Good afternoon,
So I may 10 year old cousin is living with me. My Aunt sadly has developed a physical disability that prevents her from being able to care for my cousin any longer.
I am in the process of getting legal custody of her, and my attorney has advised that it is virtually certain due to: My aunts blessing, my clean background, high income and work from home status, my heavy involvement in her life since birth, and my being her only willing and able relative in the area.
But it's a process nonetheless.
I go on a cruise every summer and I would like to take her to experience it, before her summer vacation ends, and this is a coastal cruise with no out of US ports.
My question is if this is possible, and if so, what documentation I will need to show for her, since I do not yet have official custody?
As her cousin, my name is obviously not on her birth certificate and it will be a few months before I get before the judge to get documentation of legal guardianship.
Do they require documentation, or do they just assume that I am her dad? (At 29, I'm old enough to be her parent.)
Also, is a passport sufficient? She has one that my aunt got for her last year, and as this is my dad's side of the family, my cousins last name is the same as mine.
Do we just show that and they take it that she's my daughter when they see a matching surname on her passport and my driver's license?
Or do I need other documents, or is this not possible?
