adding a guardian

[sol8air]

i live in wa state. i am parent (permanent legal guardian actually) of a disabled child. natural mom is dead, there is no natural father (mom was drug addict with infinite number of consorts). i obtained guardianship after mother's death in 1994, while still married, although husband's name is not on the guardianship documents, both our last names are (i used both names at that time). divorce was amicable in 1999, and we are still close friends, and work together closely to care for this child we both love, see each other daily, just don't want to be married. my concern is that as the only full name on this child's permanent guardianship documents, if something should happen to me, she would end up a ward of the state or far worse, with ignorant extended family members in another state who were already judged incapable of caring for her properly with her myriad medical problems. as she also does not even know those people, she would be permanently damaged. my ex is the only "father" she has ever known, and he is knowlegable of her medical needs and willing to take on the responsibility for her in my absence. going directly to his guardianship in event of my unexpected demise would be the least disruptive to her (the trauma of losing two mothers in one lifetime would be trauma enough).

so my question is, how do i pre-plan to protect this child? how can i insure positively that if i die in a plane or car crash or mugging that he will get custody of her uninterrupted and without having to go to court all over again to prove himself worthy as we did (at great personal expense to the point of financial ruin) in 1994? can we just have him added to the guardianship as an equal co-guardian? this is fine with both of us if we would be allowed to do so, and far less expensive and disruptive to do now than to wait till something bad happens.


sol8air

 

[sol8air]

i can't believe no one has any useful information about this. surely insuring guardianship of minor children (especially those with "special needs") in the event of one's untimely demise is something lawyers do every day??