{"id":12848,"date":"2024-01-10T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legaltalktexas.hammerle.com\/?p=12848"},"modified":"2025-06-18T12:43:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T17:43:54","slug":"mental-health-and-guardianship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health and Guardianship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Guardianship for an adult with a severe mental illness can be one of the most complex situations to support. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/practice-areas\/guardianship-and-social-services\/guardianship\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Guardianship<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a legal tool utilized to ensure safety and protection of another person.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Routinely, I hear this story from a loved one: Their adult child is diagnosed with a severe mental illness, like bipolar disorder. The adult starts medication and therapy which is helpful. Over time, the side-effects of the medication become bothersome, and they are feeling better, and they begin to believe they are healed or at least they can self-regulate without medication. They discontinue the medication, and soon the negative symptoms of their mental illness return, and they become a danger to themselves or others. The individual is then either court committed, or they self-admit to a mental health facility where they start the medication and therapy regimen again, and so the cycle begins. Often, this is the story I get, and the next question is usually: \u201cShould I get guardianship to stop the cycle?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can a Guardian Force Medication and Treatment Participation?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A guardian, in most cases, can authorize treatments, medications, and seek out services and supports to help the individual obtain and maintain their physical and mental health. A guardianship can be as useful and productive so long as the individual will allow. Strictly having guardianship over another person does not magically stop them from having setbacks or make them automatically participate in treatment or take their medication. As the ole saying goes, \u201cYou can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.\u201d As a guardian you can authorize the medication and the therapy, set up services, and even put in safety nets, but there is no mechanism within the role of a guardian through the law that can force another adult to take medication or to participate in treatment. There must be a level of cooperation and partnership to have long-term success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What to do When a Ward Will Not Participate in Treatment<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The next question I get after hearing that a guardian cannot force a ward to take medication or admit them into a psychiatric facility is, \u201cWhat are the options?\u201d I always tell people to start small. Have an open and honest conversation with the individual. The individual must be an active part of their long-term success. If the individual will work with their loved ones while they are doing good, they can establish a list of signs and symptoms of decline, and then work on future solutions when negative symptoms start to come up. Also signing and executing a Declaration for Mental Health Treatment will aid the actively involved people in getting help at the first sign of any difficulties.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/time-machine-adult-guardianship\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Guardianship<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> seems like an excellent alternative, until the reality of it is fully known. In a successful guardianship, the ward is an active and willing participant throughout the duration. If they are not, many times, even with guardianship, the court will need to be involved, especially if in-patient psychiatric care is needed and the ward is refusing help.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hammerle Morris Can Help With Your Guardianship Needs<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you or a loved one has questions about adult guardianship, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/lewisville-attorney\/#form\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">schedule a consultation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/our-team\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">experienced attorneys and staff<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at Hammerle Morris Law Firm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Courtney Carey is a Texas Certified Guardian and a Care Manager, with experience in Texas Medicaid waiver programs, intellectual and developmental disabilities, mental health, and geriatrics. This column does not constitute legal advice.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guardianship for an adult with a severe mental illness can be one of the most complex situations to support. Guardianship is a legal tool utilized to ensure safety and protection of another person.\u00a0 Routinely, I hear this story from a loved one: Their adult child is diagnosed with a severe mental illness, like bipolar disorder. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1226],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-adult-guardianship"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mental Health and Guardianship | Hammerle Morris Law Firm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about the limitations of guardianship in forcing medication and treatment participation and find out how a guardian can address these situations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mental Health and Guardianship | Hammerle Morris Law Firm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn about the limitations of guardianship in forcing medication and treatment participation and find out how a guardian can address these situations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hammerle Morris Law Firm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-10T12:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-18T17:43:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/January-Extra-Blog-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1376\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Virginia Hammerle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Virginia Hammerle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Virginia Hammerle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd\"},\"headline\":\"Mental Health and Guardianship\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-10T12:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-18T17:43:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":579,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/January-Extra-Blog-1-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Adult Guardianship\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mental Health and Guardianship | Hammerle Morris Law Firm\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/January-Extra-Blog-1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-10T12:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-18T17:43:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd\"},\"description\":\"Learn about the limitations of guardianship in forcing medication and treatment participation and find out how a guardian can address these situations.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/January-Extra-Blog-1-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/January-Extra-Blog-1-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1376,\"caption\":\"father and son talking in a home\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/adult-guardianship\\\/mental-health-and-guardianship\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mental Health and Guardianship\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hammerle Morris Law Firm\",\"description\":\"Legal Talk Texas\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd\",\"name\":\"Virginia Hammerle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/virginia-150x150.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/virginia-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/virginia-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Virginia Hammerle\"},\"description\":\"Virginia Hammerle is a contributing columnist to The Dallas Morning News and writes weekly articles and blogs on legal issues confronting seniors and their families.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/virginiahammerle\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hammerle.com\\\/legaltalk\\\/author\\\/virginia-hammerle\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mental Health and Guardianship | Hammerle Morris Law Firm","description":"Learn about the limitations of guardianship in forcing medication and treatment participation and find out how a guardian can address these situations.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mental Health and Guardianship | Hammerle Morris Law Firm","og_description":"Learn about the limitations of guardianship in forcing medication and treatment participation and find out how a guardian can address these situations.","og_url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/","og_site_name":"Hammerle Morris Law Firm","article_published_time":"2024-01-10T12:00:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-18T17:43:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1376,"url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/January-Extra-Blog-1-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Virginia Hammerle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Virginia Hammerle","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/"},"author":{"name":"Virginia Hammerle","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/#\/schema\/person\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd"},"headline":"Mental Health and Guardianship","datePublished":"2024-01-10T12:00:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-18T17:43:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/"},"wordCount":579,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/January-Extra-Blog-1-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Adult Guardianship"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/","url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/","name":"Mental Health and Guardianship | Hammerle Morris Law Firm","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/January-Extra-Blog-1-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2024-01-10T12:00:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-18T17:43:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/#\/schema\/person\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd"},"description":"Learn about the limitations of guardianship in forcing medication and treatment participation and find out how a guardian can address these situations.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/January-Extra-Blog-1-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/January-Extra-Blog-1-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1376,"caption":"father and son talking in a home"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/adult-guardianship\/mental-health-and-guardianship\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mental Health and Guardianship"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/","name":"Hammerle Morris Law Firm","description":"Legal Talk Texas","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/#\/schema\/person\/3a35dce360aad1cd9da53574c3c1a6bd","name":"Virginia Hammerle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/virginia-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/virginia-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/01\/virginia-150x150.jpg","caption":"Virginia Hammerle"},"description":"Virginia Hammerle is a contributing columnist to The Dallas Morning News and writes weekly articles and blogs on legal issues confronting seniors and their families.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/virginiahammerle\/"],"url":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/author\/virginia-hammerle\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hammerle.com\/legaltalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}