What happens if a person needs a guardian and the disabled refuses to be examined for guardianship purposes? If there is a person in the household that refuses to allow that person to be examined, then there is a clear legal route for the court to be involved. But what happens if your parent is in the home alone and simply refuses to be examined? Now what?
Maryland Guardianship Complication
Maryland law on this precise issue is a bit more complicated. As strange as it seems, the law is very clear that if a person is preventing someone from being examined then there is a clear path for a hearing. But, it is not so clear if there is no one preventing them from being examined.
Argument that Case Should be Dismissed
When a guardianship petition is filed, the court will appoint an attorney to represent the disabled. In cases where there is no one preventing her from being examined, it is not unusual that the court appointed attorney will argue that the case should be dismissed as Maryland law does not provide that the court can force a person to be examined if no one is preventing her from being examined. It is an absurd argument, but if you take a literal reading of the Maryland provisions you could see their point.
A Winning Argument
But, you must take an aggressive approach and take an expansive review of all relevant guardianship rules to make the argument that the court has the right, even thought the disabled does not have someone that is preventing her from being examined, to order they be examined. This argument must be made to look past the perceived limitations in the Maryland rules. We have taken this expansive view before and won on this issue.
The point is that Maryland law is not as clear as it needs to be on certain issues. It also means that guardianship matters may be more complicated that originally believed and you need competent counsel to navigate through these complicated issues.