Senate Bill S5518

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S5518

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation
to annual reporting requirements for guardians in certain
circumstances

 PURPOSE :

To grant discretion to the court to ease annual reporting requirements
for guardians in very limited circumstances.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

81.31 of the New York State Mental Hygiene Law will add a new section
(f) that will read:

The court may, in its discretion, waive some or all of the
requirements of this section or impose additional requirements. In
determining whether to waive specific reporting requirements, judges
can give weight to the amount of years the guardian has previously
submitted the required reports without issue.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Article 81.31 discusses various requirements that every guardian must
file annually. These requirements are set up to protect the
              

"incapacitated" person. While these requirements must be retained,
longtime spouses and guardians often complain that these requirements
are very burdensome to comply with. These requirements must be
retained to protect the well-being of the incapacitated individual;
however there must also be a remedy for longtime spouses and guardians
to at least petition the court in attempt to ease the burden of the
reporting requirements. This bill will help ease the burden ONLY if a
judge determines such a burden should be eased due to the severe
hardship of the guardian. The requirements should be eased only in the
most severe circumstances (where the guardian suffers extreme hardship
in complying with the annual reporting requirements). Since the
reporting requirements are a check on the guardian to prove what they
are doing is for the benefit of the incapacitated person, the judge
must use extreme caution. Multiple provisions currently in Article 81
allow the court, in its discretion, to waive some or all of the
requirements in particular sections. This bill will allow that
discretion to the reporting requirements.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New bill

 FISCAL IMPACT :

None

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.