Gloria contacted Legal Aid’s Warrensburg office on behalf of her friend Carla, who had severe mental disabilities and was in need of emergency treatment for cancer. Due to her disabilities, Carla’s doctors would not provide the appropriate treatment that she required until she had a guardian. Carla’s husband Harold did not have the capacity to assume this role, nor did any of Carla’s family, so Gloria consented to be appointed as guardian and conservator.

A Legal Aid attorney interviewed Carla and Gloria to determine if Carla possessed the capacity to understand the guardianship and conservatorship process, and what it would mean if she had someone appointed as her guardian and conservator. The attorney determined that Carla was able to understand the process, and assisted her in filing an emergency petition requesting that Gloria to be appointed as her guardian and conservator.

Working closely with the Judge and Guardian Ad Litem, the Legal Aid attorney was able to obtain an expedited hearing for Carla’s petition, and to successfully have Gloria appointed as Carla’s guardian and conservator. Without Legal Aid’s help, Carla would not have been able to obtain the medical treatment that she desperately needed.

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