Guardianship is a legal procedure where the court decides and allows someone to make decisions for a minor or a person with a severe physical or mental disorder. The person making a decision is the guardian, and the person for whom a guardian makes a decision is often called a ward.
Sometimes the guardians are allowed to make all types of decisions for the ward, whereas sometimes, the court allows them to make a few specific decisions. Guardianship is divided into several types based on the ability to make decisions for a ward.
Based on the situation, the court can allow full guardianship or partial guardianship.
The problem is guardianship can’t be achieved easily in most cases. Someone needs to meet certain criteria to have the responsibility of a ward. In such cases, a guardianship lawyer can help you.
Who is a Guardianship Lawyer?
A guardianship lawyer or attorney is a person who practices guardianship law and helps people to be legal guardians to someone they want to take care of.
Guardianship law is a type of family law. So, they also practice family law and other related laws.
Sometimes someone may seek guardianship of a child after getting divorced. Sometimes they want to seek guardianship of a disabled person. Thus, guardianship is related to other laws like paternity, adoption, disability, etc. An attorney who practices guardianship law should also know such related laws.
What does a Guardianship Attorney Do?
Assessing Your Claim
Claiming guardianship is not that easy. You need to meet several criteria to become a guardian of a ward. If you can’t, the court won’t allow you to be a legal guardian to someone.
An attorney can help you assess the situation and your validity as a guardian.
Helping You in Gathering Evidence
Evidence is a huge part of guardianship. If you’re a legal parent, you need to submit evidence for that. Also, you need evidence to prove that you’re capable of being a guardian.
Hiring an attorney would help you to understand the evidence you need and ways to gather the evidence.
Assisting in Guardianship Application
The application starts with a court filing. It means claiming your guardianship in court. You need to fill out some forms and attach some documents while submitting them. It may seem complex to some.
A guardianship attorney is there to help you here. They can fill out the form and submit it for you. Thus, what takes you two days becomes solved within a few hours.
Representing You in Court
Attorneys are allowed to represent their clients in court. So, if you don’t have any experience with how the court works, they can help you by being your agent there.
Arranging Professional Opinion
In some cases, guardianship cases need a professional opinion. For example- if you want to take responsibility for someone physically or mentally disabled, you must prove the disability in court. In such a situation, the court wants a professional opinion about the disability.
Lawyers working with such cases know professionals who can make time for the case. Thus, they can help you gather professional opinions.
Predicting the Result
While looking for guardianship, you might want to know what can happen. Your appointed attorney can help by predicting the case’s result.
They’ve studied about and worked with similar types of cases. So, they can predict the possible result by assessing the situation.
In a word, a guardianship lawyer or attorney can help you with anything regarding guardianship cases. But to get the best out of the case, you must hire a compatible legal professional. If the person you pick cannot handle such cases, you can’t expect satisfactory results.
How to Find a Good Guardianship Lawyer?
Finding a capable legal professional for guardianship is easy, but you need to put some time and effort into it. Asking for a suggestion and going to the suggested lawyer is not what you do.
Yes, you’ll ask others to recommend some attorneys working with such cases, but that’s only one step of the process.
If you’re willing to hire someone capable, follow this process. It is applicable for hiring any type of attorney.
Step 1- Gathering Recommendations
Look for recommendations on good guardianship lawyers. If anyone from your friends, family, or neighbors has gained guardianship recently, ask them. Also, ask search engines to recommend you some names of firms or attorneys who work with such cases.
You can stop searching for suggestions if you have 14-15 names from these two sources. If not, go to your local bar community and look for suggestions. Also, a lawyer you know can help you with some recommendations. They often know lawyers practicing different laws.
Make a list of all the suggestions you’ve gathered.
Step 2- Assessing the Options
Now you have several options to choose from. But you need to spend some time evaluating all the options.
Nowadays, most lawyers or law firms maintain a website or social media page that keeps everyone updated about their services and recent cases. Search online for the sites or pages of the lawyers or firms on your list.
Check their recent updates, types of cases they work with, experience in the field, some successful cases, and their interactions.
Also, if possible, search on service review websites and look for client reviews and ratings on them. Doing this would help you to know what clients like and dislike about them.
Based on the assessment, rank them and pick the top 4-5 for the next step.
Step 3- Direct Communication
Now you have a few names on your list. So, you’ll go for direct communication. Contact them and book a meeting schedule.
Most firms and lawyers provide the first consultation for free. I suggest you take the chance. Also, some offer low-cost consultations for the first time. Book your schedule to meet them directly.
In the meeting, describe your situation and ask for recommendations about what to do. Also, ask them about their approach, experience, success with similar cases, fees, and payment process.
You need to ask some mandatory questions in this step. I’ll talk about them a bit later.
Step 4- Picking One
After meeting everyone on your list, evaluate them based on it.
Rank them based on their communication skills, approach towards your case, experience, and fee.
Then pick the top name in the rank.
Following this process, you can select a compatible lawyer to run your case.
Questions to Ask a Guardianship Attorney
When you meet them directly in the third stage of selecting a guardianship lawyer, you must ask some questions to understand their view, the possibility of your guardianship, and several other issues. The questions below are the most common questions you must ask them.
What is the possible outcome?
After describing your situation and financial condition, you can ask whether you can be awarded guardianship. Court decides based on some specific criteria. Lawyers know the criteria and situations based on what the court decides. So, they can help you with the closest prediction about the outcome.
Do you have experience with similar cases?
A guardianship attorney must have experience with such cases. But based on the situation, each case is different in its way. Getting someone experienced with similar cases helps you feel better about it. So, you must ask them this question.
What else do I need to claim guardianship?
I’ve already said that evidence is associated with such cases. So, you need several documents and evidence based on the situation. An attorney knows better what’s exactly needed to apply for guardianship successfully. So, ask them what else you need for court filing.
What can be the likely reasons for the dismissal of my application?
Such applications are dismissed for several reasons. An attorney can evaluate your case and determine the possible reasons behind guardianship dismissal. So, ask them such questions so that they assess your situation properly and find out the negative points. It helps you fix the issues in your application.
How much is your fee? What’s the payment structure?
Asking about a lawyer’s fee is not a big deal. You must know about the fee and payment structure to ensure you can afford them. If you don’t have a clear idea about their fee, making a decision would be tough. Also, not discussing fees clearly can result in misunderstanding and embarrassment later.
Common Questions the Lawyers May Ask You
To help you achieve guardianship, the attorneys must know everything about the situation. So, they may ask you several questions too. Here are some of the most frequent questions they may ask.
Why do you want guardianship?
There must be a logic behind your action. So, if you want guardianship, there must be some logical reasons. They want to know it because they can build the case based on that.
So, let them know why you want it.
Do you have any criminal history?
A person with a criminal history is not considered a capable guardian in most cases. So, lawyers must ask you about it. If you have any criminal history, let them know. They can make some strategies to help you with it.
How is the relationship between you and the ward?
It is a very important aspect of guardianship. If you don’t share a healthy relationship with the ward, the court won’t allow guardianship in most cases. So, lawyers must ask about your bond with the ward. It’ll be better to share the truth with them.
How is the physical and mental health of people in your house?
It’s not about just you and the word. When you’re taking guardianship, people in your family impact it. So, lawyers ask about their physical and mental health. Sometimes, you need a professional opinion about the mental health of people living in your house.
What is your financial situation?
When taking someone’s responsibility, your financial condition has a huge impact on it. The court only allows you to take responsibility when you have enough financial stability to support the overall growth and well-being of the ward. So, this is a common question you must face.
Can you protect the best interest of the ward?
Protecting the best interest of the ward is a must if you want to be a legal guardian. So, the attorney will ask you such questions to know your point of view. It is important to help you get the best result.
How Much does It Cost to Appoint a Guardianship Lawyer?
The cost of hiring such a lawyer or attorney depends on several factors. For example- the experience of the person you’re hiring is one of the most important factors. Hiring an experienced person will cost you more than hiring someone new.
The type of guardianship also has an impact on it. Again, the case’s complexity affects the cost. For complex cases, attorneys ask for a higher charge.
Several other factors are considered when lawyers set their fees for a case.
Most lawyers want you to follow an hourly rate in such cases. They keep count of the number of hours they’ve worked for your case. You have to pay based on that.
The typical hourly rate of such lawyers is around $150-$450. Some may ask for even more. But the range I’ve said is the most common.
Based on the case length, the total cost can be around $1500-$7000.
Some may ask for a monthly charge, where the fee range is something around $1000-$2500 per month.
It is a general idea about the charge attorneys ask for handling guardianship cases. The actual fee may vary a bit. Discussing it directly with attorneys would help you have the exact idea.
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Is It a Must to Hire a Guardianship Attorney?
Hiring an attorney for such cases is not a must. The court won’t see if you’ve appointed someone or not. So, you can take charge of your guardianship case by yourself.
However, you may need the help of someone experienced in some cases. For example- the court will ask several questions about your claim and the related situation. If you hire a legal professional, they can prepare you to face those questions before you go to court.
Also, seeking guardianship is a complex process requiring you to fill out several forms and handle some technical issues. Without any experienced legal help, it’ll be tough for you to go through the steps. Attorneys can help you follow the process way faster than the time you’ll spend handling things alone.
So, hiring someone professional will be a good decision. It may cost you a bit, but the outcome is more precious.