Can a person with cancer maintain guardianship over a physically disabled adult?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Can a person with cancer maintain guardianship over a physically disabled adult?
My boyfriend’s adopted mother is his legal guardian, however she was diagnosed with cancer. Should she maintain her guardianship over him and look after his best interests when she has to fight against
cancer?
Asked on August 25, 2017 under Estate Planning, Missouri
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
Whether she can and whether she should are two different issues:
1) As long as she is mentally competent (which includes not being rendered incompetent by pain medication) and can communicate, she legally can be his guardian.
2) However, with the stress and challenges, physical and mental, of fighting cancer, as well as the real chance that she will not make it, someone else probably *should* be appointed.
Unfortunately, while she can ask the court to appoint someone instead of her, she can't be forced to do that.
Your boyfriend's only real option would be to try to file a legal action removing guardianship entirely: i.e. that he is competent to manage his own affairs and that the guardianship should be dissolved. That will not be an easy thing to do, even it is the case that he no longer needs a guardian--it is a procedurally complex legal action, and he'll need medical evidence of his competence--and if he wants to try this, he really should get legal assistance. He should speak to the Legal Services Corporation for Missouri: they may or may not be able to themselves help him, but can probably help direct him to an attorney, an agency, or a disabled advocacy group which can provide assistance.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.