One of the many impacts of our country’s growing elderly population is an explosion in the number of disputes concerning court appointment of guardians for the same individual in more than one state. Elderly individuals are more mobile than previous generations, and children and other concerned family members are often located in multiple states. The need for a guardianship often arises in response to a crisis. In haste, family members and other concerned individuals from different states may simultaneously seek the appointment of guardians by various courts.

The law on appointment of guardians is controlled by the individual states. There has until recently been a lack of guidance on what should be done when guardian appointments are made in more than one state. These gaps in the legal framework for guardianship jurisdiction have proven problematic for guardians, wards, and the courts, often resulting in protracted, costly litigation.

A recent court case in Florida illustrates the very problems encountered when two individuals obtain set guardianship appointments in different states. In Bogert v. Morrison, the ward, Mr. Morrison, suffered an incapacitating head injury in February 2006 while visiting in Reno, Nevada. Ms. Bogert, Morrison’s fiancée, brought him back to his home in New Jersey and began to care for him.

Dueling guardianshipsIn April 2006, and without the knowledge of the fiancée, Morrison’s daughter moved Morrison to Florida. In response to the actions of the daughter, the fiancée filed for a guardianship with the New Jersey courts, seeking the ward’s return to New Jersey and the court entered a preliminary order concerning the case. Before that proceeding was concluded, the daughter, in early June, filed for a guardianship with the Florida courts. Not long after, the New Jersey court issued a second order that upheld its jurisdiction over any guardianship matters because the ward was domiciled in New Jersey.

However, in late August the Florida court, acting on the fiancée’s petition to dismiss the Florida ’s guardianship based on the prior New Jersey decision, denied the petition and issued a final order appointing the daughter guardian in Florida. Consequently,