Staff increase, caseload limits approved for public guardians

Additional staff will help manage public guardian cases under a bill passed April 12 by the Legislature.

LB934, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash, removes a requirement that the public guardian hire up to 12 associate guardians. Instead, the director of the Office of Public Guardian will be charged with hiring a multidisciplinary team of up to 20 professionals and support staff, including at least one attorney licensed to practice law in Nebraska.

The bill also limits the number of cases the public guardian could accept to a ratio of 20 public wards or protected persons to each member of the multidisciplinary team.

Provisions of LB1008 and LB1007, both introduced by Coash, were added to the bill.

These require that a guardian ad litem be a licensed attorney in good standing, complete relevant training and advocate for the best interests of the individual whom they defend, including their social, economic and personal safety interests.

Each guardian ad litem is required to make contact with the person he or she represents within two weeks of appointment and become familiar with that person’s condition to the best of his or her ability.

The guardian ad litem is authorized to conduct discovery, present and cross-examine witnesses, file motions on behalf of the person they represent and request medical, psychological or other relevant examinations of the person to whom they are appointed.

He or she also is authorized to make recommendations to the court regarding a temporary or permanent guardianship, conservatorship or other protective order.

Provisions of LB1007 extend the statute of limitations to six years on cases of abuse, neglect or exploitation of a vulnerable or senior adult from its current three-year limit.

The definition of exploitation under the Adult Protective Services Act also is clarified to include the wrongful withholding or control of a vulnerable or senior adult’s financial assets through intimidation, threat of force or a breach of fiduciary duty by a guardian or conservator.

The bill passed on a 48-0 vote.