Free Britney: Understanding Incapacity, Abuse & Guardianships

Guardianships by their nature are legally and emotionally difficult.  As advocates, attorneys need to be specially tuned into the challenges and difficulties that can arise, especially because at their core, guardianships involve removing Constitutional rights and basic human responsibilities from a person. Unfortunately, guardianships are not one-size-fits-all and legislatures, as well as the legal field, have been slow to recognize that. The case of Britney Spears well illustrates the difficulties when faced with someone who is not advanced in age, but instead suffers from mental illness or mental health disability.

Using Britney Spears' conservatorship as a case study, this program will discuss what guardianship is, how someone is deemed incapacitated and what rights and responsibilities the incapacitated person stands to lose.  The discussion will also include recognizing and employing least restrictive alternatives. This program will also discuss how to recognize abuse and what you can do to address it while weighing the best interests of the incapacitated person.  

This program will benefit anyone who practices in the field of elder law and/or guardianships. 

1. Discuss what a guardianship proceeding looks like and what rights and responsibilities the incapacitated person may potentially lose

2. Identify available lesser restrictive alternatives and how you can employ them to help the incapacitated person

3. Recognize the signs of abuse of guardianships and what you can do to address it for the benefit and in the best interests of the incapacitated person

4. Discuss Britney Spears' conservatorship and how it illustrates some of the problems so that advocates can be instruments of change