Guardian Divorce

Guardian Divorce- Help for Someone Who Needs It

A guardian divorce may be necessary when someone needs help and cannot help them self.  A dear friend called me last week with a tragic story. It seems her daughter who lives on the other side of the country had tried to commit suicide. She was fortunately stopped when her astute sister called and could tell she was drugged. The paramedics were notified and came in time.  It seems that her mentally ill daughter felt her husband would be better off without her.

Fortunately the daughter is on new medication and while she is doing better, things are still tenuous.  Apparently her husband does not want her to be on medicine or in the hospital. The neighbor has brought her daughter home and is caring for her.  She asked me what she could do from a legal stand point.  She needs to stop the husband and care for the daughter.  I recommended a guardian divorce.

A guardian divorce can be forced by a family when a person can no longer rationally take care of themselves and the spouse is not taking care of them or is harming them.  A guardian divorce works in cases of mental illness or advanced age.  Say “sweet young thing” marries your aged parent and then neglects them. You can probably get a guardian divorce.

Getting a guardian divorce isn’t easy to do, but it is possible.  It is something you should only do in extreme cases – such as abuse or other threatening events.  For the typical “gold digger,” you would be better off getting a conservator named. A conservator is appointed by the court to look out for someone else’s money. My neighbor’s case is a good example of when a guardian divorce is necessary.

By Kristy Phillips