Audit finds Minnesota guardianship oversight inadequate; auditors urge centralized monitoring and training

The Legislative Audit Commission heard April 2 that Minnesota lacks adequate oversight of adult guardianship and should adopt a more proactive, centralized system to protect people placed under guardianship, according to a presentation by the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA).

"First, we found that there is inadequate oversight of adult guardianship in Minnesota," said Caitlin Badger, evaluation manager for the Office of the Legislative Auditor, presenting the OLA's program-evaluation report to the commission.

The OLA told commissioners that guardianship — a court-ordered legal arrangement in which a guardian makes some personal decisions for an adult deemed incapacitated — can protect adults who need support but also removes certain rights and creates potential for harm when oversight is weak. The report identified three broad problems: limited monitoring and enforcement of guardians' duties, inadequate training for guardians and judicial officers, and no statutory complaint process for the judicial branch to handle guardian-performance complaints.

The auditors presented specific findings and data. The judicial branch estimates "over 30,000 people subject to guardianship in Minnesota and over 41,000 guardians," Badger said. In a file review the OLA selected 62 guardianship cases and 260 annual personal-well-being reports; only eight of those 62 cases had all reports submitted on time, and across the 260 reports the OLA found that 30% were submitted on time. The report also found that courts…