Has anyone had experiance with obtaining guardianship when your child becomes 18. I am trying to gather info. so I can be prepared. My son is 12 now and I have heard it can take years to complete this process and be extrememly expensive.

Just wanted to update you. I heard from an attorney and spoke with some other parents in my town. It is necessary to obtain guardianship of my son by his 18th birthday or he will be considered a fully functioning adult. Meaning he will be responsible for making all medical, financial, educational decisions. I will need to go through the court system to apply to be his guardian when he becomes an adult. I can begin this process after he turns 16 years old.

I have been told that at the age of 18 my son will be considered a fully functioning adult and will make all medical, financial and educational decisions for himself unless I obtain guardianship of him before then. I was told it can take many years to complete this process. Though my son is high functioning I can't immagine him being able to make these decisions for himself and don't want to wait until it's too late to find out.

I've never heard of it. Will you let us know what you find out? Probably a lawyer specializing in special needs issues would be your best bet.