Who Must Be Told About a Guardianship
Whenever a person asks to be named the guardian over a child or an adult, many other people must be notified. This gives other interested people a chance to participate in the case before the judge makes a decision. Read on for more information about who must be notified about a proposed guardianship.
People you must notify
The court will set a hearing where the request for guardianship will be discussed. Many people are entitled to know about this hearing and participate if they want to. The proposed guardian must notify all of the required people below of the guardianship proceedings; the court does not notify them for you!
- The person over whom the guardianship is requested (also known as the “proposed protected person”), if the person is age 14 or older.
- The person’s spouse.
- The person’s mother.
- The person’s father.
- The person’s maternal grandparents.
- The person’s paternal grandparents.
- The person’s brothers and sisters who are age 14 and older.
- The person’s children who are age 14 and older.
- The person’s grandchildren who are age 14 and older.
- Any person who has custody of the proposed protected person.
- Any person or officer of a care provider who has the care, custody, or control of the proposed protected person (for instance, a hospital, nursing home, or assisted living facility where the person is staying).
- If the person receives any benefits from Medicaid, the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services.
- If the person receives any payments or benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, any office of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs in the State of Nevada.
- The proposed guardian, if the person filing the petition is not the proposed guardian.
CAUTION!
People often think that some relatives do not need to be notified because they have not been involved in the person’s life. For instance, if a child has been raised by one side of the family, they may think the other side of the family does not need to know about a proposed guardianship. This is incorrect! Even if family members have been absent or uninvolved, they are entitled to know about any proposed guardianship. Failure to notify them will delay the court proceedings!
Documents you must serve
Each of the above persons must be served with a copy of the Petition and the Citation. If you do not know where to find some of the relatives, you can ask the court’s permission to serve them by publishing a notice in a newspaper. For more information about how to serve these documents, please visit the pages about how to serve the relatives for children and for adults.
