Guardianship and Conservatorship

February 1^st is Conservatorship & Guardianship Abuse Awareness Day

As we recognize National Guardianship and Conservatorship Abuse and Awareness Day, we encourage you to examine your own state’s guardianship practices and identify ways in which you can work to ensure that our vulnerable neighbors are not harmed by a system that is supposed to protect them. Learn more here.

Featured Resources

• 2021 Adult Guardianship Legislative Summary
• Finding the Right Fit: Decision-Making Supports and Guardianship  (July 2020)
• Guardianship and the Right to Visitation, Communication, and Interaction: A Legislative Fact Sheet (May 2018)
• Guardianship Court Improvement Program (GCIP) (May 2018)
• PRACTICAL Tool (May 2016)
• Uniform Law Commission Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Other Protective Arrangements Act (2017- Adopted by ABA Resolution 112C February 2018)

Alternatives to Guardianship

Five Ways Lawyers Can Become Industry Thought Leaders by Advising on Alternatives to Guardianship (May 2022)

Supported Decision - Making Resources

Using Alternatives to Guardianship to Defend Against or Terminate Guardianship (Dec. 2022)

Guardian ad Litem (GAL) 

• Criminal and Credit Background Checks for Guardians (August 2020)
• Conservatorship and Guardianship Bonds: State Statutory Requirements (April 2014)
  
• Emergency Guardianship (December 2014)
• Guardians ad Litem Charts
  • Full Statutory Chart (July 2018)
  • State Statutory Duties of Guardians ad Litem  (July 2018)
  • State Statutory Duties of Court Visitors  (July 2018)
  • Guardians ad Litem vs. Court Visitors (July 2018)
• Guardian Authority for Residential Decisions (August 2010) 
• Limited Guardianship of the Person and Property (August 2016)
• Privacy and Confidentiality: Guardianship Statutes and Court Rules (August 2020)
• Relationship Between Adult and Minor Guardianship Statutes (July 2015)
• Restoration Procedures  (and accompanying paper) (June 2013)
• Role of Clinical Evaluation Professionals in Adult Guardianship Proceedings: Survey of State Statutes (July 2016)
• Selected Issues in Power of Attorney Law (June 2023)
• Standards of Practice for Guardians (January 2022)
• State Guardian Certification Chart (January  2021)
• State Statutes or Court Rules on Guardianship Complaint Processes (June 2018)
• State Statutory Provisions on Residency of Guardians (February 2015)
  
• Statutory Appeals Provisions in Adult Guardianship (July 2019)

Law, Policy, and Practice

• ABA Policy/Resolutions. Please visit the Commission's Policy Page for listings of Guardianship policy.
• Fourth National Guardianship Summit Standards and Recommendations (May 2021)
  
• Guardianship Court Improvement Program (Aug 2021)
• Guardianship Monitoring
  • Adult Guardian Handbooks by State (June 2019)
    
  • Find out more about the Commission's Volunteer Guardianship Monitoring Handbooks project.
• Highlights of the Fourth National Guardianship Summit and the 22 recommendations to reform and improve state guardianship system. (April 2022) 
• Judicial Determination of Capacity of Older Adults in Guardianship Proceedings (March 2006)
  • Electronic version, 49 pages
  • Electronic version (with appendices), 94 pages 
• Jurisdiction -  Learn more about the Commission's Guardianship Jurisdiction project.
  
•  Managing Someone Else's Money Guides
• Uniform Law Commission- Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Other Protective Arrangements Act (December 2017- Approved by the ABA in 2018)
  
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (December 2006)

Legislation and Statutory Charts

• 2021 Adult Guardianship Legislation  Summary 
• 2022 Adult Guardianship State Legislative Charts (December 2022)
  • Capacity Definition & Initiation of Guardianship Proceedings
  • Representation and Investigation of Guardianship Proceedings
  • Notice in Guardianship Proceedings
  • Conduct and Findings of Guardianship Proceedings
  • Monitoring Following Guardianship Proceedings
• Health Care Decision-Making: A Guardian's Authority
  • Health Care Decision-Making Authority: Health Care Agents vs. Court Appointed Guardians (50-state chart) (January 2003)
  • Health Care Decision-Making Authority: What is the Decision-Making Standard?(July 2015)
    
  • Health Care Decision-Making Authority: Who Makes the Decision? (July 2015)
• Restoration of Rights for Adults Under Guardanship
  • A chart analyzing the elements of each case(January 2014)
  • Research and Recommendations on Restoration of Rights in Adult Guardianship (January 2017)
  • Restoration of Rights for Adults Under Guardanship (February 2015)
• State Guardianship Statutory Citations
  
  • State Public Guardianship and Guardianship of Last Resort Citations (June 2016)
  • Statutory Table of Authorities (January 2021)
  • Terminology for Protected Person in State Adult Guardianship Statutes (November 2014)
    
• Uniform Law Commission- Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Other Protective Arrangements Act (2017- Approved by the ABA in 2018)

Practice Tools and Additional Resources

National Guardianship Summits

• Fourth National Guardianship Conference Recommendations (May 2021)
• Third National Guardianship Summit Standards and Recommendations (October 2011)
• Wingspan—The Second National Guardianship Conference Recommendations (December 2011)
• Wingspread—The First National Guardianship Conference Recommendations and Report (July 1988)

Guardianship Handbooks

• State Guardianship Handbooks   (June 2019)

• Volunteer Guardianship Monitoring Handbooks
  (October 2011)

International Guardianship Recommendations

• 7th World Congress on Adult Capacity (June 2022)
• Fourth World Congress on Guardianship International Resource Library (January 2016)
• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006)
• Yokohama Declaration (October 2010)

Organizations

• AARP
• National Center on Law and Elder Rights
• National Guardianship Network

Practice Tools

• Adult Capacity and Assessment
• Capacity Handbook 2nd Edition  (2021)
• Guardianship Replace or Reform: Where Do We Go From Here? (CLE, 2021)
• Introduction to Supported Decision-Making (CLE, 2021)
• List of Guardianship Video Resources (August 2019)
• The PRACTICAL Tool (2016)
• Transferring Guardianships Across State Lines (CLE, 2022)

Voting Rights

• Assisting Cognitively Impaired Individuals with Voting: A Quick Guide (April 2020)
  

• Assisting Cognitively Impaired Individuals with Voting: A Quick Guide - Spanish (April 2020)
• Voting and Cognitive Impairments - additional resources (May 2022)

WINGS: State Guardianship Stakeholders

(Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders) a project to support court-led partnerships in states to drive changes in guardianship policy and practice. Click on the link above to learn more.

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