A guardianship or conservatorship is necessary when it involves the concept of one person caring for another who is not competent to care for their affairs themselves. In the case of children, they are, by law, considered not competent to make binding legal decisions by themselves until they reach the age of majority. A guardianship for a child has nothing to do with the actual competence of the child because the law presumes they are legally incompetent to manage their affairs until they become adults.

In the case of adults, they must be determined to be incompetent to care for themselves. The state can then, upon petition by an interested party, can order a legal process to be conducted to find a competent person to make decisions for the incompetent adult.

Contact member services if you feel like you have a specific issue relating to these topics.