Guardianship in North Carolina

What is a Guardianship?

You may have heard the term “guardian” before, but you might not know exactly what that term means or how to define it. A guardian is someone that is appointed to make decisions on behalf of another individual. While the term usually pertains to an elderly person, it can pertain to children as well. All in all, a guardian can be appointed for someone that is unable to care for themselves.

There may be a variety of reasons that someone becomes unable to care for themselves, such as an elderly person developing a mental health disease like dementia or Alzheimer’s that causes them to become incapacitated, or a minor child that is under the care of someone who is not fit to care for them or whose parents have passed away. These circumstances are often difficult to deal with and have a lot of complex factors that play a part which is why it is important to hire an experienced attorney to ensure that the process goes as smoothly as it can, all things considered.

Guardianship is an important consideration to make during the estate planning process so that should something happen to cause you to become incapacitated you have the right person designated to care for you or your minor children. It is unfortunate that most people put off planning and therefore do not have a guardian designation in place, leaving their families and the state to pick up the pieces and try to find the best person to care for them. Not to mention, it is often difficult to make a determination for the person that is best fit to care for someone when they have not been officially designated through estate planning documents and there is a lengthy process in place for the court to decide

Guardianship can be a tricky process and its important to work with an experienced attorney to ensure that when you choose your guardian, you are choosing someone that you trust.