If you are looking into guardianships, you should know that there are a few different kinds. Guardians can be appointed to do various things for you, from making financial decisions to making decisions about your care.
There are three kinds of guardianships: full, limited and joint. With each of these comes different rights and responsibilities.
1. Full guardianships
A full guardianship is comprehensive. It gives the guardian the right to make legal, personal and financial decisions for the person who can no longer do so.
2. Limited guardianships
Limited guardianships are designed to give fewer powers, such as being able only to make financial decisions or only to make personal decisions about health care. This gives the guardian only enough rights to do what is necessary while allowing the ward to retain the right to make decisions in as many situations as possible.
3. Joint guardianships
Joint guardianships are unique, because there will be more than one person taking care of a ward. For example, if you have two children, you may want both of them to be joint guardians over you if you become incapacitated. This can also be a good idea if you want each guardian to have different rights, such as allowing one to make health care decisions for you while the other makes financial decisions.
Your attorney can talk to you more if you’d like to establish a guardian or guardians in your estate plan. You may want to have more than one person assigned so that there are multiple people who can help if and when you need it.