Legal guardian in the context of "Competence (law)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Legal guardian

A legal guardian is a person who has been appointed by a court or otherwise has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to make decisions relevant to the personal and property interests of another person who is deemed incompetent, called a ward. For example, a legal guardian might be granted the authority to make decisions regarding a ward's housing or medical care or manage the ward's finances. Guardianship is most appropriate when an alleged ward is functionally incapacitated, meaning they have a lagging skill critical to performing certain tasks, such as making important life decisions. Guardianship intends to serve as a safeguard to protect the ward.

Anyone can petition for a guardianship hearing if they believe another individual cannot make rational decisions on their own behalf. In a guardianship hearing, a judge ultimately decides whether guardianship is appropriate and, if so, will appoint a guardian. Guardians are typically used in four situations: guardianship for an incapacitated elderly person (due to old age or infirmity), guardianship for a minor, and guardianship for developmentally disabled adults and for adults found to be incompetent. A family member is most commonly appointed guardian, though a professional guardian or public trustee may be appointed if a suitable family member is not available.

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👉 Legal guardian in the context of Competence (law)

In United States and Canadian law, competence concerns the mental capacity of an individual to participate in legal proceedings or transactions, and the mental condition a person must have to be responsible for his or her decisions or acts. Competence is an attribute that is decision-specific. Depending on various factors which typically revolve around mental function integrity, an individual may or may not be competent to make a particular medical decision, a particular contractual agreement, to execute an effective deed to real property, or to execute a will having certain terms.

Depending on the state, a guardian or conservator may be appointed by a court for a person who satisfies the state's tests for general incompetence, and the guardian or conservator exercises the incompetent's rights for the incompetent. Defendants who do not possess sufficient "competence" are usually excluded from criminal prosecution, while witnesses found not to possess requisite competence cannot testify. The English equivalent is fitness to plead.

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Legal guardian in the context of Parents

A parent is either the progenitor of a child or, in humans, it can refer to a caregiver or legal guardian, generally called an adoptive parent or step-parent. Parents who are progenitors are first-degree relatives and have 50% genetic meet. A female can also become a parent through surrogacy. Some parents may be adoptive parents, who nurture and raise an offspring, but are not related to the child. Orphans without adoptive parents can be raised by their grandparents or other family members.

A parent can also be elaborated as an ancestor removed one generation. With recent medical advances, it is possible to have more than two biological parents. Examples of third biological parents include instances involving surrogacy or a third person who has provided DNA samples during an assisted reproductive procedure that has altered the recipients' genetic material.

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Legal guardian in the context of Parenting

Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and educational development from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biological relationship.

The most common caretakers in parenting are the biological parents of the child in question. However, a caretaker may be an older sibling, step-parent, grandparent, legal guardian, aunt, uncle, other family members, or a family friend. Governments and society may also have a role in child-rearing or upbringing. In many cases, orphaned or abandoned children receive parental care from non-parent or non-blood relations. Others may be adopted, raised in foster care, or placed in an orphanage.

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Legal guardian in the context of Child of deaf adult

A child of deaf adult, often known by the acronym CODA, is a person who was raised by one or more deaf parents or legal guardians. Ninety percent of children born to deaf adults are not deaf, resulting in a significant and widespread community of CODAs around the world, although whether the child is hearing, deaf, or hard of hearing has no effect on the definition. The acronym KODA (kid of deaf adult) is sometimes used to refer to CODAs under the age of 18.

The term was coined by Millie Brother who also founded the organization CODA, which serves as a resource and a center of community for children of deaf adults as an oral and a sign language, and bicultural, identifying with both deaf and hearing cultures. CODAs often navigate the border between the deaf and hearing worlds, serving as liaisons between their deaf parents and the hearing world in which they reside.

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Legal guardian in the context of Estrid Svendsdatter

Estrid Svendsdatter of Denmark (also known as Estrith or Astrith; sometimes called Margaret; fl. 1017–1032; c. 990s – after 1057 and before 1073) was a prominent Danish princess and titular queen of the Jelling dynasty, half-sister of Cnut the Great and wife of the magnate Ulf Jarl. She was the mother of Sweyn II Estridsen, during whose reign she was commonly styled dronning (“queen”) in Denmark, though she was never queen regnant nor a king's consort. Through Estrid, Sweyn traced his claim to the Danish throne and founded the matronymic House of Estridsen, which ruled from 1047 to 1412.

Medieval sources diverge on several points of her life. She was a daughter of Sweyn Forkbeard, but her mother is variously identified in sources as Sigrid the Haughty or, in earlier scholarship, as the Slavic princess sometimes called Gunhild of Wenden, a view now generally rejected. After Sweyn's death in 1014, Estrid came under Cnut's guardianship. He married her to a son of Grand Prince Vladimir the Great or Yaroslav the Wise, but the prince died shortly afterwards. Several western chroniclers, including Rodulfus Glaber and Adam of Bremen, record a proposed or short-lived marriage with the duke of Normandy (probably Robert I, Duke of Normandy), though the precise details remain uncertain. By the early 1020s, she was married to the English magnate Ulf Thorgilsson, who later served as regent in Denmark. By marriage she was thus, successively, a Russian princess, duchess of Normandy and a Danish noblewoman.

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Legal guardian in the context of Runaway (dependent)

A runaway is a minor or (depending upon the local jurisdiction) a person under a specified age who has left their parents or legal guardians without permission.

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Legal guardian in the context of Child support

Child support (or child maintenance) is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child (state or parent, caregiver, guardian) following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Court order child maintenance is paid directly or indirectly by an obligor to an obligee for the care and support of children of a relationship or marriage that has been terminated, or in some cases never existed. Often the obligor is a non-custodial parent. The obligee is typically a custodial parent, a caregiver, or a guardian.

Depending on the jurisdiction, a custodial parent may pay child support to a non-custodial parent. Typically one has the same duty to pay child support irrespective of sex, so a mother is required to pay support to a father just as a father must pay a mother. In some jurisdictions where there is joint custody, the child is considered to have two custodial parents and no non-custodial parents, and a custodial parent with a higher income (obligor) may be required to pay the other custodial parent (obligee). In other jurisdictions, and even with legally shared residence, unless they can prove exactly equal contributions, one parent will be deemed the non-resident parent for child support and will have to pay the other parent a proportion of their income; the "resident" parent's income or needs are not assessed.

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