In short, if you cannot speak for yourself in a financial or medical setting *and* you have not chosen someone to speak on your behalf (in advance, in writing) and you need assistance on a regular basis, someone in your family has to go to court to become your legal guardian.
If this sounds shady and not ideal for an emergency, you’re right.
To minimize the chance that you are taken advantage of in a vulnerable position, the court will oversee the guardian’s actions. Unfortunately, the way this plays out in practice is that a well-meaning loved one is viewed with suspicion, required to keep tons of records, must request court permission for a variety of actions they take on your behalf, and cannot get out of it until the court agrees it can be over.
This is on top of the fact that it costs about $3,000+ to get one of these cases going on an emergency basis.
Once again, if you do not have your own plan, this is what the state of California has decided is the “default” plan.
And again, it is totally avoidable with a complete estate plan.
You know the drill by now: sign up for a free initial consultation to discuss your options now.
We will go over the exact decisions you have to make to get a complete estate plan in place that opts out of California’s terrible default plan for handling disabilities and death.
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