Who Can Be Appointed As a Guardian?
We are often asked by our clients, who is able to be appointed as a guardian. The short answer is, anyone is allowed to petition the court to become a guardian. Oftentimes a guardian may be a spouse, family member, neighbor, friend, or coworker. However, the law does provide a priority statute. This means that the court is going to look to certain people to have higher priority than other to act as a guardian.
One of these people with priority, is a person that the individual in need of guardianship has named in a will or power of attorney. A spouse or child of the individual will also have priority over other family members or loved ones.
Although, keep in mind when you are petitioning for guardianship that though the court typically will look to those with a higher priority, they can choose to sidestep this procedure and name someone else as guardian if there is a compelling reason to do so.