Guardian­ship

Our office assists you with guardian­ship in two dif­fer­ent respects.  First, for clients who are doing plan­ning for them­selves, we take extra mea­sures so that court-involved guardian­ship pro­ceed­ings can be avoided com­pletely.  Sec­ond, we also help fam­i­lies with young chil­dren select guardians in case the unthink­able hap­pens.  You can learn more about that kind of Guardian­ship work at our “Foun­da­tional Estate Plan­ning” page.

Unfor­tu­nately, not all of our clients come to us to do their plan­ning before a cri­sis devel­ops.  Some­times, we meet fam­ily mem­bers of a mentally-declining indi­vid­ual where the only solu­tion is a court-driven appli­ca­tion for guardian­ship over the inca­pac­i­tated indi­vid­ual.  The process is more expen­sive and time-consuming than plan­ning for dis­abil­ity by way of a com­pre­hen­sive, foun­da­tional estate plan.  How­ever, we can still help guide these fam­i­lies through the process.

There are two types of guardians that a court can appoint, a Guardian of the Per­son and a Guardian of the Prop­erty.  The Guardian of the Per­son makes per­sonal and med­ical deci­sions on behalf of the inca­pac­i­tated indi­vid­ual.  The Guardian of the Prop­erty han­dles finan­cial deci­sions on behalf of the inca­pac­i­tated indi­vid­ual.  Depend­ing on the cir­cum­stances, the court may appoint the same per­son, or dif­fer­ent peo­ple, to serve in these roles.

If you are inter­ested in learn­ing more about how to avoid a guardian­ship pro­ceed­ing, call our office for a no-cost, con­fi­den­tial con­sul­ta­tion.  If the indi­vid­ual in ques­tion still has moments of lucid­ity, there may be a chance to avoid a hear­ing.  If not, we can help nav­i­gate you nav­i­gate through a guardian­ship appli­ca­tion so you can take care of your loved one dur­ing this emo­tional time.

Either way, give us a call to learn what can be done.