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1. A local source identifies a person who needs guardianship services.This local source may be an adult care facility, Adult Protective Services, a hospital or any other organization that deals with indigent and/or incapacitated people.
2. Factual information is gathered about the individual.
3. The individual's case is presented to the multi-disciplinary panel of the Local Guardianship (LG) program to determine if guardianship services can best be provided by the LG program.
4. The referring agency, either by itself or through a City or County Attorney or with the assistance of local volunteer counsel, requests a guardianship hearing by the Circuit Court.
5. If the Circuit Court finds that the person is incapacitated, the Local Guardianship (LG) program is suggested to the Circuit Court as a suitable guardian for the person.
6. The Circuit Court makes the appointment and the LG program takes
over as guardian for the incapacitated person.
Local guardianship programs are not available in every locality throughout the state, and space in the existing programs is extremely limited. Many localities with LG programs are already serving their maximum number of individuals, and have others on a "waiting list". The limited size of LG programs make finding alternatives to public guardianship extremely important.
View a list of local guardianship programs in Virginia.
