Abstract
In this article, Ms. Hannaford and Professor Hafemeister confront the issue of who will ensure that the needs of the growing elderly population are met. The authors provide a history and overview of guardianship proceedings and also provide, for the first time, a quantitative description of guardianship usage in the United States. The authors assert that guardianships and conservatorships remain effective ways to protect the rights of the incompetent elderly person. Although these remedies create a legal right in the guardian to manage the financial and medical welfare of the elderly client, the authors argue that a lack of procedural protections and judicial oversight may permit the unscrupulous to take advantage of elderly wards. In 1994, the Commission on National Probate Court Standards developed new standards to provide courts with the necessary tools to address these problems. The authors conclude by discussing these new standards and their impact on the courts' ability to protect the rights of the incompetent elderly in the future.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1994
Publication Information
2 Elder Law Journal 147-166 (1994)
Repository Citation
Hannaford-Agor, Paula and Hafemeister, Thomas L., "The National Probate Court Standards: The Role of the Courts in Guardianship and Conservatorship Proceedings" (1994). Faculty Publications. 2370.
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/2370