Opinion
ADM File No. 2007-27.
May 28, 2008.
By order dated January 8, 2008, this Court amended Rule 5.125 of the Michigan Court Rules, effective immediately. 480 Mich cvi-cviii (Part 1, 2008). At the same time, the Court stated that it would consider at a future public hearing whether to retain the amendment, which amended the notice provisions regarding a petition for appointment of a guardian for an alleged incapacitated individual. Notice and an opportunity for comment at a public hearing having been provided, the amendment of Rule 5.125 is retained, and is amended as follows:
[The present language is amended as indicated below by strikeouts and underlining.]
Rule 5.125 Interested Persons Defined
(A)-(B)[Unchanged.]
(C) Specific Proceedings. Subject to subrules (A) and (B) and MCR 5.105(E), the following provisions apply. When a single petition requests multiple forms of relief, the petitioner must give notice to all persons interested in each type of relief:
(1)-(21)[Unchanged.]
(22) The persons interested in a petition for appointment of a guardian of an alleged incapacitated individual are
(a) the alleged incapacitated individual,
(b) if known, a person named as attorney in fact under a durable power of attorney,
(c) the alleged incapacitated individual's spouse,
(d) the alleged incapacitated individual's adult children and the individual's parents,
(e) if no spouse, child, or parent is living, the presumptive heirs of the individual,
(f) the person who has the care and custody of the alleged incapacitated individual, and
(g) the nominated guardian.
(23)-(31)[Unchanged.]
(D)-(E)[Unchanged.]
Staff Comment: By this order, the Court retains the amendment of MCR 5.125 that conforms the rule to language in MCL 700.5311 by clarifying that parents are interested persons entitled to notice in a petition for appointment of a guardian for an alleged incapacitated individual, and further clarifies that only adult children are entitled to notice under this rule and the statute.
The staff comment is not an authoritative construction by the Court.