Guardianship

A guardianship is a court appointment giving someone authority over the personal care and decisions of an adult who cannot manage them.

It is about the person, not their property.

What a guardian decides#

Where the person lives. Medical and health care decisions. Daily care arrangements. Personal welfare generally.

The precise powers are set by the court order, and Minnesota's framework is intended to grant no more authority than the circumstances require.

What a guardian cannot do#

Sell real estate. Manage bank accounts. Handle investments. Deal with a mortgage.

Authority over property comes from a conservatorship, which is a separate appointment with its own application and its own findings.

That separation catches families constantly. A daughter appointed guardian of her mother, needing to sell the house to fund care, discovers she has no authority over the house at all.

The same person can hold both appointments, and frequently does — but both have to be obtained.

Why it matters for property#

An adult who has lost capacity still owns their property.

Nobody can convey it without authority, and the routes to authority are a power of attorney executed while they still had capacity, or a conservatorship obtained afterwards.

Where neither exists, the property cannot be sold, refinanced or insured properly — by anyone — while the owner is alive and lacks capacity.

That is a live version of the same problem that unprobated estates create after death: a property nobody has standing to deal with, accruing taxes and deteriorating.

The alternative is planning#

Both routes to avoiding a guardianship must be taken while the person has capacity.

A health care directive names who makes medical decisions and states what the person wants.

A power of attorney authorises someone to handle financial matters, including real property where it is drafted to cover it.

Both are inexpensive, both take an afternoon, and neither can be created once capacity is gone.

For families dealing with an aging owner#

The practical sequence is worth stating plainly.

Establish whether a power of attorney exists and whether it covers real property. If it does, that may be sufficient.

If it does not, and capacity is failing, a power of attorney executed now is enormously cheaper and faster than a conservatorship later.

If capacity is already gone, the court route is the only one — and it should be started before the property becomes a problem rather than after taxes have gone delinquent.