We represent clients throughout Allegheny County and the surrounding area. For a consultation, please call 412-621-6811, or contact us online. Our compassionate attorneys can develop a personalized guardianship plan that works for your family.
When possible, it is better to set up guardianships for minors and vulnerable adults ahead of time. However, if your family is in an emergency situation, we have the experience to help you seek or contest a guardianship in Pennsylvania.
The guardianship attorneys at Beroes Law Center can represent you in matters involving emergency guardianships, guardianships for special-needs adults and children, guardianship of minor children and guardianship of incapacitated or elderly adults. With our estate planning and Orphan’s Court experience, we can explain the guardianship process and assist you in obtaining or contesting guardianship.
Please call our office in Pittsburgh at 412-621-6811 to schedule a consultation. We will explain your guardianship options and help ensure that your family members are protected.
A guardianship grants another party temporary or permanent protection of a ward (vulnerable adult or minor child). This generally includes the power to make financial and legal decisions as well as health care decisions.
We can assist you with the following guardianships:
At Beroes Law Center, we understand that most people are unfamiliar with guardianships. Our Pittsburgh attorneys always want to help you understand as much as possible. Here are some of the questions:
Guardianship over a child is usually considered a temporary arrangement that allows a child’s third-party caregiver to have physical and legal custody. This makes it possible for them to enroll the child in school, seek medical treatment on their behalf and take other important steps. However, that is not the same as terminating a parent’s rights. A parent can still regain physical and legal custody and terminate guardianship in the right circumstances.
Whether you are a guardian or you seek to end someone’s guardianship, it generally requires filing a petition with the court. The court will have to establish that the termination of guardianship is in the child’s best interests. To that effect, the court will consider the current guardian’s fitness to continue in their role, whether or not a parent is reunified and or rehabilitated, the changes in the child’s circumstances since guardianship began, and what other arrangements would be suitable and necessary for the child.
You must file the appropriate petition with the Court of Common Pleas, where the adult lives, explaining why you believe that the adult is incapacitated and needs a guardian. Supporting documentation will be necessary since guardianship effectively eliminates the rights of the adult to be self-determining. A physician verification is also required to confirm that the adult individual is incapacitated.
In general, the court will provide an opportunity for the adult in question to respond. Once all of the evidence is available, the court will determine if the adult is incapacitated and requires a guardian or if other, less restrictive alternatives are more appropriate. Guardianship is sometimes necessary when a proposed adult has a severe developmental or intellectual disability, an extreme mental illness or a physical disability that makes them unable to direct their own care.
We represent clients throughout Allegheny County and the surrounding area. For a consultation, please call 412-621-6811, or contact us online. Our compassionate attorneys can develop a personalized guardianship plan that works for your family.
