Family & Safety

A court-ordered guardianship of a minor can be ended by filing a Petition to Discharge. If you are a parent of a child with a guardian, and you want to take care of your child, you can file to end the guardianship.

After a Petition to Discharge is filed, the court will have a hearing to decide whether to end the current guardianship. The court will consider whether circumstances have changed since the appointment of the guardian and the best interests of the child.

Instead of ending a guardianship, it is possible to ask the judge to appoint a successor guardian. The Petition for Successor Guardianship asks the court to name a new guardian. The court can also appoint a successor guardian on its own. This might happen if the current guardian dies or no longer wants to be the guardian.

A short-term guardianship is not court-ordered, so you do not need to file a petition to end it.