Guardianship is a legal relationship between a competent adult (the "guardian") and a person who because of incapacity is no longer able to take care of his or her own affairs (the "ward"). The guardian can be authorized to make legal, financial, and health care decisions for the ward. If you have a loved one who is an adult (or is becoming an adult soon), but that loved one is unable to fully care for or make decisions for themselves, then you might need to seek Court appointment as a guardian for this loved one and/or conservator for his or her estate. Although there are multiple reasons an adult guardianship may become necessary, the most common scenarios involve an adult child (or children) seeking guardianship of an elderly parent who has become incapacitated (in whole or in part), or a parent seeking guardianship of their severely disabled child once that child reaches adulthood.
There are two general types of guardianship: (1) a full guardianship, where all decision-making authority is removed from the protected person and transferred to the guardian to exercise; and (2) a limited guardianship, where some rights are transferred to the guardian while some are retained by the protected person. Under a full guardianship, the rights of the protected person are very similar to those of a minor child with the guardian having the right to exercise those rights in much the same way a parent would for their minor child. Utah law strongly prefers creating a limited guardianship over a full guardianship if at all possible. In a limited guardianship, the guardian is only given authority to make decisions for the protect person in specific, limited areas in which that person lacks sufficient capacity or understanding to make decisions.