Right to counsel

Mandatory appointment of counsel

Guardianship and conservatorship establishment, sterilization, and involuntary admission to facility

The Kansas Probate Code requires courts to appoint counsel to represent the subject of a petition to appoint a guardian or conservator, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-3063(a)(3).  Counsel is also required where the guardian seeks court authority to admit the protected or proposed protected person to a “treatment facility”[1], Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-3077(c)(3), or seeks court authority to consent to sterilization of the protected person on their behalf. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-3075(e)(5).

Discretionary appointment of counsel

Ancillary matters

The court has discretion to appoint counsel to represent the protected or proposed protected person in connection with certain related proceedings including establishing an irrevocable trust on the person’s behalf, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-3080(d); claims against the conservatee’s estate, § 59-3082; court review of guardian’s report, § 59-3084(b); court review of conservator’s report, § 59-3085(b); allowance and settlement on conservator’s accounting, § 59-3086(b); modification of co-guardian or co-conservatorship orders, § 59-3087(b); resignation, removal, or appointment of successor guardian or conservator, § 59-3088(b); and hearings on termination of a guardianship or conservatorship, § 59-3091(f)(1).

For the guardian

In addition, the court may appoint counsel for the guardian in matters related to modification of the guardian’s powers. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-3075(a)(1).

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[1] The statute provides that a “treatment facility” is defined as “the Kansas neurological institute, Larned state hospital, Osawatomie state hospital, Parsons state hospital and training center, the Rainbow mental health facility, any intermediate care facility for people with intellectual disability, any psychiatric hospital licensed pursuant to K.S.A. 39-2001 et seq., and amendments thereto, and any other facility for mentally ill persons or people with intellectual or developmental disabilities licensed pursuant to K.S.A. 39-2001 et seq., and amendments thereto, if the proposed ward or ward is to be admitted as an inpatient or resident of that facility.”  Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-3077(h).