When someone you care about becomes unable to manage his or her own personal or financial affairs, you may start thinking about whether this individual needs a legal guardian to advocate on that party’s behalf. A Texas guardian handles any number of efforts on behalf of the incompetent party, or the ward, and seeks to protect the ward and make important decisions on his or her behalf.
Per Texas Health and Human Services, guardianship strips away some of an individual’s rights. For this reason, it makes sense to give considerable thought to establishing a guardianship before doing so. It may, too, make sense to consider alternatives before moving forward with the guardianship. For example, you may want to think about trying the following before establishing guardianship.
Taking advantage of community resources
Certain forms of government assistance, such as Medicaid, may benefit the party you are thinking about establishing guardianship over. Certain community programs may also be available to provide support to your loved one.
Finding someone to manage finances
In some cases, it may serve your loved one well to have someone take over the management of his or her financial affairs without establishing a formal guardianship.
Appointing someone to help make health and personal care decisions
Rather than appoint someone a guardian over your loved one, you may be able to accomplish similar goals by instead giving someone power of attorney over that individual.
While guardianships do strip away an individual’s rights, sometimes, they are the wisest option and the strongest way to protect someone you care about.
