any otherparental consent form supplied here, itadds credibility to have them notarized.

Especially if this document forms part of a petition to a courtor any legal proceeding in court!

Some medical institutions may not regard a medical consent formas valid unless it is notarized!

If you choose to have them notarized you should not sign thembeforehand since the notary public or commissioner of oath mustwitness your signature.

Be sure to take all identification documents along - your own aswell as your child's (e.g. birth certificate. Note: if one parenton the birth certificate of the child is deceased you shouldprovide a certified copy of the death certificate).

Notarized Document Template

Below is a printable blank notary template that you can add to your document, which will then be signed in the presence of the notary public.

The term "acknowledged before me" (as in this case) simply means that the guardian appeared in person before the notary public, acknowledged the purpose of the document that he/she signed and that the notary public either knew the guardian named in the document in person, or had satisfactory proof of his/her identity.

Satisfactory proof of a person's identity typically means a government issued card or document containing a photograph and signature of an individual.

Follow the links below to download the notarized document template in PDF or Word format.

Rights of a Temporary Guardian

A temporary guardianship form is typically used, for example,when a single parent needs to be hospitalized or when parents aretraveling abroad and are leaving their child in the care of afamily member or trusted friend.

Another instance may be when the child is going on a field tripor excursion with a school, on a sports trip or on holiday withfriends.

The rights of the guardian would simply be to make day-to-daydecisions for a child, on behalf of the parent. At times it may beimpossible to get hold of parents in an emergency situation, soyour free temporary guardianship form granting permission toauthorize medical treatment can prevent serious delays.

In the case of the child being looked after by a child minder youcan use our stand-alone medical consent form.In this instance there is no need to complete the temporaryguardianship form.

You can download your standalone ParentalMedical Consent Form and ParentalTravel Consent Form by clicking on thelinks below, but do take some time and explore the useful tipsand information on this page first.

Consent FormChecklist

TravelConsent for a Minor

ChildMedical Consent Form

Take a look at our Guardianship Infographic - it will give you a good overview of your legal options when caring for minors and will show you if or when - and to what extent - the courts need to get involved.

Guardian Excursion Consent Form

The organizers of an excursion, field trip or sports tour willusually issue their own forms requesting information as well asindemnifying them against claims. If you do not agree with orunderstand any particular clause, you should take it up with them- no reason to feel compelled to sign anything you are notcomfortable with.

If they do not ask for details such as allergies or currentmedication you should add it as a footnote or as an (attached)addendum. If you know your child's blood group you should add thattoo.

Do Both Parents have to Sign the Temporary Guardianship orTravel Consent Form?

Yes. Unless one parent is deceased, has no legal rights, isunknown etc.

A parent may need a parental travel consent form from the otherparent if he / she does not have legal custody or evenif they have joint legal custody.

If a parent does have sole legal custody, he/she should have acertified copy of the court document granting him/her custody when traveling acrossinternational borders.

It is unfortunately true that there has been an increase in parental child abduction and onecan therefore understand the need for added scrutiny of travel documents at border crossings.

Should a guardian go on a trip across borders it is imperativeto issue a parental travel consent form with yourtemporary guardianship form. Even if the child is traveling with aparent, the legal circumstances may be such that the non-travelingparent may have to sign a parental travel consent form.

Temporary Guardianship Form to Enroll in School

You would not necessarily need a formal court order of custody orguardianship in order to enroll a child in the district of theguardian.

However! You cannot grant temporary guardianship for the solepurpose of getting a child entrance into a school in adifferent district. The guardian needs to besupporting and caring for the child and must be a bona fideprovider of accommodation for the child because the parent isunable or unwilling to do so.

The school should be able to provide you with a third-partycustody form where you will make a declaration that you are theguardian and are caring for the child.

Supporting documents with your free Temporary GuardianshipForm could include your affidavitof residence or lease agreement showing the child asoccupant, proof that the parents are incarcerated or in activemilitary service outside the area, proof that you've been payingfor the child's medical expenses etc.

Giving Guardianship to Grandparents

Parents can give temporaryguardianship to grandparents (as they can doto a trusted friend) without getting approval from a judge. As wesaid at the start of this page, this is a voluntary and informalprivate agreement for a limited time. If the time period needs tobe extended another temporary agreement can be signed.

Parents may have reason to sign over fullcustody to grandparents. This entails thecompletion of the required court forms and signing by parents andgrandparents in the presence of a notary public.

It also entails the grandparents to fulfill the legalrequirements for a guardian and being willing and able toexecute the duties and responsibilities of a guardian.

If grandparents wish to obtain permanent guardianship or custodywithout consent from the parents,they will need to file a petition with the court and must citevalid reasons and convince the court that this will be in the bestinterest of the child, in order to be appointed as legalguardians.

Grandparents' Medical Consent Form

Being direct family of a child does not automatically authorize agrandparent to make health care decisions for a grandchild.

However, grandparents can authorize medical treatment if theyhave a childmedical consent form from the parents or legal guardian.

It is important to note that this form should be kept current,i.e. specify effective dates which should not exceed 6-12 monthslest it be considered as expired by a medical institution.

Permanent guardianship (and thereby continuing medical consent)must be approved by the court.

How Do You Get Temporary Guardianship orTemporary Custody?

• Temporary Guardianship- this is normally for a limited time and with the voluntaryconsent of the parents.
  
  The parent retains the right to the child. Moreover, a courtcannot grant temporary guardianship unless the parents haveconsented in writing.
• Temporary Custody- as determined in a court order. The court will always act inthe best interest of the child and in doing so does not needparental consent. This will typically happen in divorce cases orwhere another adult petitions the court because a parent isunfit.
  
  In this context an unfit parent is defined as an abusive parent,or one with a drug or alcohol dependence or being mentallyunfit. Such a parent will not be deemed to be able to takeproper care of a child.
  
  Most often this temporary custody will become permanent induration and a petition for any variation will have to bereconsidered by the court.

Temporary Co-Guardianship

In our Temporary Guardianship form wemake provision for more than one adult to be appointed asguardians.

This caters for the event when a child would be vacationing withanother family or when parents are traveling and are entrustingthe care of their child with friends. Naming both guardian adultsis simpler than authorizing them on separate forms.

You may also want to consider issuing a Powerof Attorney for a Child and the accompanying Affidavitof Guardianship.

Take a look at the above templates to decide if this will be moresuitable in your circumstances.

Simply copy and paste our free temporary guardianship formand other documents into your word program where you can edit itfrom time to time to suit your requirements.

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