Lawmakers are moving to tighten Minnesota's standards for guardians and conservators, proposing wide-ranging changes to the largely unregulated system charged with safeguarding the lives and assets of citizens deemed unable to make their own decisions.
The House version of the bill, filed this week, would create a statewide register of guardians and conservators, and require them to alert the court each year if they were convicted of a crime or removed from a case by a judge. The legislation would also provide more opportunities to challenge a conservator's spending and the guardian's annual report on a ward's well-being.
It would create a 15-point bill of rights for wards and protected persons, including the right to treatment with dignity and respect, the ability to marry, vote, and visit with whomever a ward chooses, and to petition the court to end the guardianship.
The bill came on the heels of a Star Tribune report on the case of Peggy Greer of Excelsior.
Full Article and Source:
Minn. House bill urges tighter rules for guardians
The House version of the bill, filed this week, would create a statewide register of guardians and conservators, and require them to alert the court each year if they were convicted of a crime or removed from a case by a judge. The legislation would also provide more opportunities to challenge a conservator's spending and the guardian's annual report on a ward's well-being.
It would create a 15-point bill of rights for wards and protected persons, including the right to treatment with dignity and respect, the ability to marry, vote, and visit with whomever a ward chooses, and to petition the court to end the guardianship.
The bill came on the heels of a Star Tribune report on the case of Peggy Greer of Excelsior.
Full Article and Source:
Minn. House bill urges tighter rules for guardians
5 comments:
Only further exposure of the horrors of guardianship will bring an end to abuses.
Please support the work of NASGA.
I am pleased to see this bill coincidently right after the Greer piece. Or perhaps the Greer piece will draw more attention to the bill.
I am so grateful and relieved that the dirty secrets of guardianships are being exposed. Thank you.
It certainly sounds like the demand is finally surfacing and forcing action in the legislature.
This is good news.
Good - at the same time, there should be a call for review of existing guardianhsip cases.
It's a wonderful thing to reform the system, but we should be mindful of those still suffering the abuse -- or those who recently passed -- and not leave anyone behind.
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