We have a lot of clients who are caring family members of incompetent parents or other relatives. Frequently, these clients want to be the guardians for their relatives so that important decisions can get made: medical and treatment decisions, financial (including public benefits), and residential. Sometimes, the guardian lives out of state–that’s ok, though it may lead to more work for the guardian. Sometimes, the guardian thinks it is better to move mom or dad near him or her. So they get the guardianship here in New Jersey, and now the question is–can we just move mom or dad? Well, the answer is…no, but we have a procedure to allow the move.
New Jersey adopted the Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act last year. Basically, this law provides a separate court procedure where you go back to the court that granted your guardianship in the first place, and ask that they sign a provisional order transferring your guardianship to another state. Then, when you get to the other state, you go before their court to get the provisional order turned into a permanent order in the new state. The New Jersey court is going to want to know that mom or dad is going to a safe place in the new state–they will want to evaluate that, so if you don’t have a good plan for residence, the move may not be approved by the court.
The law firm of Fink Rosner Ershow-Levenberg can guide you through this process. Give us a call today!