Guardianships can be critical for people who need help managing certain matters for reasons including age or incapacity. When in place, a guardianship can protect a ward’s medical care, legal rights and financial well-being.
As important as guardianships can be, they can and do become unnecessary for many people at a certain point. In this post, we will look at why guardianships can be terminated and what options you have if you are either the guardian or the ward looking for a change.
As noted in this FindLaw article, some common reasons why a guardianship could be terminated include:
- A ward regaining or developing the capacity to take over a guardian’s duties
- A guardian or ward moving out of state
- The guardian wanting to resign or needing to be removed for breeching his or her duties
- A lack of assets that need protection because they have been extinguished
- The ward passing away
In these scenarios, it may be wise or necessary to terminate a guardianship. In some cases, the guardian’s responsibilities may be transferred to another guardian or they may be taken over by the ward.
If you are a ward or guardian looking to have this relationship terminated, you need to know that you cannot just end it yourself. You will need to have a court approve termination of guardianship as well as any arrangement that will take its place. Considering how complex these cases can be and how much is at stake, it is often recommended that you speak with an attorney if you have questions or concerns about guardianships.
