As your parents age, you and your siblings sometimes face difficult decisions. At some point, you may need to have one of you appointed as your mom’s guardian or to take over being the guardian for another family member with special needs. Maybe if your parents pass away, a sibling may need to become the guardian for your aunt, who is nonverbal autistic or suffered a serious traumatic brain injury a few years ago. Yet later on, you may question if your mom or aunt is receiving proper care. You may see your sibling buy an expensive car or clothing and discover your loved one is living in filth.
Is your family member taking advantage of being a guardian? And if they are, what can you do about it?
Understanding guardianship litigation
You may need to pursue guardianship litigation if you find out a guardian is not fulfilling their duties or is taking advantage of your parent or family member. Nevada law requires guardians to provide a duty of care toward an elderly or incapacitated person. That means your loved one’s guardian is supposed to put your mom or aunt’s needs before their own. A guardian also is supposed to handle their ward’s finances in the ward’s best interests. A ward is the person a guardian takes care of.
Through guardianship litigation, you could seek to become the guardian of your loved one if you think the current guardian isn’t fulfilling their obligations well. You could seek to share guardianship, so you can help make decisions about how your loved one’s money is spent. You even may contest that your mom really needs a guardian. Your sibling could have pushed for that with your elderly mom, but you think she is capable of making decisions on her own.
Getting help for guardianship litigation
With an attorney’s help, you can pursue options to become your loved one’s guardian. You could prove your mom really doesn’t need a guardian and can take care of her own affairs. You also likely can reach a settlement in the matter without going to court.
Facing a guardianship challenge can put you on an emotional roller coaster. You just want to see your loved one get the care they deserve and not have their money wasted. Getting legal help often is the best way to see a guardianship problem reach the best resolution possible.
