Polk County Guardianship Attorneys

In this video, our Polk County guardianship attorneys explain the new laws and the procedure for how adult guardianships in Iowa begin. The changes included:

• A Completed Background Check - The court is required to perform a statewide background check, looking for any past offenses under the child abuse registry, dependent adult abuse registry, and sex offender registry.
• Right To An Attorney - Respondents (previously referred to as the proposed ward) always have the right to an attorney, unless the respondent is also the petitioner, in which case an attorney should not be necessary. The state will provide an attorney if one cannot be afforded, and it is the attorney’s responsibility to advise the respondent and operate within the respondent’s best wishes.
• Professional Evaluation of the Respondent or Protected Person - Before an order to begin, change, or end a guardianship can be handed down a professional evaluation must be ordered by the court and completed by the appropriate professional.
• Court Hearing - Before a guardianship can begin, be modified, or terminated an in-person court hearing in front of a judge must take place. During this hearing, appropriate parties can present evidence and argue for or against the guardianship, modification, or termination.

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In this video, our Polk County Guardianship attorneys explain how for decades, minor guardianship proceedings have been governed by Iowa’s Probate Act. Beginning January 1, 2020, new law went into effect for guardianships. The new law is the “Iowa Minor Guardianship Proceedings Act.” This law imposes significantly more regulations and requirements for people seeking to become guardians of minors. It also offers additional protections for biological parents, proposed guardians and, most importantly, children.

The single largest change is that minor guardianship cases will now be heard in juvenile courts instead of probate courts, where they were previously held. The law also makes significant changes to the filing, hearing and administrative process for guardianships.  

In this video, our Polk County guardianship attorneys explain court appointed guardians for minors and adults. A court-appointed guardian is an individual who has been granted legal authority by an Iowa court to care for and take responsibility for another individual who is unable to legally take care of herself and make decisions or is incapacitated and unable to care for herself and make decisions. The court must determine that the potential nonparent guardian will act in the best interest of the ward.

The responsibilities of a court-appointed guardian in Iowa vary depending on those assigned by the court. Iowa tends to err on the side of limiting a guardian’s powers to only those absolutely necessary. The powers that a guardian has in Iowa ultimately fall into two categories:

1. Decisions, responsibilities, and actions that can be taken without prior approval by the courts; and
2. Decisions, responsibilities, and actions that require prior approval by the courts.
   

An example of actions that usually don’t require prior court approval includes: providing a comfortable, caring and nurturing environment for the ward, taking reasonable care of the ward’s clothing, home, furnishings, etc, assisting the ward in receiving medical care, personal counseling, treatment, etc. All these things are the normal day-to-day activities that if required court approval before doing would make the guardian process extremely cumbersome.