[WSBAPT] Guardianship

[Barry Richard Morrison]

Hey all, it has been a long time since I’ve posted on here, but I’ve got a
Guardianship question I wonder if anyone knows about. Can a respondent to
a petition for guardianship be made, through either the Temporary Guardian
and/or GAL, to pay petitioner attorney fees/costs from their own bank
account?

 

Currently, I’ve been appointed counsel for a client who is facing a
guardianship petition from a local hospital. In the paperwork I’ve
received, there is a document, signed by  the petitioner’s attorney, and
both the Temp Guardian and GAL, stipulating to withdrawals and
disbursements, which has an entry (first disbursement in fact) to give the
petitioner’s attorney’s firm a set amount of money out of the respondent’s
bank account. To me, this just doesn’t seem fair at all. I also went
looking at the RCW on Guardianships, and found RCW 11.92.180
(http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=11.92.180 ), which appears
to talk about guardianship compensation and expenses, and attorney’s fees.
However, and unless I’m misreading or not understanding, there isn’t
anything in this RCW that would seem to allow for the above actions to
take place. Am I wrong? If this isn’t the proper RCW to look at, can
someone direct me accordingly?

 

I guess I’m trying to make sense of how a respondent, who is against the
petition for guardianship, should be made to pay anything, especially
before a court’s final decision on the matter, to the petitioner’s
attorney. Isn’t a Guardian/GAL supposed to be looking out for the
respondent’s best interest? It would seem, if this is somehow ok, that
anyone can petition for a guardian, obtain the court’s “approval” for that
petitioner’s Temp Guardian/GAL, and then take the respondent’s monies, and
do what they will with it…?

 

Am I missing something? Any ideas or direction would be greatly
appreciated.

 

Barry Richard Morrison, Esq.

Civil Commitment Attorney – Yakima DAC

 

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