How to Determine Jurisdiction for An Incapacitated Person?
Typical Scenario: Bridget lives in Maryland. Grandparents of Bridget, Joe and Josephine live in Pennsylvania during the summer months. However, during the winter months, Joe and Josephine migrate to Florida to enjoy the warm weather. Josephine has been diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer’s leaving Joe to be the primary care taker. He suddenly passes away while the couple is living in Florida for the winter months. Bridget decides to go to Florida to spend time with her grandmother. She realizes that Josephine is no longer able to care for herself and would like to file for guardianship.
Where does she file and what court has jurisdiction?
Bridget is now unclear as to where the guardianship proceedings should take place because she does not know which state has proper jurisdiction. Bridget’s choices of possible jurisdiction are Pennsylvania (her grandparents’ primary home), Maryland (her primary home), or Florida(her grandparents’ vacation home) . To try and solve issue of the jurisdiction over adult guardianship, many states have adopted the Uniform Adult Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Jurisdiction Act.
This Act specifically states which court has proper jurisdiction in order to appoint a guardian for an incapacitated person. Primary jurisdiction is determined by the “home state” of the individual. This means the state in which the individual lived for at least the past six months. If this could not be determined, the next court that would have appropriate jurisdiction is decided by where the incapacitated person had “significant connection”.
Significant connection to a state would be considered as having family members, owning assets in that state, maintaining social relationships, or having a
voting address in a particular state. Lastly, if the incapacitated person did not have a home state or did not have a significant connection, another court could claim jurisdiction.
As a result, in our situation above, Pennsylvania would have proper jurisdiction. The reason that Pennsylvania has primary jurisdiction is because Pennsylvania is considered JoAnn’s home state.
For more information regarding, adult or child guardianship please contact our office at 610-933-8069.
