2019 NLADA Annual Conference-Innovative Justice

Proceedings to establish a guardianship can strip an adult of the most basic fundamental rights and freedoms: they can affect where adults live, what medications they are required to take, whether they can marry or vote, what money they can spend, who they can see, and so on. While most states guarantee that people facing a guardianship are entitled to an appointed attorney, not all do so, and many of the states that do guarantee representation specify that the attorney does not represent the client’s wishes but rather what the attorney thinks are the client’s best interests. But the recent re-release of the Uniform Guardianship Act has stimulated interest in the right to counsel issue all over the country. This panel will survey the status of the right to counsel in guardianship cases across the country, including past litigation on the subject, and will provide an overview of guardianship proceedings and the move toward less restrictive alternatives, such as supported decision-making. It will then discuss why counsel is so essential in these proceedings, what the proper role is for attorneys, whether the petitioner seeking to establish the guardianship should also be appointed counsel, and other tricky questions. Time permitting, the panel will also look at the general issue of appointment of counsel for litigants with disabilities in other types of civil cases.