guardianship Tag

There is a bill concerning Guardianship actions that was passed by the State Senate that is awaiting action by the State Assembly, called S-1957. http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2014/Bills/S2000/1957_I1.HTM. The State Senate passed it with amendments which are described here: 1957_S2 Legislative status can be found at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillView.asp This bill concerns the proofs...

As you begin making your plans for retirement, don’t neglect to prepare or update your estate plan. Your plan may be decades-old, or maybe you never even signed any documents for a plan. It’s a good idea to start thinking about a variety of issues at this time. Here are some of them. It’s important to sign  a Durable Power of Attorney and Health Care proxy to designate the...

The Supreme Court of New Jersey recently adopted a new standardized Judgment of Incapacity for Guardianship cases, to be used by the probate courts throughout the state. It’s called the Revised Model Judgment. The Judgment is the final court order signed by the Judge which generally appoints the Guardian of Person and Property and places an array of obligations and limitations on the...

Sometimes a guardianship must be put in place when a young person reaches adulthood and has severe disabilities that impede their capability to manage their financial or personal affairs. Sometimes a capable adult who never signed any Power of Attorney suffers a severe and traumatic brain injury, and a guardianship is urgently needed to ensure financial protection or arrange for necessary...

The NJ Guardianship statutes and court rules give examples of areas of decision-making that can be excluded from the guardian’s control and reserved to the person under guardianship. A case called Matter of M.R., 135 N.J. 155, 638 A.2d 1274 (NJ 1994) discussed the idea that a person under guardianship may still have the capacity to make certain decisions such as with whom she wanted to...

When a petition for guardianship is filed in NJ, the examining physicians, the court-appointed attorney for the alleged incapacitated person, and the Court are required to consider whether the person lacks the capacity “to care for himself” and to “manage his affairs” in some or all domains. See N.J.S.A. 3B:12-24.1b (the statute) and N.J. R. 4:86-2(b) and 4:86-4(b)...

Over 300 people from 6 continents & 19 countries attended the 3rd World Congress on Adult Guardianship in Arlington, VA last week and spent three days discussing strategies to help people who have impaired decision-making ability. Elder law attorneys, professional guardians, professors and policy makers tackled issues such as: preserving autonomy and legal rights by use of limited...