Conservatorship

[Tiapet]

Does anyone have experience with going for conservatorship? Have you been through the process? If so can you tell me about it? What will it entail, etc? I need to file this on ms. emo I'm told by her psychiatrist, which is something I have long though I was going to have to do eventually but she said to start the process. Thanks.

 

[witzend]

I had to do it for my Great Aunt who had Alzheimer's and whose husband had had a permanently debilitating stroke. She was 84 years old, and we also had to seek and obtain guardianship. It's really no use to have conservatorship if you she can make contracts. The guardianship prevents her from being legally able to sign a contract

Who is ex ms. emo and how old is she? If she's happy with it will be easy peasy. If she objects, or worse yet someone convinces her to object, plan on spending a wad of money getting it done. If you're lucky, she understands that she is losing control and trusts you and her doctor to tell her it is time. My good friend's husband was diagnosis'd with early onset Alzheimers in his late 40's, and his neurologist told him and her that he needed to sign all decision making powers & the money over to her right then because he was going to hate her by the time she needed to make major decisions about money by herself, and he would end up penniless on the street. It's the only situation I've even known where when the time came and he was furious with her for deciding to sell this or that asset so that they could keep their heads above water.

Every other time it's been a battle of the lawyers, and it takes about 3 months if they contest it. There will be an investigation ordered by the judge to be completed by someone from your county or state to ensure that it's the right thing to do in your situation, and there will be more doctors reports. Not at all cheap or easy.

 

[susiestar]

I have no real experience, but this seems to be a good explanation of the general differences between conservatorship and guardianship:

http://www.ehow.com/info_8582329_difference-between-adult-guardianship-conservator.html

in my opinion you want guardianship and not just control of her finances. It is likely that your doctor did not really understand the difference between them.

This is an ehow page on how to get guardianship of a teen: http://www.ehow.com/how_8509746_guardianship-over-teen.html

This gives answers from 12 lawyers on how to get guardianship of your teen: http://www.lawqa.com/qa/what-will-it-take-to-obtain-legal-guardianship-of-teenager

I think you need to talk to someone at a family court (call and ask the clerk of courts in your city/county, and also ask to speak to the judge's secretary/assistant. Usually one of them can give you some idea of how the process works in your area. then you need to start interviewing attorneys. Most attorneys will give you a free first appointment, so you can look up family law practices and set up some appts. Be sure to ask if they give a free consultation as that is what you want. Speak to at least 3 attorneys before you pick one you are most comfortable with. Also make sure you ask the ballpark price range for what this will cost.

I hope it all goes smoothly!

 

[Tiapet]

Witz, it's my middle daughter. Susie, you figured it out. She's not yet even 18 but doctor said she knew families fighting for 2 years so suggested I do it now that we already know her functioning level and issues so hence why we need to do this. I would say yes it is guardianship not conservatorship would be right. She could never sign a contract! OMG we'd be in for a heap of trouble if she did even as an adult. She understands NO consequences of actions at all. I'm not looking forward to this at all but unfortunately I know I have no choice in the matter otherwise, or at least the alternatives are not good. Thanks for the links Susie. I had pulled up some on conservatorship but I was going in wrong direction. I'll keep them for now for potential future need if necessary.

 

[InsaneCdn]

I think midwestmom did this for Sonic... I know Buddy did it for Q.

 

[BusynMember]

I did it because Sonic has no clue how to handle money and would spend it all if somebody else didn't control it. That was my main reasons. Plus Sonic is not ready to have t he responsibilities of a legal adult and is good with this arrangement; even went to court with us and agreed that it was in his best interests.

I have no idea how it works if the adult child is against it. For the most part, Sonic makes all of his own decisions, but I dole out his money to him so he can get his bills paid and not run himself broke the first day he gets a paycheck. We will revisit this in the future. Sonic likes the security of somebody being able to veto his choices, but I normally tell him to make his own decisions.

It is worthwhile for any adult child who is unready or unfit to make good choices for himself even though he/she is of adult age. Sonic is getting a lot of good services for adults and is well on his way to only needing somebody to handle his money. I don't know idf he will ever stop feeling compelled to spend every dime the first day he gets it...lol.

 

[slsh]

Tia - check to see if your state has a Guardianship & Advocacy Commission (GAC). They should be able to give you factual info (not legal info) about what is involved. We have guardianship of oldest (got it the month before he turned 18), but because we didn't use an atty and he wasn't assigned a GAL, there were some technical issues I wasn't aware of - we have to schlep back to court next month to deal with things. It's really important to know *all* the legal responsibilities of being guardian and make sure you follow them to the T.

If you think she will fight it, might not be a bad idea to consult with an atty. I would guess you have ample documentation to justify guardianship, but... there are rules and procedures in court that us lay folk don't know. Much better to have a skilled person guide you. Hindsight being 20/20.