§ 6-1442.02.Guardians with limited authority; authority limited to not handling any assets of the ward.

Not every guardian wants, or needs, control over a ward’s money. § 6-1442.02 lets a guardian, or someone nominated to be one, ask the court for an order taking estate authority off the table entirely. Once that order issues, the restriction has to appear on the Letters themselves, so anyone dealing with the guardian — a bank, a government agency, a family member — can see at a glance that estate matters are off-limits.

That restriction is not permanent by default. If the guardian later becomes a representative payee for the ward — taking on responsibility, for instance, for Social Security or other benefit payments — the guardian has 10 days from learning of that change to notify the court and interested persons, and must ask the court to modify the Letters to match the new reality. Even a guardian with no estate authority still has to file an initial inventory and keep complying with the newly-discovered-asset and general guardianship reporting rules found elsewhere in these rules.

Once the guardian becomes a representative payee, or gains control of some other asset of the ward, the limited-authority label no longer fits. At that point, the guardian has to file an accounting with the court and follow the same accounting rule that applies to any guardian who controls part of the ward’s estate.