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Texas Guardianship Laws

When a child, an aging parent, or a loved one with a disability can no longer make decisions safely on their own, we help you secure the legal authority to protect them without taking away more independence than necessary.

Guardianship in Texas is a court-created relationship that gives one person legal authority over another person’s care, finances, or both. It runs through the Estates Code and the probate courts rather than the family courts, and Texas law treats it as a last resort: the least restrictive arrangement that still protects the person who needs it. Tex. Est. Code sec. 1001.001.[1]

At Hicks Family Lawyers, guardianship sits naturally beside our trusts and estate planning work, because it is continuity planning for the people in your care. Whether the question involves a minor child, an aging parent, or an adult child with a disability, the goal is protection delivered with dignity.

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When a Texas Court Grants Guardianship

The standard is deliberately demanding. Before appointing a guardian, the court must find by clear and convincing evidence that the person is incapacitated, that the guardianship serves their best interest, and that alternatives and available supports were considered and found infeasible. Tex. Est. Code sec. 1101.101.[2] Even then, authority is tailored. Courts limit a guardian’s powers to what the person’s actual limitations require, designing for maximum self-reliance rather than maximum control. A well-prepared application respects that design instead of resisting it.

Guardianship of a Minor

Parents are the natural guardians of their minor children, so guardianship enters when parents have died, cannot serve, or a child receives assets that need formal management. Tex. Est. Code sec. 1104.051.[3] In practice, guardianship of a minor most often protects a child’s inheritance, settlement proceeds, or day-to-day care when the parents cannot act. Naming preferred guardians in your estate documents now is the quiet decision that spares your children uncertainty later. Guardianship is distinct from custody. Disputes between parents over their children run through conservatorship in the family courts; guardianship governs when someone other than a parent must be formally placed in charge of a child’s person or estate.

Adult Guardianship and Aging Parents

Incapacity from dementia, injury, or illness raises the same question at a different stage of life. Adult guardianship can cover the person, the estate, or both, and can be full or limited to match what the person can no longer safely manage. For families with wealth in motion, the guardianship of an aging parent intersects directly with trusts, powers of attorney, and succession plans already in place. Reading those documents together, before filing anything, frequently changes what needs to be filed at all.

Planning for a Child With a Disability Turning 18

At 18, a parent’s legal authority ends even when a child’s needs do not. Texas allows the guardianship application to be filed up to 180 days before the child’s 18th birthday, so authority continues without a gap. Tex. Est. Code sec. 1103.001.[4] This is one of the most important calendar items in special-needs planning. Started on time, the transition is orderly; started late, the family spends the gap unable to make medical, educational, or financial decisions it made freely the month before.

Temporary Guardianship in Urgent Circumstances

Some situations cannot wait for a full proceeding. A court shall appoint a temporary guardian, with limited powers, when presented with substantial evidence that a person may be incapacitated and probable cause to believe the person or their estate requires the immediate appointment of a guardian. Tex. Est. Code sec. 1251.001.[5] A temporary guardianship provides limited authority for a limited period, stabilizing the situation while the permanent question is answered properly. Speed and precision both matter here, and neither substitutes for the other.

Alternatives to Guardianship

Texas requires alternatives to be considered first, and often they are the better answer: powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney, supported decision-making agreements, management trusts, and well-drafted estate plans can protect a person without a court taking their rights. The best guardianship practice frequently ends with no guardianship at all. Documents signed while capacity is intact preserve autonomy, spare the family a court process, and keep decisions where they belong: inside the family.

How Hicks Family Lawyers Approaches Guardianship

We approach these matters as stewards, not litigants. The person at the center of the case is someone’s child, parent, or sibling, and the process should protect their dignity as carefully as their assets. Our corporate and estates background means the financial side, the accounts, the real property, the business interests, the reporting duties, is handled with the same rigor as the personal side. Protection now, continuity after: that is the assignment.

Related Practice Areas

Guardianship connects to the family’s wider legal structure:
  • Child custody. Parental disputes over children run through conservatorship in our Texas child custody practice.
  • Divorce. When incapacity or special-needs planning intersects a marriage ending, our Texas divorce practice governs the wider case.

Plan What Comes Next

Guardianship done well protects a person without erasing them: authority matched to need, dignity intact, and a family structure that carries responsibility forward to the next season and the next generation.

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Tell us what you're facing. We'll explain your options and the likely path - clearly, and without pressure.

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Common questions

Texas Guardianship FAQ

Custody, called conservatorship in Texas, allocates rights between parents in the family courts. Guardianship is an Estates Code proceeding in the probate system that places a guardian in charge of a person’s care or property, usually when no parent can serve or the person is an incapacitated adult.

Courts appoint based on the ward’s best interest, with family members generally preferred and the ward’s own preferences considered. Certain conflicts and backgrounds disqualify a candidate, and every guardian answers to the court’s ongoing supervision.

Often, yes, and Texas law requires the attempt. Powers of attorney, supported decision-making agreements, and trusts signed while capacity is intact can make a guardianship unnecessary. Planning early is the difference.

Six months before the 18th birthday. Texas permits filing up to 180 days early precisely so authority transfers without a gap, and the evaluations and paperwork consume much of that window.

No. Guardianship can cover the person, the estate, or both, and courts limit authority to what the ward’s actual limitations require. Texas law is built around preserving as much of the ward’s independence as safely possible.

Sources

[1] Tex. Est. Code sec. 1001.001 (Policy; Purpose of Guardianship) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ES/htm/ES.1001.htm#1001.001

[2] Tex. Est. Code sec. 1101.101 (Findings and Proof Required) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ES/htm/ES.1101.htm#1101.101

[3] Tex. Est. Code sec. 1104.051 (Guardian of Minor Children) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ES/htm/ES.1104.htm#1104.051

[4] Tex. Est. Code sec. 1103.001 (Application for Appointment of Guardian) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ES/htm/ES.1103.htm#1103.001

[5] Tex. Est. Code sec. 1251.001 (Appointment of Temporary Guardian) | https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ES/htm/ES.1251.htm#1251.001