75-5-311 - Who may be guardian -- Priorities.
75-5-311. Who may be guardian -- Priorities.
(1) As used in this section:
(a) "Specialized care professional" means a person who:
(i) has been certified or designated as a provider of guardianship services by a nationallyrecognized guardianship accrediting organization;
(ii) is licensed by or registered with the Division of Occupational and ProfessionalLicensing as a health care provider including, but not limited to, a registered nurse licensed underSection 58-31b-301, a social service worker, certified social worker, or clinical social workerlicensed under Section 58-60-205, a marriage and family therapist licensed under Section58-60-305, a physician licensed under Title 58, Chapter 67, or a psychologist licensed under Title58, Chapter 61; or
(iii) has been approved by the court as one with specialized training and experience inthe care of incapacitated persons.
(b) "Suitable institution" means any nonprofit or for profit corporation, partnership, soleproprietorship, or other type of business organization that is owned, operated by, or employs aspecialized care professional.
(2) Any competent person or suitable institution may be appointed guardian of anincapacitated person.
(3) The court shall appoint a guardian in accordance with the incapacitated person's mostrecent nomination, unless that person is disqualified or the court finds other good cause why theperson should not serve as guardian. That nomination shall have been made prior to the person'sincapacity, shall be in writing and shall be signed by the person making the nomination. Thenomination shall be in substantially the following form:
I, (Name), being of sound mind and not acting under duress, fraud, or other undueinfluence, do hereby nominate (Name, current residence, and relationship, if any, of the nominee)to serve as my guardian in the event that after the date of this instrument I become incapacitated.
Executed at ____________________________ (city, state)
on this ____________ day of ______________
____________________________________
(Signature)
(4) Except as provided in Subsection (3), persons who are not disqualified have priorityfor appointment as guardian in the following order:
(a) a person who has been nominated by the incapacitated person, by any means otherthan that described in Subsection (3), if the incapacitated person was 14 years of age or olderwhen the nomination was executed and, in the opinion of the court, that person acted withsufficient mental capacity to make the nomination;
(b) the spouse of the incapacitated person;
(c) an adult child of the incapacitated person;
(d) a parent of the incapacitated person, including a person nominated by will, writteninstrument, or other writing signed by a deceased parent;
(e) any relative of the incapacitated person with whom he has resided for more than sixmonths prior to the filing of the petition;
(f) a person nominated by the person who is caring for him or paying benefits to him; or
(g) a specialized care professional, so long as the specialized care professional does not:
(i) profit financially or otherwise from or receive compensation for acting in thatcapacity, except for the direct costs of providing guardianship or conservatorship services; or
(ii) otherwise have a conflict of interest in providing those services.
Amended by Chapter 288, 1998 General Session