My friends dad died a few weeks ago. She would like for me to become her legal guardian. She is 16 and I am 19. I am all for the idea because she is a great kid with a good head on her shoulders despite being through a lot in her life. She has been staying with me for the past few days because she says she was told to leave her grandmas house. She has a younger brother age 9 who her aunt has taken guardianship of but who cruelly refuses to take her. Her grandma who she was staying with immediatley after her dads death has a meth problem, as does her uncle who lives at her grandmas house. Her biological mom was not around growing up, also has a documented meth problem, and lives about 25 minutes away. As you can see it is best that she stay with me. The only thing I need to know is since her dad died and he had custody of her, if he had no will, does her mother automatically have custody of her now, or is no one responsible for her as of now since there were no known arrangments????
P.S. I am a girl not a boy (see the avatar hehe cute girl) and we live in California if it makes a diff.