Articles related to guardianship

Meet Mike. Following a recent stroke, Mike is allegedly no longer able to make and communicate important decisions about himself, his family, or his property. Mike’s wife has filed a […]

When an incompetency proceeding is filed pursuant to Chapter 35A of the North Carolina General Statutes (“Ch. 35A”) alleging that an adult is incompetent, that adult—known as the respondent in […]

*This post is co-authored with my colleague, Kristi Nickodem. For years, local stakeholders in North Carolina have been forming adult protective multidisciplinary teams (MDTs)—groups of professionals from different disciplines who […]

On June 26, 2025, H612 was signed by the Governor and became S.L. 2025-16. This session law makes significant amendments to the laws addressing juvenile abuse, neglect, and dependency (A/N/D) and the oversight provided by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) over county departments of social services (DSS). The session law also affects termination of parental rights, adoptions of minors, permanent no contact orders, felony child abuse, and criminal history checks for applicants for city and county jobs that involve working with children. Finally, this session law enacts a guardianship assistance program for certain children who were in DSS custody when guardianship was ordered. The various sections of this significant 32-page session law have different effective dates, with some sections effective on June 26, 2025 and others not effective until as late as April 1, 2026. This blog only summarizes the changes that are effective now.

Navigating the legal requirements applicable to adult protective services (APS) court proceedings can be challenging, given the expedited nature of the cases, the different types of orders the court may […]

*This post was written by Adult Protection Network Director Kristy Preston. Earlier this year, the UNC School of Government’s Adult Protection Network held six training events known as the “2024 […]

In state fiscal year 2022-2023, county departments of social services in North Carolina received 35,400 reports alleging the abuse, neglect, or exploitation of vulnerable adults. Fifty-six counties across the state […]

In North Carolina, when an adult is adjudicated incompetent and guardianship is ordered, guardianship is permanent until the first of these two developments occur: (i) the ward’s competency is restored, […]

Adult guardianship law in North Carolina underwent several significant changes effective January 1, 2024. My colleague, Timothy Heinle, and I previously blogged about two of these changes resulting from Session […]

Significant changes are on the way for individuals, legal practitioners, and public officials involved in North Carolina incompetency and adult guardianship proceedings. The recently enacted Session Law 2023-124 mandates the […]