Guardianship is a legal decision made by a court. The decision made is that a particular person has become incapacitated. He or she can no longer make decisions about him or herself. The Court also appoints a \u201cguardian\u201d to make decisions for the person it deems incapacitated. This guardian is answerable to the Court.<\/p>\n
The law states that everyone is presumed able and free to make their own decisions, until a Court deems otherwise. One may not like the decisions another person makes, and the decisions may even be hurtful to that person.\u00a0 This does not mean that guardianship is appropriate.\u00a0 Proof must be presented to the Court that the person in question has a medical condition which interferes with their ability to make decisions.\u00a0 Examples of medical conditions which may lead to guardianship include dementia, severe illness, and developmental disabilities. A Court is bound to protect the liberty of all, even to make bad decisions, and it will not appoint a guardian without the legal requirements having been met.<\/p>\n
In most states, there is a statute that allows priority of family members to be appointed guardian of a loved one.\u00a0 Parents or a spouse are primary. Children are next. If there is no family member, others may be appointed if they can show an interest in the incapacitated person.\u00a0 In addition, each state has a government agency which will become the guardian in the event there is no one else.\u00a0 In New Jersey, the agency is the Office of the Public Guardian.\u00a0 However, in a number of states, there are community organizations which can offer individual service, which the government agency cannot do.\u00a0 An example of such a community organization is Volunteer Guardianship One on One, Inc., located in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. https:\/\/Volunteerguardianship.org<\/p>\n
Once a guardian is appointed by a Court, there are rules which the guardian must follow.\u00a0 Above all, the guardian is a \u201cfiduciary\u201d, and there are strict laws pertaining to how fiduciaries handle other peoples\u2019 money.\u00a0 Money can only be used in the interest of the incapacitated person, called a \u201cward\u201d.\u00a0 New Jersey requires that the guardian file an annual account of money received and expended by the guardian, along with a report on the general well-being of the ward.\u00a0 Similar requirements can be found in other states.\u00a0 However, a guardian\u2019s own personal assets are not exposed to the liabilities of the ward, unless, of course, they steal or misappropriate the ward\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n
The requirement that the ward\u2019s money be used for the sole benefit of the ward has already been mentioned.\u00a0 It may be that a Guardian may want to continue giving gifts of money to relatives, as the ward has done in the past.\u00a0 However, the Guardian must go back to the Court and ask permission.\u00a0 Many times, too, the original guardianship order will prohibit the Guardian from selling real estate without the Court\u2019s approval.\u00a0 Other rules include the need to account to the Court, and to also notify the Court if a ward is moved within the state or out of the state.\u00a0 Finally, when the ward dies, the Guardian must notify the court, render a final accounting, and formally ask the Court to be relieved of his or her duty.<\/p>\n
Being a guardian does not mean that you have to know and do everything yourself.\u00a0 A guardian may hire accountants, financial advisors, lawyers and others to help carry out their work.\u00a0\u00a0 Law Offices of Robert J. Shanahan, Jr. has been a leader in helping families through the guardianship process, offering advice and assistance to those having to act when a loved one can no longer take care of themselves.\u00a0 Commitment and compassion are required by you, and you can expect the same from Law Offices of Robert J. Shanahan, Jr..\u00a0 Please give us a call.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Guardianship is a legal decision made by a court. The decision made is that a particular person has become incapacitated. He or she can no longer make decisions about him or herself. The Court also appoints a \u201cguardian\u201d to make decisions for the person it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15,3007],"tags":[248,38,1317,40,41,45,51,66,79,92,1316],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15379,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12850\/revisions\/15379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalcounselnj.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}