Probate Code
Each state’s laws enumerate certain duties and limitations for guardians and conservators. These laws tend to be lengthy and detailed. For a comprehensive understanding of them, including relevant exceptions and requirements, the statutes themselves should be reviewed. Additionally, state laws must be read in conjunction with the order of appointment of a guardian or conservator by the judge which may further limit the guardian’s powers and responsibilities.
The individual or corporation appointed by the court to serve as the guardian shall carry out diligently and in good faith, the general duties and responsibilities, and shall have the general powers and authorities, provided for in this section as well as any specific duties, responsibilities, powers and authorities assigned to the guardian by the court.
A guardian has the following general duties, responsibilities, powers and authorities:
- If the ward is a minor, to have the custody and control of the minor, and to provide for the minor’s care, treatment, habilitation, education, support and maintenance;
- if the ward is an adult, to take charge of the person of the ward, and to provide for the ward’s care, treatment, habilitation, education, support and maintenance;
- to consider and either provide on behalf of the ward necessary or required consents or refuse the same;
- to assure that the ward resides in the least restrictive setting appropriate to the needs of the ward and which is reasonably available;
- to assure that the ward receives any necessary and reasonably available medical care, and any reasonably available nonmedical care or other services as may be needed to preserve the health of the ward or to assist the ward to develop or retain skills and abilities;
- to promote and protect the comfort, safety, health and welfare of the ward;
- to make necessary determinations and arrangements for, and to give the necessary consents in regard to, the ward’s funeral arrangements, burial or cremation, the performance of an autopsy upon the body of the ward, and anatomical gifts of the ward, subject to the provisions and limitations provided for in Kansas’ statutes ; and
- to exercise all powers and to discharge all duties necessary or proper to implement the provisions of this section.
A guardian does not have the power:
- to prohibit the marriage or divorce of the ward;
- to consent, on behalf of the ward, to the termination of the ward’s parental rights
- to consent to the adoption of the ward, unless approved by the court;
- to consent, on behalf of the ward, to any psychosurgery, removal of any bodily organ, or amputation of any limb, unless such surgery, removal or amputation has been approved in advance by the court, except in an emergency and when necessary to preserve the life of the ward or to prevent serious and irreparable impairment to the physical health of the ward;
- to consent, on behalf of the ward, to the sterilization of the ward, unless approved by the court following a due process hearing held for the purposes of determining whether to approve such, and during which hearing the ward is represented by an attorney appointed by the court;
- to consent, on behalf of the ward, to the performance of any experimental biomedical or behavioral procedure on the ward, or for the ward to be a participant in any biomedical or behavioral experiment, without the prior review and approval of such by either an institutional review board;
- to consent, on behalf of the ward, to the withholding or withdrawal of life-saving or life sustaining medical care, treatment, services or procedures unless exceptions are met;
- to exercise any control or authority over the ward’s estate, except if the court shall specifically authorize such;
- to place the ward in a treatment facility, except if authorized by the court.
The individual or corporation appointed by the court to serve as the conservator shall carry out diligently and in good faith the general duties and responsibilities, and shall have the general powers and authorities, provided for in this section, as well as any specific duties, responsibilities, powers and authorities assigned to the conservator by the court.
A conservator has the the following general duties, responsibilities, powers and authorities:
- To pay the reasonable charges for the support, maintenance, care, treatment, habilitation and education of the conservatee in a manner suitable to the conservatee’s station in life and the value of the conservatee’s estate; but nothing herein shall be construed to release a natural guardian from the ordinary obligations imposed by law for the support, maintenance, care, treatment, habilitation and education of the natural guardian’s minor children;
- to pay all just and lawful debts of the conservatee and the reasonable charges for the support, maintenance, care, treatment, habilitation and education of the conservatee’s spouse and minor children;
- to separately possess and manage all the assets of the estate of the conservatee and to collect all debts and assert all claims in favor of the conservatee, and with the approval of the court, to compromise the same. The conservator shall keep any property of the conservatee’s estate insured against theft, other loss or damage, in reasonable amounts based upon the value of the estate, and for the benefit of the conservatee or the conservatee’s estate;
- to prosecute and defend all actions in the name of the conservatee or as necessary to protect the interests of the conservatee;
- to sell assets of the conservatee’s estate when the interests of the conservatee or conservatee’s estate require the sale thereof;
- to possess and manage any ongoing business that the conservatee was managing and operating prior to the appointment of the conservator, and to divest the conservatee’s estate of any interests therein, with the approval of the court, when the conservator deems it in the best interests of the conservatee or the conservatee’s estate to do so; and
- to invest all funds in a manner which is reasonably prudent in view of the value of the conservatee’s estate, except as may be currently needed for payment of any debts and charges as provided for herein. If the conservator shall expend or invest any funds from the conservatee’s estate for the purchase of any policy of insurance or annuity contract, the conservator shall reserve to the conservatee the right to change the beneficiary thereof upon the termination of the conservatorship and of any guardianship which may have been established for the conservatee.
Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-30,112
Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-30,137-138
Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-30,154-155
Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-30,176
https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch59/059_030_0138.html
https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch59/059_030_0176.html