What is a guardianship?
A guardianship is a protective arrangement established by a court in which an individual is declared mentally incapacitated and a guardian is appointed to manage their personal affairs, including responsibility for making decisions regarding the person’s support, care, health, safety, rehabilitation, education, therapeutic treatment and residence.
A guardianship is a court-supervised administration for a minor or for an incapacitated person. A person — called the guardian — is appointed by a court to care for the person and/or property of the minor or incapacitated person — called the ward. There are two types of guardians and guardianships. A guardian appointed to take care of the physical well-being of a ward is called a guardian of the person, while a guardian appointed to take care of the ward’s property is called a guardian of the estate. In some cases, only one type of guardian is appointed for a particular ward. In many cases, both a guardian of the person and a guardian of the estate are appointed for a ward. (Often, but not always, they are the same person.
A guardianship is a legal proceeding for an adult (or a child) that can no longer make, or communicate, safe or sound decisions about themselves or their assets. The guardianship is a protective arrangement covering the personal and medical well being of the individual by having the court appoint a guardian to be responsible for these decisions. Guardianships are commonly used to protect senior clients from fraud, undue influence or other forms of thievery. This can be found with adults suffering from dementia, mental illness or other mental impairments.
If you have minor children, naming a guardian for them is one of the most important considerations in your will. Typically, if one parent dies, the surviving parent will remain responsible for the children. However, complications arise if both parents die simultaneously, or if one parent has re-married. Unless you name guardians for your minor children in your will, the court decides who takes custody of the children in those situations. If you have a spouse who is legally the mother or father of a child, then in most cases you should appoint the spouse as guardian. If you choose to appoint someone else, the court will balance your desires with what is in the best interest of the children. For example, if you are remarried and you want your current spouse (and not the natural parent of the child) to be the guardian, you may want to state your reasoning on why your current spouse would be better for the children. Corporate Storefront, Inc. gives you the option of writing these instructi
Introduction. Guardianship is a type of court proceeding. Technically, there are two types of fiduciaries involved in a guardianship proceeding: a guardian is the fiduciary who makes decisions about physical care and custody for another individual, and a conservator is the fiduciary who makes decisions about financial matters for another individual. The guardian or conservator can be the same person, or they can be different people. Arizona law refers to guardianship and/or conservatorship proceedings collectively as “protective proceedings,” as they are designed to protect a person who cannot protect himself or herself. Protective proceedings include matters involving incapacitated or vulnerable adults, but they also can include minor children; this outline is intended as an overview of the proceedings as they apply to adults, and while the proceedings for minors are often very similar, there are many important differences which are beyond the scope of this article. Why guardianship?
