Advocacy

A Power of Attorney (POA) has no court oversight. Guardians have to follow the statutes underlined in Chapter 54 regarding guardian and conservatorships.  Guardians also have to file annual reports and notifications if a client’s residence changes.

A guardian is a person or entity that is legally appointed by the circuit court in the responsible county at the time of the hearing.  The responsible county is typically the one in which the client is residing or the client has some sort of tie to.  There are two different kinds of guardians. Both types require that the person is deemed incompetent and that a guardian is appropriate.  The two types of guardian are Estate and Person.  The Guardian of Estate pays bills from the persons income, safeguards assets, makes financial decisions on behalf of the person. The Guardian of Person works with physicians and other care team members to ensure the client receives the care they need and that their daily lives are as fulfill as possible.

A guardian is first and foremost a decision maker who was appointed to help the client in their daily lives by getting them the resources they need.  This is accomplished in most cases within a team of care managers, facility staff, the guardian, the client, and any other services determining together what is needed for the clients daily lives.  A guardian with multiple clients has many meetings, phone calls, emails, and other tasks for all of their clients that makes it very difficult to have daily communication or visits.

A private guardian is a person appointed who is typically related to the client, but it can be a close friend or in some cases a person who is willing to serve, but is not part of a corporate guardian agency.  Corporate guardians are sometimes needed because of family dynamics or other issues the court decides require a corporate guardian to handle.  Many times, a private guardian finds it harder to make decisions due to the closeness.  The private guardian knows that person well and often is emotionally invested in them and are now making all decisions for them.  A corporate guardian is a step-off from the Ward and can Handle difficult decisions.

In an emergency situation a temporary guardian can be appointed to make decisions.  Typically, a person who is considered for guardianship must be examined by a physician or psychologist and a court hearing is held where all of the evidence and reports are reviewed before the guardian is appointed.

A standby guardian is a person or agency that is willing to serve as a guardian if the current guardian is unable to serve as guardian any longer.

A successor guardian is a standby guardian who was appointed by the court after the previous guardian is no longer able to serve as guardian.

The decision determining if a client resides in a nursing home or other facility instead of a private residence is based on the care needs.  Any income and assets, including real estate, are required by statute to be used for the care and needs of the client.  It is illegal for a guardian to try to “save” money for a client’s estate.

As a guardian, we must sell any assets as close to fair market value as possible.  Any sale of real estate must be reviewed by the court and any sale of any other asset for significantly less than fair market value would have to be approved by the court as well.  Also, a sale for less than fair market value can cause issues if government benefits are needed because it would be considered a divestment.