Rockwall County Guardianship Attorneys

Guardianship is a court proceeding that transfers decision-making authority over an adult or a minor to a person the court appoints and supervises. In Rockwall County, guardianship applications are filed with the County Clerk and heard in County Court at Law No. 1 or No. 2.

Texas law treats guardianship as a last resort. The court must find by clear and convincing evidence that the proposed ward is an incapacitated person, that a guardianship is necessary, and that its benefits cannot be achieved through a less restrictive alternative (Tex. Est. Code § 1101.101).

The two kinds of guardianship — and the alternatives first

• Guardianship of the person — authority over residence, medical treatment, education and daily care.
• Guardianship of the estate — authority over money, property, contracts and claims.

Either can be full or limited, and Texas courts increasingly prefer limited guardianships that leave the person every right they can still exercise safely.

What the application requires

1. A physician’s certificate of medical examination. For an adult alleged to be incapacitated, the examination must have occurred within 120 days before the application is filed (Tex. Est. Code § 1101.103). A stale letter is the most common reason a hearing gets reset.
2. Notice and citation to the proposed ward and to close relatives identified by statute.
3. An attorney ad litem appointed by the court to represent the proposed ward’s interests (Chapter 1054). The proposed ward has the right to attend, to be represented, and to a jury trial.
4. A background check and registration. Proposed guardians who are not attorneys must be certified or registered as required under Chapter 1104 and complete the required training.
5. A bond when there is an estate to manage (Chapter 1105).

Ongoing duties after appointment

Guardianship does not end at the hearing. A guardian of the person files an annual report on the ward’s condition, and a guardian of the estate files an annual accounting, both subject to court approval (Tex. Est. Code Chapter 1163). Expenditures from the ward’s estate generally require court authority, and self-dealing is prohibited. Courts can and do remove guardians who miss filings.

Guardianship of a minor and turning 18

Guardianship of a minor is used when a child’s parents are deceased, incapacitated or have had their rights terminated, and it ends automatically when the child turns 18. For a child with a significant disability, families often file for guardianship of the adult child in the months before the eighteenth birthday, because parental authority ends on that date regardless of the disability — a timing issue that catches many Rockwall ISD and Royse City ISD families as a student approaches graduation.

Where the dispute is between parents rather than about capacity, the correct proceeding is usually a family law conservatorship case instead. See also Estate Planning for the documents that avoid guardianship entirely.