This question is one many parents of a child with special needs may ask themselves. Naturally, like all minors, you are legally responsible for your child until they turn eighteen. However, what happens if your child may not be able to take care of themselves when they turn eighteen? To ensure a seamless transition, it is recommended that you complete a legal process called a “continuing tutorship” when your child is between the ages of fifteen and seventeen. To explain what a continuing tutorship is, we first need to define a few legal terms.
Anyone under the age of eighteen is considered a minor in Louisiana. A minor lacks capacity to make their own legal decisions. A “tutor” is the person who is legally responsible for a minor.
Parents are automatically the natural tutors of their children. However, when parents get divorced, or one or both parents pass away, it may be necessary to go through the tutorship process and appoint someone to be legally responsible for the minor child. Under Louisiana law, a tutorship is the process of appointing a person as legally responsible for a minor.
Once a person turns eighteen, they gain the capacity to make legal decisions on their own, unless there is another reason that person lacks capacity. For example, someone with severe developmental delays would not be able to manage their own affairs. An interdiction is the process of appointing a legal representative, called a “curator,” to be legally responsible for an adult, incapacitated person. This process is commonly known as called a guardianship in other states.
Now, back to our initial question. Who will be responsible for my special needs child once they turn eighteen? Thankfully, Louisiana law provides a solution for this exact situation: a continuing tutorship. A continuing tutorship is a process to help parents and guardians of special needs children maintain control over their affairs after they turn eighteen.
A continuing tutorship allows the tutorship to continue past age eighteen – however, there are special procedures and deadlines which must be met. The Court will only grant continuing tutorships for those between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. In addition, a continuing tutorship is only available when the minor has less than two-thirds of the average mental ability of a person with the same age and normal intelligence.
A continuing tutorship is necessary to allow you to continue to make financial and medical decisions on behalf of your child. This is important, because once your child turns eighteen, financial institutions, administrative agencies (like social security), and doctors will require proof of a continuing tutorship or an interdiction before they share information with you.
Planning a continuing tutorship while your child is between the ages of fifteen and seventeen is recommended to ensure that you have no interruption in your ability to handle your child’s affairs. If you’d like to discuss this with one of our attorneys, please call us at (225) 465-1090 or click here to schedule a call.
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