Conservatorships and Guardianships
You may be faced with the difficult decision to seek a guardianship, a Rogers guardianship, or a conservatorship for a loved one - a parent no longer able to care for him- or herself, or a child with mental health issues. Distinguishing between these legal relationships and deciding how to proceed is difficult enough and made worse by the many feelings that you are probably experiencing. In this section, we will explain the basic differences between the three legal relationships - once you have that information, you are on your way to making an informed decision about the situation you are facing.
A conservatorship exists to conserve the assets of a person. An example of when this might be used would be in a situation where your elderly mother is able to care for herself and remain in her own home; however, she gives excessive amounts of money - more than she can afford - to every charity that calls her or sends her something in the mail. You are worried that she will eventually get in a position where she will lose her home. You might consider a conservatorship, where you would be able to control how she spends her money.
A guardianship exists to watch over a person. In this case, your elderly aunt who never married and has no children has started to slip mentally. She can't remember to pay her bills and you're not even sure if she's remembering to feed herself properly or regularly. Your greatest fear is that she'll start cooking something and forget about it, causing a fire. You might consider creating a guardianship, where you, as her guardian, would be able to make decisions about where and how she lives, pay her bills and transact her business for her, and otherwise legally care for her.
A Rogers guardianship is a very specific type of guardianship. It goes above and beyond a regular guardianship in that you must follow specific procedures in probate court to get one granted. A Rogers guardianship is used to have the court order the administration of anti-psychotic drugs to a person. In this example, you have a 24-year-old son who has been diagnosed as suffering from bi-polar disorder. He does well on medication, but sometimes refuses to take it, causing himself great harm in the process. You might consider getting a Rogers guardianship so that the court will order that his medications be administered to him, even though he is legally an adult and even though he may not want to take them.
The decision to apply for any type of guardianship or conservatorship is never easy and you probably have a lot of questions. We can answer those questions for you, and help you go through the process as well. With over 30 years of experience helping people just like you in the greater Boston area make those hard decisions about guardianships and conservatorships, we understand what you are going through and have the skill and knowledge to help you.
Contact our firm to discuss your situation with us. We will do whatever we can to help you come to an informed decision and to follow whatever steps are dictated by that decision.
