The Oklahoma Bar Journal January 2026

F amily L aw

Ethical Dimensions of Representing a Ward in Guardianship Court By Todd Alexander

O NCE THE DECISION IS MADE to place an adult with diminished capacity into a guardianship, ethical duties arise, along with ethical pitfalls for the practitioner. This article seeks to explain the difficulties and duties of counsel in assisting and guiding a ward through a guardianship action and to ensure that when a successor attorney for a ward is sought, it is done ethically.

petition. It provides conditions for the court to appoint an attorney for the ward and things the court must do as part of that appoint ment. As one might expect, the court is required to find that such an appointment is in the ward’s best interest. 3 The appointment of counsel for the ward permits an investigation by counsel into the propriety of the guardianship to provide light to the court at times when motivations may be suspect. The statute makes provisions for continuance of the hearing to appoint a guardian to give appointed counsel time to pre pare the case for hearing. 4 Upon appointment, the attorney “shall contact the subject of the pro ceeding promptly.” 5 Interestingly, once counsel has done their job and a guardian is appointed by the court, after due process,

participation of wards as fully as possible in the decisions that affect them. 2 This is consistent with the provisions of Rule 1.14. Section 1-103 reiterates the importance of inclusion of the ward in the guardian’s decision-making processes in Subparagraph B.2. b., which requires the guardian to “encourage, to the extent reasonably possible, incapacitated or partially incapacitated persons to participate to the maximum extent of their abilities in all decisions which affect them and to act on their own behalf on all matters in which they are able to do so within the limitations imposed by the Court.” Section 3-107 grants the court authority to appoint an attorney for a person who is allegedly in a petition to be an incapacitated or partially incapacitated person at any time after the filing of the

THE LAWYER’S DUTY A first duty as counsel for a per son, such as a ward in a guardian ship, who has diminished capacity is “to as far as reasonably possible, maintain a normal client-lawyer relationship with the client.” 1 Guardianships are appointed as provided in Title 30 O.S. Section 3-101, which provides that any person interested in the welfare of a person believed to be incapac itated or partially incapacitated may file a petition alleging that the person is incapacitated and requesting the appointment of a general guardian. As noted in Section 1-103 of Title 30, beyond the purpose of providing a means for caring for incapacitated persons and pro tecting their rights and resources, a central purpose of guardian ship law is to provide for the

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

56 | JANUARY 2026

THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL