When people reach the age of 18, they are legal adults. This means that they can make their own financial, medical, educational, and legal decisions. If someone lacks capacity to make those decisions on his/her/their own, the court can appoint a legal guardian to make those decisions for him/her/them.

In New Jersey, we promote self-determination to the greatest extent possible. To that end, we encourage our clients to explore all options available to best protect their family member. Sometimes, a less restrictive arrangement will be appropriate, such as limited guardianship, or conservatorship. We have counseled hundreds of clients to find the best option to suit their families.

When there is no clear solution, or when family members disagree about how to best protect a disabled family member, these matters can end up in court. We work hard to develop creative settlement solutions that satisfy our clients and protect the disabled individuals. However, when settlement has not been possible, we have successfully litigated many contested guardianships on behalf of parents of adult disabled children, children of disabled adults, and siblings of disabled adults.