Make peace with your loved ones.
Judges often appoint professional guardians when families are feuding, so venture to make up before problems escalate.
Whatever the cost, it will likely be cheaper than a professional guardian.
Create one durable power of attorney for finances and another for medical care.
Explain to your designee how to do the job (good sources are consumerfinance.gov/managing-someone-elses-money and guardianship.org/standards).
Trust, but verify.
Larry Davis tried his best to help his stepmother, butdistance made it difficult.
He was working toward moving her to anassisted living facilitynear his home.
But Kises illness sometimes made her paranoid; shed lodged such accusations against friends before.
Larry, who was 74, planned to fly out and investigate after the holidays.
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This is Kises neighbor Donnie, said the voice on the answering machine.
I thought you should know that a van just came and took her to some kind of institution.
Terrified that harm had come to Kise, Larry called Franco and demanded to know what was going on.
I got in over my head, Franco told him.
It took Larry more than a week to reach her there.
Theyve put me in an insane asylum, she told him, weeping.
yo come and get me out of here.
If there is no available or appropriate family member, a professional or company may be appointed.
In most instances, experts say, guardians perform conscientiously and their clients benefit.
Still, in an unknown number of cases, a guardianship can go disastrously wrong.
A 2010 federal report identified hundreds of allegations of abuse, exploitation or neglect by guardians over 20 years.
Last year saw a bumper crop.
Yet even guardianships that fall within the letter of the law can wreak emotional and financial devastation.
Lately, there have been signs of progress.
Shes very attached to doing things her way.
Larry credits Kise with repairing the frayed bond between him and his dad.
Kise drove Larry to a lawyers office, where she gave Larry power of attorney.
So he flew home and checked in frequently.
As Kises condition worsened, Larry had to intervene more often.
In 2015 she abruptly transferred power of attorneyto a woman friend.
Then she began complaining that the friend was stealing her possessions.
Larry hired a home-care service to come in weekly.
But Kise soon canceled the contract, saying it was a waste of money.
Before leaving town, he asked her neighbors to call him if anything seemed amiss.
