< Washington Specific Questions

How do I set up a Minor Guardianship case?

Minor Guardianship cases use a different structure for Case Data than you'll find in other types of MyPleadings cases. Instead of using separate tabs for Petitioner and Respondent there is a "People" tab and a "Minors" tab:

Because these types of cases can potentially have many different actual parties and notice parties, you can add an unlimited number of parties in the "People" tab. Since people can potentially take on multiple overlapping roles (for example Grandparent, Petitioner, Guardian) we allow you to add as many different Roles to each person as you want. Additionally, you can enter attorneys, GALs, and all the other type of people who can be involved in a MG case.

The minor children involved in a Minor Guardianship will still be entered in the "Minors" tab. However since a minor child can potentially be a Petitioner and/or a Client on a case, we've added checkboxes that let you assign these roles to a child:

How all of these people interact with the Minor Guardian documents varies greatly depending on the document! MyPleadings will automate these relationships in the documents where it makes sense to do so, while still leaving you with discretion to make important decisions and alterations where needed.

Please note that you will have to use your judgment on which documents are appropriate for your client types! If you have a mismatch between your client and the type of document you run, you will get bad results. For example, if your client is not an "Objector" and you run the Objection to Minor Guardianship (GDN M 301) document, there will be some issues with the resulting document. You will need to take care to make sure that your clients have the appropriate roles set up for the type of documents you are generating!

 

Note: Client Data Entry does not work for the Minor Guardianship casetype, so you will not see this option for these cases.