Michigan Administrative Code › Department - Health and Human Services › Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Administration › Guardianship for Recipients of Mental Health Services › Part 6 - GUARDIANSHIP FOR RECIPIENTS OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES › Section R. 330.6019 - Facility or program rule in guardianship proceedings

Current through Vol. 24-12, July 15, 2024
Rule 6019.
( 1)
				  When guardianship is deemed necessary, a facility or program director shall
				  endeavor to cause the petitioner to be an appropriate family member, friend, or
				  public or private agency or association, other than an agency or association
				  directly providing services to the person. The person may also be the
				  petitioner.
( 2) When the facility
				  or program director or an authorized staff member petitions for appointment of
				  a guardian, the petition shall not request, and a report provided by a
				  department facility or a county program shall not recommend a greater scope or
				  duration of guardianship powers and duties than is absolutely necessary to meet
				  the needs presented by the person's actual mental and adaptive limitations and
				  for which an informed consent board evaluated the ability of the person to
				  consent or for which a minor approaching the age of 18 has been evaluated by an
				  informed consent board as needing protective services of a guardian.
( 3) A guardianship request shall be designed
				  to encourage development of maximum self-reliance and independence in the
				  person.
( 4) If a petition
				  previously filed on behalf of a facility or program resulted in appointment of
				  a plenary guardian of the estate or a partial guardian or a refusal by a court
				  to appoint any guardian, a facility or program director shall not authorize a
				  subsequent petition unless there has been a significant deterioration in the
				  persons condition or other compelling change in circumstances. This requirement
				  does not prevent action for emergency guardianship.
( 5) Only when it is necessary for a court to
				  summarily appoint a temporary guardian and then only when another person,
				  agency, or association is not available to serve as guardian, shall a facility
				  or program providing services to a person offer to serve as guardian.
( 6) When a facility or program petitions for
				  appointment of a guardian, a facility or program director shall cause, wherever
				  possible, that an appropriate family member, friend, or public or private
				  agency or association be considered by the probate court for appointment as
				  guardian.
( 7) Only on the request
				  of a probate court and after all other possibilities have been exhausted may a
				  department facility agree, on behalf of the department, to serve as a plenary
				  or partial guardian.
( 8) The
				  department shall decline to serve as guardian for a person not receiving
				  services from a department facility.
(
				  9) A county community mental health program may accept an
				  appointment as guardian for a person receiving services in a department
				  facility, pursuant to these rules.
(
				  10) Staff members of the department and of a community mental
				  health program shall not personally act as guardians.
( 11) Each facility director and community
				  mental health director shall establish relationships with local associations
				  for developmentally and/or intellectually disabled citizens and other
				  appropriate public or private agencies or associations which can conduct an
				  active guardianship program for a developmentally and/or intellectually
				  disabled person to assist in obtaining individual or group guardians in cases
				  where a family member or friends are not available.
( 12) When a department facility or county
				  community program staff member petitions for appointment of a guardian, on
				  behalf of the facility or program, a facility shall provide, and a program
				  shall provide or contract for, a report required by law. This report shall
				  contain all of the following:
(a) Evaluations
				  of the persons mental, physical, social, and educational condition made not
				  more than the 30 days prior to filing a petition.
(b) A recommendation proposing the type and
				  scope of guardianship services needed.
(c) A judgment as to the most appropriate
				  living arrangement.
(d) Signatures
				  of all persons,
				  1 of whom shall
				  be a physician or a psychologist, who performed evaluations upon which the
				  report is based. Any number of evaluations by persons not on the staff of the
				  facility or program may be utilized.