HCS/SCS/SB 213 - This act modifies what information is required in a petition for guardianship for a minor or an incapacitated person, adopts the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act (UAGPPJA), and modifies the procedures for autopsies. Currently, the law sets out who may provide consent to have a doctor perform an autopsy and provides a list of the order in which relatives are consulted to obtain consent. This act allows a child, parent, brother or sister of a deceased individual to petition the court to order an autopsy, if the deceased individual was not capable of consenting to the autopsy before he or she died.
A petition for guardianship of a minor will be required to state the location and value of any real property owned by the minor outside of Missouri and the name and address of the trustees of any trust of which the minor is a qualified beneficiary and the purpose of the trust, in addition to the information the petition was previously required to state.
In addition to the information currently required to be included in a petition for guardianship of an alleged incapacitated person, the petition will also be required to state the three most recent addresses at which the incapacitated person lived in the three years before the filing of the petition, the location and value of any real property owned by the incapacitated person outside of Missouri, the name and address of the person's closest known relatives, the name of any adults living with the person, in some situations the name and address of the person's siblings and of their siblings' children, and the name and address of any agent of the person and of any trustee of any trust that the person is a beneficiary of, as well as the purpose of the power of attorney and the purpose of the trust.
The UAGPPJA deals with issues that arise when several states are involved with an adult who lacks the ability to care for their own needs or property. The UAGPPJA includes provisions regarding communication between courts in different states, requests for assistance from a court to a court of another state, and taking testimony in other states. The UAGPPJA allows a Missouri court to treat foreign countries as other states for the purposes of the provisions allowing communication among courts, determining jurisdiction, and transferring a guardianship or conservatorship.
The UAGPPJA establishes procedures for determining which state has jurisdiction over guardianship and conservator proceedings for an incapacitated adult. These procedures establish three levels of priority for a court to follow in deciding whether it has jurisdiction; the adult's home state, followed by states where the adult has significant connections, and then other states. Regardless of the level of priority, the UAGPPJA allows a court in the state where the person is present to appoint a guardian in an emergency, and a court in the state where the person has property has jurisdiction to issue orders regarding the property. If a court determines that it acquired jurisdiction based on unjustifiable conduct, the act allows the court to remedy the situation and assess fees and expenses against the person who engaged in the unjustifiable conduct.
The UAGPPJA also specifies a procedure for transferring a guardianship or conservatorship from one state to another state. This procedure requires the court in the state transferring the guardianship or conservatorship to issue a provisional order transferring the case after making certain findings. The guardian or conservator is required to petition the state that would accept the case and, after holding a hearing, that court is required to grant the transfer, unless someone objects to the transfer and establishes that the transfer would not be in the interest of the incapacitated person, or the guardian or conservator is not eligible to be appointed a guardian or conservator in that state.
The UAGPPJA also creates a procedure for registering orders in Missouri from other states that appointed a guardian or a conservator to manage an incapacitated adult's property. After registration of the guardianship or protective order in Missouri, the guardian or conservator may exercise all the powers authorized in the original states's order, except for powers that are illegal in Missouri.
The provisions of the act regarding transferring guardianship or conservatorship proceedings from one state to another state and that deal with enforcement of guardianship and protective orders in other states apply to proceedings begun before August 28, 2011.
This act is similar to HB 130 (2011)and provisions of HCS/HB 253 (2011), and identical to provisions of SS#2/SCS/HCS/HB 111 (2011), and CCS/HCS/SB 59 (2011).
EMILY KALMER