Tag Archives: guardian

  • 23
    Sep 15
  • -

Removing a Guardian with Mental Health Powers

Tags : 

Removing a Guardian with Mental Health PowersIt can be emotionally draining for you when your loved one’s personal rights have been limited. When age, mental or physical illness or other situations affect the ability of the loved one to maintain independence, important decisions (such as choice in doctors, healthcare treatments, where to live, whether he or she can drive a car and what family and friends can visit) need to be made by someone else.

That’s where guardianship can help. To review, a guardian is a person granted the legal authority and responsibility to help another person make decisions that affect his or her wellbeing. A guardian with mental health powers has authority to make decisions specific to mental health care, including whether the ward needs inpatient hospitalization.

Unfortunately, a guardian may not always do a good job fulfilling the delicate and sometimes confusing responsibilities of the position, and may be putting the protected person at risk.

If you find yourself in a situation where a guardian is not acting in the best interest of your loved one, you have the right to petition the court to remove the current guardian and to appoint a replacement.

If this happens, you will need to supply the court with a professional evaluation of the protected person. The quickest way to work with HIPAA and other confidentiality laws (HIPAA refers to The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) is to seek assistance from an experienced probate attorney to file a motion with the court that will require the ward to receive an additional psychiatric examination.

This ruling process typically takes about two or three months. If the situation is an emergency, your attorney can help you file for emergency status to receive a ruling sooner.

The court will make a ruling for removing a guardian and appointing a successor based on the best interest of the ward. This means that the court doesn’t necessarily need to find that the current guardian has acted inappropriately. The court is interested in what is best for the protected person and will support replacing a current guardian with a successor who is better qualified.

The most common mistake that guardians make is not disclosing information to the family and lawyers. If you’re acting as a guardian with mental health powers, make sure you keep lines of communication open between your ward’s family and attorney. Maintain copies of all letters and reports that are sent to involved parties. Preserve meticulous records of expenses you’ve made for which you’ve used the ward’s resources.

Whether you’re a guardian in need of help navigating the responsibilities of the position, or a family member concerned about the care your loved one is receiving, don’t be afraid to talk to an attorney. Attorneys’ experience in navigating the legal system can help you make sure your loved one receives proper care and give you peace of mind.

  • 16
    Sep 15
  • -

Guardianship with Mental Health Powers

Tags : 

Guardianship with Mental Health PowersDisability, physical or mental illness or alcohol or drug abuse can limit a person’s ability to live an independent life. In such cases, a guardian may be appointed to take care of everyday tasks such as housing, education, medical care, food and clothing. However, this post discusses a guardianship with mental health powers, meaning that the guardian has additional powers to deal with psychological or psychiatric issues.

To review, a guardian has the legal authority and responsibility to make all these decisions on behalf of another (who is legally referred to as a ward, incapacitated person or protected person) to protect his or her well-being. A guardian who has powers over mental health has additional authority to admit the protected person for inpatient mental-health treatment.

Admitting a ward for inpatient therapy is a serious responsibility. Inpatient treatment means the ward will not be free to leave. This limits or removes a U.S. citizen’s constitutional right to liberty and due process. Taking such an action is, understandably, a measure of last resort.

A guardian with “mental health powers” has other responsibilities and obligations of that include:

• Making decisions concerning the ward’s mental-health needs. This includes the decision to place a ward in a mental-health treatment facility.

• Seeking the advice and assistance of qualified mental health professionals.

• Exploring alternatives to inpatient hospitalization. Inpatient hospitalization should be the last resort.

• Giving notice of placement. That is, notifying the ward’s attorney of placement of the ward in an inpatient treatment facility within 48 hours.

• Providing assessment of the appropriateness of placement. The guardian is responsible to make sure assessment is done every 30 days. A copy of the assessment must be mailed to the ward’s attorney.

• Giving the facility the ward’s attorney’s contact information. If the ward is admitted to an inpatient behavioral health treatment facility, the guardian must make sure the facility has the address and telephone number of the ward’s attorney.

• Transferring a patient to least-restrictive care once and if inpatient care is no longer needed. The guardian must find alternative care within 10 days after notification from the inpatient facility that the ward is no longer in need of such care. If there are issues in finding alternative placement, the guardian or medical director or both may request the court hold a hearing for assistance.

The longest time that a guardian can admit a ward to inpatient psychiatric facility for mental health care is one year. If inpatient care is required after the year is up, the court will need to grant authorization for an additional year.

If you have questions about guardianship with mental health powers, contact our office. This is a complicated area of law and can be confusing, even for lawyers. We have the experience to help you safely navigate this often-challenging part of life.

In the next post we will look at how to remove a guardian with mental health powers.

Listen to the Podcast

  • 09
    Sep 15
  • -

How to Remove a Guardian

Tags : 

How to Remove a GuardianIt’s hard watching loved ones age. Their loss of independence can come as quite a blow for their families, and such challenges can become even more difficult if the guardian trusted with the care of a loved one is not fulfilling the responsibilities of the position.

A guardian is a person appointed by the court to make decisions about a protected person’s well-being (the “ward”).

A few of the responsibilities of a guardian, include ensuring safe and clean living arrangements, seeing to appropriate medical care (including compliance with taking of necessary medications)and determining whether or when family members or other people should be able to visit the ward.

If you suspect or see that something isn’t right with the guardianship, you should find an experienced probate litigation attorney to help you file a petition with the court or to contact Adult Protective Services (APS). Both of these bodies take the fulfillment of a guardian’s responsibilities very seriously.

Sometimes, a guardian might be doing an adequate job, but the court will remove a guardian and appoint a successor if it deems that another person is better able to act in the best interest of the ward.

Let’s look at an example where the need for a new guardian is not due to negligence but to circumstance. Sarah, a 75-year-old widow suffering from advanced dementia, is living in a nursing home. She needs a guardian to help with daily living and healthcare. Her son, who was originally appointed as her guardian, lives an hour away from his mother and has his own a busy work and family life. He’s finding it more and more difficult to remain as his mother’s guardian while also seeing to the care of his own family.

Sarah’s sister Beth, who is of sound mind and health, is a registered nurse who happens to live just 15 minutes away from Sarah’s nursing home. Beth visits Sarah daily and is able to be there quickly in an emergency. She has more time to devote to the care of her sister than does Sarah’s son.

It would be in the best interest of the court that Sarah’s son be removed as her guardian, though he has not abused his position, and to appoint Beth as the new guardian.  Sometimes another party is better able to care for the ward.

If a guardian is doing a poor job (whether intentionally or unintentionally), in most cases the court will simply to remove a guardian and appoint a successor. If the case is a more amicable transfer of responsibilities as in the example of Sarah and her son, the court will help with the legalities to relieve the original guardian of the responsibilities and transfer the legal authority to the new guardian.

If you’re serving as a guardian, focus on maintaining open lines of communication with your ward’s family and lawyer. Keep detailed records of both letters and reports of care and receipts for expenses paid for with the ward’s resources.

If you have questions about the process of removing a guardian, please contact our office. We’d love to help relieve you and your family of the burden of navigating the legal system as you seek care for your loved one.

Listen to the Podcast

  • 10
    Jun 15
  • -

What Is a Guardianship?

Tags : 

What Is a GuardianshipSince life expectancy has increased over the last two decades., a growing group of Americans will likely need some kind of long-term assistance. An important part of preparing for the future should you become unable to care for yourself is designating a health care agent and (if needed) a legal guardian. Having a health care power of attorney can usually avoid the need for someone to get appointed as a guardian through the court system. However, sometimes despite your best attempts at planning, someone will need to go to court and be appointed as your guardian.

A legal guardianship is a legal action in which someone is appointed by a court as a guardian to make decisions regarding healthcare and personal well-being for another person (who, in legal terms, is referred to as an “Incapacitated Person” or ward). These decisions can include living arrangements, medical care and whether the family should be able to visit.

Guardianship is a big responsibility, and it can sometimes be challenging. For example, I once represented a man who was caring for his mother as her legal guardian. They both lived in the Phoenix area. This man’s brother and sister, who lived in Michigan, wanted their mother to move out to live with them. Their mother was being well taken care of and was happy in Phoenix. This could have proved difficult, with different children wanting different things for their parent. But through working with my client on aspects of his guardianship, we were able to arrange a visitation schedule for the family, similar to child-custody arrangements common in divorce situations.

Guardianship is not that well-known a function among the general public. And common misperceptions and misconceptions exist.

• One is that the guardian is legally obligated to use personal resources to support the ward. This is incorrect. A guardian’s legal obligation is to use the ward’s resources to support the ward, not the guardian’s personal assets.

• Another is that the guardian assumes liability for the actions of the ward. This is not true except in cases where, say, the guardian gives a car or a gun to the ward. If the ward crashes the car or shoots someone with the gun, the guardian can be held liable if the guardian should have known that allowing the ward to have the car or gun was dangerous.

A guardian is required to sign a document called an Order to Guardian and Acknowledgement, which outlines the guardian’s responsibilities. A guardian should this document carefully and refer to it during the guardianship to prevent errors, and ensure that all responsibilities are being followed.

Here are two common mistakes that many guardians make:

  1. Failure to file an annual guardian’s report with the court. If you do not file this report, you will have to attend a hearing and explain why the report was not filed.
  2. Failure to restrict access to family and others when appropriate. This can justify removal of the guardian if the guardian is acting out of spite or maliciousness (as opposed to protecting the ward from people who may be dangerous).

As we age, our needs change. A health care power of attorney is an important part of a well-planned estate to make sure a person’s needs will be met as they arise. But sometimes this document can’t be found, or there is a dispute over who should be making the decisions.  In that case, someone needs to go to court to be appointed as a guardian. Just as it can be a delicate situation to consider making a will or plan an estate, it can be difficult to approach one’s parents about needing help now or in the future. It’s important to be proactive and address these issues sooner rather than later.

That’s where you come in. Remind your parents that you care about them and that you want to do what’s best to promote their health and well being, both today and in the months and years to come. And sometimes you need to make the tough call and get appointed as guardian even if your mom or dad does not want to give up control over their personal or health care decisions.

Remember that you aren’t alone. This is a common situation faced by adult children caring for their elderly parents.

Listen to the Podcast

  • 27
    May 15
  • -

Resolving Disputes Involving Guardianships and Conservatorships

Tags : 

Resolving Disputes Involving Guardianships and ConservatorshipsDisputes involving guardianships and conservatorships can be confusing and overwhelming for most people. The single biggest mistake I see in this area is people not consulting a probate litigation attorney. An experienced attorney will not only be familiar with the applicable statutes and case law, but will also know the applicable probate rules. Here is what you need to know about resolving disputes involving guardianships and conservatorships.

Guardianships and conservatorships is one of those areas of law that the uninitiated simply cannot tackle alone. People serving as guardians or conservators find themselves in a position where they are expected to be an expert on a complex topic they likely know little about. This is fertile ground for anger, surprises, greed and revenge among heirs and family members. While some guardianship and conservatorship matters are settled peacefully and amicably among family members and heirs, many times the actions by the guardian or conservator can engender disputes and bad feelings.

I recently worked with a prominent family in the Phoenix area to help the adult children resolve a dispute about their mother’s money. It turned out that one sister who had been named trustee and financial (general) power of attorney was mismanaging funds. To rectify this, I helped the other siblings file for conservatorship. We were able to obtain copies of all the financial documents and track all the funds that had been held in the mother’s trust and LLC.

After examining the financial documents, we could then force the sister who had been serving as trustee and financial power of attorney to pay back the money she’d stolen from the trust and business. We then replaced her with a professional trustee. (My clients became co-conservators.) We resolved this dispute in a cost-effective and family-oriented manner while maintaining the family’s privacy, thus avoiding public drama that would have tarnished the family name and reputation.

Conservators and guardians make important decisions on behalf of a loved one. But if the conservator or guardian is not living up to the responsibilities of the position you do have options. A probate litigation attorney can help you assess your unique situation and give you direction.

If you are an heir or if you’re serving as a guardian or conservator and you’ve found yourself in a dispute, don’t wait and hope the problem will go away on its own. Enlist the help of a probate litigation attorney right away.

In our next post we will look at solving disputes that involve trusts. If you have questions about guardianships and conservatorships, or other probate issues, please comment below or contact our office.

Listen to the Podcast

Contact Form

Fields marked with an * are required

Magellan Law, PLC

10617 North Hayden Road, Suite B-100, Scottsdale, AZ 85260

Office: 602-443-4888

Fax: 602-334-1311

[email protected]

Why Choose Magellan Law

A great legal team is critical to the success of your Estate Plan. The Scottsdale Estate Planning and Trust attorneys at Magellan Law will help you plan a cohesive strategy to take care of your estate now, and for future generations!

Magellan Law Firm, PLC  FLIP Marketing and SEO