How to Succeed in a Contested Guardianship Proceeding

This course is part of the Lawline Classics collection, featuring timeless content that remains valuable for learning and reference but is no longer available for CLE credit. 

In traditional civil litigation, there are winners and losers. In a contested guardianship, the winner and loser is one and the same - the Respondent. Regardless of the outcome, the life of a person with diminished capacity is going to be forever changed. There may be a loss of rights, and such proceedings take a toll on the family.  As an advocate, your trial tactics will be determined by who you represent, but the overall goal of the proceeding is to ensure that the Respondent is protected, but not deprived of fundamental rights. This program, presented by Jean Galloway Ball and Kimberley Ann Murphy, Co-Leaders of Contested Guardianship Litigation at Hale Ball in Virginia, will explore the trial tactics that you can employ depending upon who you represent, and reveal trial tips and traps to avoid, based upon decades' worth of combined experience in this ever-growing and evolving field of practice.

Learning Objectives:

1. Assess what is - and isn't - a guardianship proceeding
2. Discuss the use of discovery tools in a contested guardianship
3. Present your case in a contested guardianship

Please note that this course reflects information available at the time of filming, and some updates or changes may have occurred since then.