Order To Guardian And-Or Conservator And Acknowledgment (For A Minor)

Person Filing: Mailing Address: City, State, Zip: Phone Number: Representing Self COCONINO COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT In the Matter of the Guardianship and/or Conservatorship of: Ward 1: Ward 2: Ward 3: [ ] An Adult [ ] A Minor Case Number: GC ORDER TO GUARDIAN AND/OR CONSERVATOR AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT Your guardianship and/or conservatorship is not effective until the Clerk of Court issues your Letters of Appointment. The court is greatly concerned with the ward's welfare and best interest. By accepting appointment as guardian and/or conservator, you have subjected yourself to the court's power and supervision. Therefore, to help avoid problems and assist you in performing your duties, this order is entered. You are required to be guided by it and comply with its provisions as it relates to your duties as guardian and/or conservator as follows: GUARDIANS: 1. You have powers and responsibilities similar to those of a parent of a minor child, except you are not legally obligated to contribute to the ward's support from your own funds. 2. Unless the order appointing you provides otherwise, your duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to making appropriate arrangements to meet the ward's personal needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter. 3. You are responsible for making decisions concerning the ward's educational, social, and religious activities. If a ward is over 13, you must take into account their preferences to the extent you know them or can discover them with a reasonable effort. 4. You are responsible for making decisions concerning the ward's medical needs, including but not limited to deciding to place a ward in a nursing home or other health care facility and employing health professionals to provide for the ward's health care needs. However, you are to use the least restrictive means and environment available that meets the ward's needs. 5. You may arrange for medical care to be provided even if the ward does not wish to have it. But you may not place your ward in a level one behavioral health facility against your ward's will unless the Court specifically has authorized you to consent to such placement. Page 1 of 6 Revised March 2017 American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com © 2017 Coconino County Law Library 6. If you handle any of the ward's money or property, you must do each of the following. a. Care for and protect the ward's personal effects. b. Apply any monies you receive for the ward's current support, care, and educational needs. c. Maintain the ward's funds in a separate account, distinct from your own and identified as belonging to the ward. d. Maintain records of all the ward's property received and expended during the guardianship. e. Account to the ward or their successors at the termination of the guardianship, if requested. f. Not purchase, lease, borrow, or use the ward's property or money for your or anyone else's benefit without prior court approval. 7. You shall not accept any kind of remuneration for placing a ward in a particular nursing home or other care facility or using a certain doctor or lawyer. "Remuneration" includes but is not limited to direct or indirect payments of money, "kickbacks", gifts, favors, and other kinds of personal benefits. 8. You are required to report to the court annually, in writing, with respect to the ward's residence and physical and mental health and whether guardianship is still needed. Your Guardian's Annual Report is due each year on the anniversary date of your appointment. 9. If your ward's physical address changes, you shall notify the Court by updating the Probate Information Form within three days of learning of the change. If your ward dies, you shall notify the Court in writing of the ward's death within 10 days of learning that the ward has died. 10. You must be conscious at all times of the ward's needs and best interest. If the circumstances that made the guardianship necessary should end, you are responsible for petitioning to terminate it and be discharged from your responsibilities as guardian. Even if the guardianship should terminate by operation of law, you will not be discharged without an order from this court discharging you. 11. If you have any questions about the meaning of this Order or the duties that it and Arizona law impose on you, you should consult an attorney or petition the court for instructions. 12. If you are not a certified fiduciary and are not related by blood or marriage to the ward, you are not entitled to compensation for your services as the ward's guardian and conservator. See A.R.S. §145651(K) (1). 13. If the ward is an adult: You shall encourage and allow contact between the ward and other persons who have a significant relationship with the ward. You may limit, restrict, or prohibit contact between the ward and any person if you reasonably believe that the contact will be detrimental to the ward's health, safety, or welfare. You shall consider the ward's wishes if the ward has sufficient mental capacity to make an intelligent choice. 14. If the ward is an adult: You shall notify the ward's family members if the ward dies or is admitted to a hospital for more than three days. Notification of the ward's death shall include information about any known funeral arrangements and the place of burial. "Family members" means the ward's spouse, parents, adult siblings, and adult children. If none of those people can be notified, you shall notify at least one of the ward's closest adult relatives, if you can find one, or a person with a significant relationship to the ward. You shall also notify any person who has filed a demand for notice. If you have been granted authority to consent to the ward's inpatient mental health treatment, the following additional duties and obligations apply: 1. You are additionally responsible for making decisions concerning the ward's mental health needs, including deciding to place the ward in a mental health treatment facility. Page 2 of 6 Revised March 2017 American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com © 2017 Coconino County Law Library 2. The court has granted you authority to place the ward in a level one mental health treatment facility for inpatient mental health treatment. This means you may admit a ward for inpatient mental health treatment. With that authority goes certain legal responsibilities which include: a. You must seek the advice and assistance of qualified mental health professionals in determining the ward's nee