§ 1707 — Decree appointing guardian; term of office 1

§ 1707. Decree appointing guardian; term of office\n 1. If the court be satisfied that the interests of the infant will be\npromoted by the appointment of a guardian or by the issuance of\ntemporary letters of guardianship of his or her person or of his or her\nproperty, or of both, it must make a decree accordingly. If the court\ndetermines that appointment of a permanent guardian is in the best\ninterests of the infant or child, the court shall issue a decree\nappointing such guardian. The same person may be appointed guardian of\nboth the person and the property of the infant or the guardianship of\nthe person and of the property may be committed to different persons.\nThe court may appoint a person other than the parent of the infant or\nthe person nominated by the petitioner. When the court is informed that\nthe infant, a person nominated to be a guardian of such infant, the\npetitioner, or any individual eighteen years of age or over who resides\nin the home of the proposed guardian is a subject of or another person\nnamed in an indicated report, as such terms are defined in section four\nhundred twelve of the social services law, filed with the statewide\nregister of child abuse and maltreatment pursuant to title six of\narticle six of the social services law or is or has been the subject of\nor the respondent in or a party to a child protective proceeding\ncommenced under article ten of the family court act which resulted in an\norder finding that the child is an abused or neglected child the court\nshall obtain such records regarding such report or proceeding as it\ndeems appropriate and shall give the information contained therein due\nconsideration in its determination. The court shall provide in its order\nappointing a guardian of a child for whom the guardian and a local\ndepartment of social services have entered into an agreement under title\nten of article six of the social services law: (a) if the guardian would\nmeet the definition of relative guardian as such term is defined in\nsection four hundred fifty-eight-a of the social services law, the\ncompelling reasons that exist for determining that the return home of\nthe child and the adoption of the child are not in the best interests of\nthe child and are, therefore, not appropriate permanency options for the\nchild; and (b) that the local department of social services and the\nattorney for the child must receive notice of, and be made parties to,\nany subsequent proceeding to vacate or modify the order of guardianship.\n 2. The term of office of a guardian of the person or property so\nappointed expires when the infant attains majority, unless the infant\nconsents to the continuation of or appointment of a guardian after his\nor her eighteenth birthday, in which case such term of office expires on\nhis or her twenty-first birthday, or after such other shorter period as\nthe court establishes upon good cause shown; except that the term of\noffice of a guardian of the person of an infant expires upon the\ninfant's marriage prior to attaining majority. The appointment of a\nguardian of a child shall expire when the infant or child reaches the\nage of eighteen years, unless the infant or child consents to the\ncontinuation of a guardian after his or her eighteenth birthday, in\nwhich case such term of office expires on his or her twenty-first\nbirthday, or unless vacated by the court prior to the infant or child's\neighteenth or twenty-first birthday if the court finds that, based upon\nclear and convincing evidence, the guardian failed to or is unable,\nunavailable or unwilling to provide proper care and custody of the\ninfant or child, or that the guardianship is no longer in the best\ninterests of the infant or child.\n