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AB387 would revise minor guardianship law to speed access to care, expand emergency options and emphasize child‑centered standards
Summary
Assembly Bill 387 would update Nevada's minor guardianship statute (NRS 159A) to simplify service, strengthen temporary emergency guardianship rules, set best‑interest and visitation factors, and expand access to appointed counsel for minors. Legal aid advocates and kinship navigators testified in support, citing case examples of delays and harm.
Assemblymember Nathan Anderson presented Assembly Bill 387 to the Judiciary Committee as a set of updates to Nevada’s minor guardianship statute to better serve families, caregivers and children who rely on guardianship when parents are unable to care for a child.
Jonathan Norman of the Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers said the bill builds on the 2017 split of guardianship law into separate statutes for minors and adults (NRS 159A for minors, NRS 159 for adults) and would make the law more practical for children and caregivers. "We will continue to work with our partners on the Guardianship Commission and the private bar to ensure we hit the right policy in each section of the bill," Norman said.
Legal Aid Center attorneys and advocates described specific cases in which procedural hurdles delayed care. Marcus Brouwers, who leads Legal Aid’s minor guardianship unit, recounted an 8‑year‑old with cerebral palsy whose grandmother could not complete service and did not obtain guardianship for approximately six months, delaying medical care. Brouwers said clearer service rules and simplified procedures would reduce such delays.
Marina Dahlia Hunt, formerly team lead for the Minor Guardianship Advocacy Program, said the bill contains child‑centered reforms: simplifying alternative service, requiring petitioners to disclose prior Child Protective Services history and their ability to meet basic needs, establishing best‑interest factors for guardianship decisions, clarifying a minor's right to counsel or pro bono counsel, and requiring courts to consider a child’s wishes and, for minors 14 and older, obtain consent to guardianship. "Children are the most important people in these cases," Dahlia Hunt told the committee.
The bill also clarifies that guardians have a duty to facilitate appropriate parent‑child relationships, removes punitive barriers to parent petitions to terminate guardianships, and makes several estate‑related and procedural clarifications.
Supporters included Leah Dodds from Foster Kinship, who said the navigator program helps caregivers manage filings, pay service costs and enroll children in school; she said AB387 would make guardianship more accessible for older relatives on fixed incomes.
No opposition callers appeared during the hearing. The committee closed the hearing without a recorded committee vote that day.
Ending: Proponents emphasized the bill’s focus on timeliness, child‑centered standards and easing procedural burdens for kinship caregivers; AB387 will proceed through the legislative process for further drafting and committee consideration.
