Guardianship changes for vulnerable adults advance

Lawmakers gave second-round approval Feb. 10 to a bill that seeks to strengthen the state’s guardian and conservatorship system for vulnerable adults.

LB157, sponsored by Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash, would require that a potential guardian or conservator complete a criminal background check and file the results with the court 10 days prior to an appointment hearing.

A Coash amendment, adopted 37-0, removed provisions requiring that potential guardians and conservators also complete sex offender and central register checks. Coash said additional checks would be redundant because a crime associated with listing an individual on one of the registers also would appear in a criminal background check.

“We’re leaving in the most critical piece, which is the criminal history check,” he said.

The amendment also would require that an interested person found to have filed an affidavit in bad faith with the court concerning a vulnerable adult pay the opposing party reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

Exceptions to the background check requirements would include financial institutions serving as conservators and expedited, temporary and emergency guardian/conservator appointments.

Among other provisions, the bill would require a guardian/conservator to:

• file his or her papers with the register of deeds in each county in which the ward owns property or property interest;
• file an inventory of the ward’s assets within 30 days of an appointment and mail it to all interested persons;
• obtain court permission to move the ward’s place of abode outside the state; and
• furnish a bond on the ward’s assets if they exceed $10,000.

The bond could be waived for good cause, and would not be required for banks or other financial institutions serving as a conservator.

LB157 also would allow the court to refer contested guardian/conservator cases to mediation or other dispute resolution. Finally, the bill would allow a judge to intervene when an interested person submits concerns, through an affidavit, that a ward’s safety, health or financial welfare is at risk.

After adopting the Coash amendment, senators advanced the bill from select file by voice vote.