                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR LOCAL PROGRAMS; AUTHORITY (§ 51.5-151)

Every local or regional program with which the Department contracts to provide
services as a public guardian or conservator shall (i) furnish bond with
corporate surety in an amount deemed sufficient by the Department to afford
adequate financial protection to the maximum number of incapacitated persons to
be served by the program; (ii) have in place a multidisciplinary panel to (a)
screen cases for the purpose of ensuring that appointment of a guardian or
conservator is appropriate under the circumstances and is the least restrictive
alternative available to assist the incapacitated person and (b) continually
review cases being handled by the program as required by the Department; (iii)
accept only appointments as guardian or conservator that generate no fee or
would generate a minimal fee as defined by regulation payable from a public
source of funds and not from the estate of the incapacitated person; and (iv)
have a direct service staff to client ratio that is consistent with that
specified by regulation of the Department. Volunteers shall not be counted for
purposes of ascertaining compliance with the staff to client ratio specified by
the Department.
		A local or regional program that exceeds the specified staff to client ratio
shall not be disqualified from serving as a guardian or conservator except as
provided by regulation or if the court or the Department finds that there is an
immediate threat to the person or property of any incapacitated person or that
exceeding the specified ratio is having or will have a material and adverse
effect on the ability of the program to properly serve all of the incapacitated
persons it has been designated to serve.
		A local or regional program appointed as a guardian or conservator shall have
all the powers and duties specified in Article 2 (§ 64.2-2019 et seq.) of
Chapter 20 of Title 64.2, except as otherwise specifically limited by the court.
In addition, a public guardian or conservator shall have a continuing duty to
seek a proper and suitable person who is willing and able to serve as guardian
or conservator for the incapacitated person. A public guardian or conservator
shall have authority to make arrangements for the funeral and disposition of
remains, including cremation, interment, entombment, memorialization, inurnment,
or scattering of the cremains, or some combination thereof, if the public
guardian or conservator is not aware of any person that has been otherwise
designated to make such arrangements as set forth in § 54.1-2825. A public
guardian or conservator shall have authority to make arrangements for the
funeral and disposition of remains after the death of an incapacitated person
if, after the public guardian or conservator has made a good faith effort to
locate the next of kin of the incapacitated person to determine if the next of
kin wishes to make such arrangements, the next of kin does not wish to make the
arrangements or the next of kin cannot be located. Good faith effort shall
include contacting the next of kin identified in the petition for appointment of
a guardian or conservator. The funeral service licensee, funeral service
establishment, registered crematory, cemetery, cemetery operator, public
guardian or conservator shall be immune from civil liability for any act,
decision, or omission resulting from acceptance of any dead body for burial,
cremation, or other disposition when the provisions of this section are met,
unless such acts, decisions, or omissions resulted from bad faith or malicious
intent.
		A public guardian shall not have authority to approve or authorize a
sterilization procedure except when specific authority has been given pursuant
to a proceeding in the circuit court. A public guardian may authorize admission
of an incapacitated person to a mental health facility as provided in subsection
B of § 37.2-805.1 and may authorize mental health treatment, including the
administration of psychotropic medication, unless the appointing court
specifically provides otherwise.
		A local or regional program appointed as a guardian or conservator may
delegate the powers, duties, and responsibilities to individual volunteers or
professional staff as authorized in the contract with the Department.
		In addition to funds received from the Department, a local or regional program
may accept private funds solely for the purposes of providing public education,
supplemental services for incapacitated persons, and support services for
private guardians and conservators, consistent with the purposes of this
article.

HISTORY: 1998, c. 787, § 2.1-373.14; 2001, c. 844, § 2.2-713; 2006, c. 854;
2010, c. 792; 2012, cc. 463, 803, 835; 2023, c. 476.