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Avoiding Guardianships

Legal guardianships are sometimes necessary and provide a great benefit, however they can be very costly. There are some legal documents a person can prepare which may serve to eliminate the need for a guardianship all together or significantly reduce the costs associated with proceedings to determine who should be appointed to serve as a guardian.

  • Power of attorney: A power of attorney is an estate planning document used to manage one's financial affairs. If a person, or principal, has capacity, they can prepare a durable power attorney appointing a person, or an agent, the right to handle specified transactions. The document allows the agent to manage the principal's financial affairs during their lifetime. A power of attorney terminates on the death of the principal.
  • Health care surrogate: A health care surrogate or health care proxy is an estate planning document used to manage one's health affairs. If a person has capacity, they can prepare a health care proxy to nominate an agent to handle specified health affairs in the event that a person is no longer able to make decisions for him or herself.
  • Preneed guardian: A preneed guardian is a document prepared in which you can preselect who you would want to have appointed as your guardian in the event that a legal guardianship needs to be established. You can select a guardian for yourself and you can also preselect a guardian for your children if you become unable to care for them. If a guardianship is established, assuming the guardian qualifies, the court must appoint the guardian you selected. A guardian is qualified if they are a Florida resident, but they may not be a creditor or a felon.  

The firm offers services to represent wards, guardians, friends and/or family members in connection with guardianship proceedings. Ms. Rountree has handled a variety of guardianship matters, including contested guardianship appointment and breach of fiduciary duty claims.

Follow the link to return to the main page on Florida guardianships

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The firm provides free consultation and case evaluation. We offer hourly and flat fee arrangements and accept all forms of payment, including major credit cards.

Office Location
601 Heritage Drive
Jupiter, FL 33458
1-561-935-3229
1-561-935-3049 (fax)
Satellite Office
789 SW Federal Hwy, Suite 201
Stuart, FL 34994
1-561-935-3229
1-561-935-3049 (fax)

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