Guardianship of Kassandra H.

Michael J. Naughton, Laguna Hills, for Objector and Appellant.

Cesena & Lee, James H. Cesena, Orange, and Donna Bader, Laguna Beach, for Petitioner and Respondent.

SILLS, Presiding Justice.

This case requires us to explore a troublesome area in California's guardianship law. Under the applicable statute, after a guardianship is established, a court may make an order ending the guardianship (which usually means sending the child back to live with a natural parent) if either one of two conditions exist:

(1) "it is no longer necessary that the ward have a guardian" or

(2) "it is in the ward's best interest to terminate the guardianship."

(Prob.Code, § 1601.) [1]

The troublesome part of the law lies in the disjunctive "or." By using that little word, the Legislature signaled that a guardianship might be terminated even if it wasn't in the best interest of the child to do so, as long as it was "no longer necessary" for the child to have a guardian.

In the case before us, a guardianship was initially established with the maternal grandmother because the parents were having marital difficulties, brought on in large part by the father's drinking. Having attended counseling and…