What Parents Need to Know About Continuing Tutorship
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About What Parents Need To Know About Continuing Tutorship
If you would like to extend the tutorship, you can request a continuing tutorship with your district court. A continuing tutorship is a legal process where children with mental disabilities cannot make decisions for themselves and a parent or guardian (tutor) becomes legally responsible for the child after they turn 18 years old. To qualify for a continuing tutorship, a person must have less than two-thirds the intellectual function of an averagely functioning person of the same age. Continuing tutorship only applies to children with mental disabilities. This is decided by standard testing procedures, such as an IQ test, by a medical professional, such as a psychologist, or other relevant evidence that is acceptable to the court. All requests for continuing tutorships must be made once the child reaches 15 years old and before they turn 18 years old.
Once a child turns 18 years old, they will no longer need a tutor. If you have a child with special needs who you believe will be unable to care for themselves after they turn 18, you can ask the court for a continuing tutorship once the child turns 15 years old. The request for a continuing tutorship must be completed before the child turns 18 years old.
Hiring a lawyer is highly recommended in this legal process since it is very complicated. Unless you file for a continuing tutorship before the child turns 18 years old, you will need to file an interdiction petition, which can be very expensive and complicated.
What You Need to Know
When it comes to appointing a tutor or under-tutor, the court has specific requirements the tutor and under-tutor must meet before being selected. Before the court signs the letter of tutorship, all tutors and under-tutors appointed by the court must take an oath and agree to act in the child's best interest.
The requirements they must meet are:
- They must be at least 18 years old;
- Have not been sentenced for a crime;
- Cannot be interdicted; and
- Cannot be indebted to the person in the tutorship.
What types of people can be a tutor:
- Parents that are married to each other and file jointly to be the co-tutors;
- The court will assign a surviving parent;
- The parent awarded custody while the child was a minor;
- The parent who was the tutor while the child was a minor, if the parents were never married;
- Family members; and
- The person mentioned in the parents' will.
A tutor's responsibilities in a continuing tutorship are the same as in a regular tutorship.
Tutors are in charge of the custody and care of the child.
This includes:
- Making medical decisions;
- Raising and educating the child;
- Managing anything the child owns;
- Providing annual reports of any property the child owns to the court;
- Receiving copies of medical, educational, or other records that may help to make decisions; and
- Requesting the court for continuing tutorship.
The court will assign a new tutor if it believes the tutor is not acting in the child's best interests.
Tutors are responsible for the child. This means if the child gets in trouble, the tutor is liable.
Just like there is an undertutor for a tutorship, there is also an undertutor for a continuing tutorship. An undertutor is put in place to make sure the tutor is acting in the best interest of the child. The undertutor has the same authority, privileges, and responsibilities as the tutor. This means they can give consent to medical treatment, education plans, and have access to the child's medical records.
Continuing tutorships can take away an individual's rights.
Rights that are affected by the tutorship:
The right to contract. This means a person under the continuing tutorship cannot buy, sell, or mortgage any property without the tutor's permission and the court's authorization. This means the individual has the rights of a minor.
The right to marry. Before getting married, a person who is under a continuing tutorship must get their tutor's approval.
The right to sue or to be sued. A person under the continuing tutorship cannot represent themselves in court. They must depend on their tutor to represent them in all legal actions.
The right to consent. Tutors have the power to approve medical treatment and educational plans for the person under the continuing tutorship. The person under the continuing tutorship does not have the right to give consent. The tutor is also allowed access to records related to the person under the continuing tutorship. This could prevent the individual under the continuing tutorship to lose their right to confidentiality.
The Continuing Tutorship Process
About The Continuing Tutorship Process
There is a specific process all parents or guardians must go through to get a Continuing Tutorship in Louisiana. You must receive a written concurrence from the coroner's office, which states that the coroner agrees with the supporting documents and the child has an intellectual disability, and petition the court in the area the child lives in to receive a continuing tutorship. The petitioner does not need to pay for the coroner's concurrence.
The process generally involves writing a formal petition to the court, having the person in the tutorship receive an evaluation from a medical professional and be diagnosed with an IQ score of less than 67, sending the documents to the coroner for their approval, receiving the coroner's concurrence, filing your petition and supporting documents (petition, concurrence, affidavit) with the district court and record the tutorship in the parish the person in the tutorship lives.
Steps In The Continuing Tutorship Process
The child must already be in a tutorship. The child must be at least 15 years old and below 18 years old to request a continuing tutorship. A continuing tutorship is only for children with mental disabilities. The child must also show that they have an intellectual function that is less than two-thirds of an average-functioning person of the same age. If you do not file a petition for a continuing tutorship before the child turns 18 years old you will need to file a petition for an interdiction.
The child must receive a formal diagnostic evaluation and standardized I.Q. test from a medical professional, such as a psychologist. The child will qualify if diagnosed with an IQ score less than 67. The medical professional must provide you with a notarized letter of the official diagnosis.
If it is decided that your child qualifies for continuing tutorship, you or an attorney will need to write a Petition for Continuing Tutorship to the court. You should strongly consider hiring an attorney since the legal process can be complicated.
The petition will have the title of the proceedings, the age of the person being placed under the continuing tutorship, establish the right of the person seeking the tutorship, the legal standard of proof, and what evidence supports this standard. the petition will need to be filed with the supporting documents.
Standard testing documentation provides the necessary evidence to the court needs to meet the burden of proof. It's best to attach current expert reports or psychological testing results to the petition as an exhibit for the coroner to review. The coroner's office requires a current, notarized statement from a doctor saying the standardized test or evaluation meets the burden of proof.
If an Individual Education Plan (IEP) or other school-based documentation is submitted, the document may not contain the necessary legal standards and may be outdated.
Some parish coroners will accept the petition and supporting documents by email. If the coroner believes that your documents meet the burdens of proof in court, the coroner will sign a concurrence that says the child qualifies for a continuing tutorship.
The coroner can refuse to sign the written letter of concurrence if they believe the documents are not in compliance with the law. A coroner will sign the documents once they are in compliance with the law.
There are no charges or fees associated with getting the coroner's concurrence.
Once the coroner has signed the documents, you will need to file the petition, the signed concurrence, and affidavits with the district court where the child lives.
Defendants 18 and older will be personally served a copy of the petition or left with an adult where the person in the tutorship lives. Defendants between the ages of 15 and 18 may or may not be served a petition. This allows defendants between the ages of 18 and older to get legal representation and be present at the hearing.
Defendants between the ages of 15 and 18 do not have the same rights. Therefore the person asking for the continuing tutorship only needs to prove that the child has less than 2/3rd the average mental ability of a non-impaired person of the same age.
The court will appoint a tutor if they believe it is in the child's best interest. The appointed tutor must accept the responsibility and take an oath and promise to make decisions that are in the child's best interest. The tutor must sign an affidavit and the court will sign a letter of tutorship which give the tutor permission to act for the child.
Lastly, you will need to record the continuing tutorship in the mortgage records in the parish where the person under the tutorship lives, the parish they move to, and the parish they are living in temporarily.
Other Issues To Consider
Other Issues To Consider
Yes. Your child can still vote as long as they are capable of making their own decision and their vote is not influenced by another person.
A continuing tutorship is permanent unless it is formally revoked by the court.
The tutor may be held responsible if the child is found at fault for causing an accident or harm to someone. An example would be a personal injury suit.
Yes. It is possible for the person of a continuing tutorship order, as well as any other person significantly affected by the order, to challenge the restriction on the minor's legal capacity. They will need to challenge the order in the district court where the person of the continuing tutorship lives and submit evidence to justify not having the continuing tutorship. This evidence includes professional reports and witness statements. All rights and legal authority will be reinstated if the court revokes the continuing tutorship.