Guardianships, Control and Pressure
An interesting question was posted on the Illinois State Bar Association transactional law discussion grouplist yesterday. The fact scenario was something like this:
Minor (let's call him Greg) has a guardianship in Cook County Probate Court. The assets in Greg's guardianship estate are pretty substantial (let's say $1 million). Greg, who may have some emotional problems, turns 18 next month -- this is the age when, under Illinois law, the assets in the guardianship estate must be released to the ward. Greg's guardian doesn't believe Greg is mature enough to handle the money.
Can anything be done to stop the assets from being released to Greg next month, when he turns 18? I think the short answer is "no," unless you can somehow make the argument that Greg is mentally disabled, and succeed in opening a guardianship estate for him. Another possibility would be to encourage Greg to place his assets in a trust that restricts his own access to the funds. Why would Greg want to do this? The main reason is that the adults in Greg's life could make it worthwhile for Greg to do it, either by wielding a carrot (set up a trust and we'll buy you a car) or a stick (if you don't set up a trust, we'll cut you out of our Wills). Is that fair? Maybe not, but in my experience it happens fairly often.
