Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Need a guardian? If you don't pick one, court will for you


Having someone you trust to make decisions for you when you can't is a good idea, if you don't want a stranger doing it, that is.

In Illinois, if you are "not decisional" as the lawyers say, and you haven't chosen someone to act on your behalf when you're in that state, a judge will appoint a guardian for you.

In Champaign County, John Brown of Savoy is the county public guardian for those who have no one else to do the job. In Vermilion County, Matt Myrick of Oakwood holds that position.

"Having a decision-maker that you trust, that you have the opportunity to talk to about how you want medical decisions made before that emergency occurs is really important," said Champaign attorney Deb Feinen, whose office specializes in petitioning for guardianships.

"Assuming that you don't revoke your power-of-attorney, that person is able to make all the decisions and you don't have to go to court and get a guardianship," she said.

Champaign County Judge Holly Clemons, who handles most of the requests for guardianships, said typically the requests come from a family member who has no power to act because the affected loved one hasn't executed a power-of-attorney.

Full Article and Source:
Need a guardian? If you don't pick one, court will for you

5 comments:

Betty said...

The people in IL need to rise up and shout. All that's needed is PoA. Guardianship should never be forced if there's a valid PoA in place.

Anonymous said...

IMO Mary Sudovar before Judge McVeigh, there is no guardian now that her POA son stephen G Sudovar jr has gone through $1.3 Million dollars of Mary's estate at the tune of $20-k a month for home care vs $7500 a month @ CareOne that provides 3 shifts of healthcare 24-7 with a full range of social services.
Stphen G Sudovar jr who at one time swore under oath before the court that his mother would never do with out, as he reneges on his word today as he seeks to evade finacial resposinbility of his mother now that her moeny is gon.
How special huh?
Judge McVeigh rejected every effor to protect Mary to date and thus no guradian was ever installed.

Trish said...

Illinois is the most corrupt state in the union.

Thelma said...

Trish - What about California>
Are they head on?

Anonymous said...

Be sure to videotape execution of advance directives in case you have to put on a hearing and prove capacity of the maker at the time of execution.