Guardianship Petition - Preparation Worksheet - Arizona

PREPARATION WORKSHEET — DO NOT FILE THIS DOCUMENT

Arizona uses different legal standards and form sets for an adult guardianship and a minor guardianship. Select one track below. Transfer the verified information to the current official forms accepted or preferred by the filing Superior Court.

ARIZONA GUARDIANSHIP PETITION PREPARATION WORKSHEET

1. Select the Correct Track

☐ Track A — Adult guardianship. Use the current adult guardianship and/or conservatorship packet. This worksheet covers the guardianship branch only.

☐ Track B — Minor guardianship. Use the filing county's current minor-guardianship packet and confirm the A.R.S. § 14-5204 eligibility ground.

☐ Conservatorship or property protection is also requested. Use the current conservatorship statutes and forms. Do not treat a guardian of the person and a conservator of property as interchangeable.

☐ Temporary, emergency, testamentary, mental-health-treatment, dependency, or out-of-state issue exists. Stop and obtain track-specific legal review and forms before relying on this regular-petition worksheet.

2. Current Official Form Gate

2.1 Adult Track

The Arizona Judicial Branch probate page says its forms are generic and may be accepted statewide, while an individual court may prefer its own forms. Confirm the page and the filing court on the date of use.

2.2 Minor Track

Minor forms are court-specific. For example, Maricopa County's current page lists a Petition for Appointment of Guardian of a Minor (jg12f), a proposed-guardian affidavit (jg11f), parent consent/waiver (jg13f), and a form for a minor over age fourteen (jg14f). Those are Maricopa forms, not automatic statewide forms.

3. Track A — Adult Guardianship Petition

3.1 Petition Information Required by A.R.S. § 14-5303

Complete each item to the extent known, then transfer it to the current official petition.

The current petition must include the statutory statement that a guardian's authority may include authority to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment, including artificial food and fluid. Use the official form's current wording.

3.2 Functional Need and Requested Scope

Do not rely on diagnosis alone. Prepare evidence addressing the person's ability to receive and evaluate information, communicate decisions, perform daily tasks, and use existing supports.

If general guardianship is requested, explain why a limited order and appropriate technological assistance cannot meet the demonstrated needs:

[________________________________]

3.3 Proposed Guardian

This worksheet does not assume that a guardian must post a conservator's bond. Analyze any bond, restricted-account, or security issue under the correct role, statute, form, and court order.

3.4 Hearing Rights and Appointment Findings

The alleged incapacitated person has the rights stated in A.R.S. § 14-5303, including counsel, presence, access to the evidence, presentation of evidence, cross-examination, and trial by jury.

Prepare evidence for each clear-and-convincing finding required by A.R.S. § 14-5304:

1. The person is incapacitated.
2. Appointment is necessary for demonstrated needs.
3. The needs cannot be met by less restrictive means, including appropriate technological assistance.

Requested limits on powers or duration: [________________________________]

Whether appointment is due solely to physical incapacity: [________________________________]

4. Track A — Adult Notice Plan

For a regular adult appointment, A.R.S. § 14-5309 requires at least fourteen days' notice before the hearing and specifies personal-service and other notice routes. Do not use the minor list for an adult case.

☐ Hearing notice states the jury-trial right.

☐ Counsel checked A.R.S. § 14-1401 and the current rules/forms for each recipient not personally served.

☐ Any attempted waiver by the alleged incapacitated person has been reviewed under § 14-5309(B).

5. Track B — Minor Guardianship Petition

5.1 Eligibility Screen — A.R.S. § 14-5204

Appointment must be in the minor's best interests and one statutory ground must apply.

☐ Each living parent, after being fully informed of the nature of guardianship, consents.

☐ The parental rights of the living parents have been terminated.

☐ The minor is at least sixteen, is not the subject of an open Title 8 dependency case, and no parent is willing or able to exercise the powers and duties requested for the guardian.

If none applies, stop. Do not file a generic “minor needs a guardian” allegation.

Facts supporting the selected ground: [________________________________]

Facts supporting the minor's best interests: [________________________________]

5.2 Venue, Petitioner, and Proposed Guardian

• Minor's residence: [________________________________]
• Minor's present location: [________________________________]
• Venue analysis under A.R.S. § 14-5205: [________________________________]
• Petitioner's identity, relationship, address, and interest in the minor's welfare: [________________________________]
• Proposed guardian's identity, relationship, residence, and qualifications: [________________________________]
• Minor age fourteen or older; nomination or preference: [________________________________]
• Proposed guardian is unrelated; fingerprint/background process under § 14-5206(B): [________________________________]
• Testamentary guardian or other person claiming priority: [________________________________]

5.3 Minor Notice Plan — A.R.S. § 14-5207

If a living parent cannot be located and served, document the due-diligence search and obtain legal review of every requirement in § 14-5207(A)(3) and (C). Do not treat inability to locate a parent as an automatic waiver.

The notice must state the right to object and describe the nature, purpose, and consequences of a guardian's powers and duties.

5.4 Requested Appointment and Order

• Type and duration requested: [________________________________]
• Powers requested: [________________________________]
• Powers or decisions not requested: [________________________________]
• Minor's existing supports, benefits, school, health care, and placement: [________________________________]
• Existing custody, dependency, adoption, protection, or other order: [________________________________]
• Why the proposed guardian is qualified and the appointment serves the minor's welfare and best interests: [________________________________]

A temporary minor guardian ordinarily may not serve longer than six months, but § 14-5207(E) permits an extension if the court determines that a longer temporary appointment is in the minor's best interests. Use the current temporary packet and requested order.

6. Post-Appointment Handoff

The signed order and letters define the guardian's actual authority. Do not import private-contract provisions for default, indemnification, liability limits, prevailing-party fees, arbitration, or automatic injunctive relief.

6.1 Adult Guardian Reporting

A.R.S. § 14-5315 requires a written report annually and at the other events listed in the statute. It does not state the old worksheet's invented sixty-day “initial personal plan” deadline or an anniversary-date accounting rule.

☐ Obtain the current court report form and due date from the order, rules, and filing court.

☐ Calendar delivery of copies to the recipients required by § 14-5315(B).

☐ Collect residence, guardian-contact, medical-provider, condition-change, services, and continuation information required by § 14-5315(C).

6.2 Order-Controlled Checklist

• ☐ Acceptance, letters, training, fingerprints, and qualification requirements completed
• ☐ Every granted, limited, and retained power recorded
• ☐ Reports, reviews, notices, and hearing dates calendared from current authority and the signed order
• ☐ Property-management issues routed to the conservatorship order and forms
• ☐ Records system created for decisions, contacts, services, receipts, and supporting documents
• ☐ Counsel consulted before changing residence, contact, treatment, financial control, or another matter outside the granted authority

7. Final Filing Review

• ☐ Correct adult or minor track selected
• ☐ Temporary, emergency, dependency, interstate, tribal, mental-health, and conservatorship issues screened
• ☐ Current official forms downloaded on [__/__/____]
• ☐ Filing court confirmed that the selected forms are accepted or preferred
• ☐ Every statutory petition item transferred to the official form
• ☐ Required affidavits, reports, disclosures, consents, and confidential sheets assembled
• ☐ Notice recipients, methods, timing, and proof checked under the correct track
• ☐ Proposed order matches the relief requested and evidence offered
• ☐ Jury-trial right preserved for the adult track
• ☐ Signature, verification, notarization, e-filing, fee, and local requirements checked from current sources
• ☐ Arizona attorney review completed before filing

Prepared by: [________________________________]

Official forms checked on: [__/__/____]

Reviewed by Arizona counsel: [________________________________]

Sources and References

• Arizona Judicial Branch, Probate Forms: https://www.azcourts.gov/probate/Probate-Forms
• Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County, Minor Guardianship Forms: https://superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/llrc/jg_jg1/
• A.R.S. § 14-5204: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/05204.htm
• A.R.S. § 14-5205: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/05205.htm
• A.R.S. § 14-5206: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/05206.htm
• A.R.S. § 14-5207: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/05207.htm
• A.R.S. § 14-5303: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/05303.htm
• A.R.S. § 14-5304: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/05304.htm
• A.R.S. § 14-5309: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/05309.htm
• A.R.S. § 14-5315: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/05315.htm