Guardianship

Ready to Help You With Any and All Guardianship Needs

In Florida, guardianship can be voluntary or involuntary, and it can involve both minors and adults for a number of reasons.  An elderly individual may designate a guardian to make certain important decisions on his or her behalf, while a minor child may also require guardianship to take the place of parental decisions.  Because guardianship decisions can literally involve life and death, you want to ensure that you obtain the very best legal guidance when it comes to setting up a guardianship.

In Florida, guardianship requires a legal proceeding in the circuit court system. The appointed guardian can exercise the legal rights of an incapacitated person.  A guardian may be an individual or an institution that represents and makes decisions for an adult who is incapacitated and has been judicially determined to lack the capacity to manage his or her own assets or make necessary health and safety decisions.

If a minor child receives an inheritance, lawsuit proceeds or insurance policy proceeds in excess of $15,000, the State of Florida also requires the appointment of a guardian to manage those assets until the minor child reaches 18 years of age.

Guardianships are subject to complex statutory and procedural requirements, and the courts require that a guardian be represented by an attorney to carry out these duties.

An attorney can help you with the following guardianship tasks and responsibilities:

• Filing a guardianship proceeding
• Appointing a guardian
• Representation of guardians
• Going to hearings with the guardian
• Creating an inventory of the ward’s (the incapacitated person or minor child) assets
• Addressing any special-needs trusts that may need to be established for a ward who is disabled
• Preparing a plan for how the ward will be cared for, including establishing annual budgets and accountings for a ward who is incapacitated, and helping with other aspects of guardianship administrative needs, etc.
• Dealing with any out-of-state guardianship transfers
• Drafting petitions to determine incapacity
• Addressing any property inherited by minor children via a guardianship