Please note that the Nova Scotia Legal Representation Kit is currently under reconstruction (and thus not available for purchase at the present time) due to the introduction of new legislation in December, 2017 (the "Adult Capacity and Decision Making Act").
This new legislation significantly changed the landscape with respect to the legal options available to assist adults with intellectual disabilities in Nova Scotia. Guardianship is no more, having been replaced by "representation", a much more finely tuned instrument and much more significant than a change of name only.
Although there are both positive and negative aspects to the new legislation, it is what it is and I am currently in the process of reconstituting the Kit (complete with "new packaging") so that it will remain a useful option for families in Nova Scotia.
** This page will be further updated with payment information once the new Kit is ready for purchase.
What is The Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit?
With the cost of retaining a lawyer to bring a guardianship application in Nova Scotia reaching into the several thousands of dollars (the majority of quotes appearing to be between $5,000 - $6.000), guardianship has simply not been a realistic option for many families in Nova Scotia. But given that there are some very significant reasons why guardianship might be in your family member's best interests, what is a family to do?They could consider thinking outside the box.
Not every family member seeking guardianship of their challenged loved one in this Province needs to hire a lawyer to do so. The question is what would it take to give you the tools and knowledge necessary to go it alone, to prepare the necessary documents and successfully walk out of the court with a guardianship order?
If there was such an option available, one that would allow you to acquire guardianship of your adult son or daughter at a fraction of the cost of hiring a lawyer, would you be interested?
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In 2009, I looked at the options available to families in Nova Scotia who recognized a need to obtain guardianship of their young adult child. And I realized, that for many families, there simply weren’t any. What was even more frustrating for me was the realization that this was something that many parents could do on their own – that a lawyer wouldn’t be necessary for each and every guardianship application. And that just wasn’t right.
What was I going to do about that? What could I do about that? They say you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution. I wanted to be part of the solution.
And that is why I created a new option - The Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit
This wasn't something I undertook on a whim or quickly dashed out. Working on it in my “free time” (and creating "free time" when I had none), it took me over a year to put this Kit together. At least 350 hours of professional time went into the creation of the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit.
First, I had to ascertain and make sure that I understood every detail of the process, myself. In other words, I needed a thorough understanding of exactly what lawyers do for their clients in an uncontested guardianship application. Then I gathered up the documents that need to be filed with the court. And pulled them apart to see what information the court required to make such a decision.
But having the documents and understanding them wasn’t enough. Because each of those documents needed to be explained so that ordinary people, people without any legal training, like you, could understand the point of each document, what each document actually did and how to complete it.
And when I felt I had that down pat, when I knew that the Kit was complete, I passed it on to a lawyer who practices extensively in the area of guardianship and asked her to review it. Because I was well aware of how important it was to get it right.
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Should you decide to go this route, the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit will provide you with all the precedent documents you will be required to file with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in the course of a guardianship application.
But, more importantly, the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit will also provide you with the information you need to properly fill out and tailor those documents (including examples) so as to accurately represent your unique situation.In addition, the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit will walk you through the process to be followed in filing the documents and the actual court appearance, itself. It will also set out your ongoing duties and responsibilities as a guardian.
The Kit can be purchased by using the BUY NOW button at the bottom of this page.
But, first, a few very important points:
- The Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit was created to be used in the Province of Nova Scotia. And only in the Province of Nova Scotia. Guardianship laws vary across the provinces, meaning that what 'works' here will not work elsewhere. The precedents (the documents which you will modify and then file with the court) are based on the Nova Scotia Civil Procedure Rules and are not intended for use in any other province.
- Should you choose to purchase the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit, you must realize that chances are good that you won’t obtain your guardianship order following your first court appearance. Even experienced lawyers can be sent back by the court to try again - to fix the wording contained in a particular document or to get more medical information to cover off a particular issue the court is concerned about.
- There is no guarantee that you will ever be successful in getting guardianship, either on your own or with the services of a lawyer. The reason for this is that your ultimate success will be determined, in large part by how high-functioning the young adult is and whether or not anyone decides to contest your application.
If, after commencing this process, you come to find out that the application will be contested (either by the young adult or someone else), you may well have passed the usefulness of the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit and I would strongly recommend that, at a minimum, you consult with me (or another lawyer) before deciding how to proceed.
If you're unsure of whether the guardianship is the right choice for you and your family, you might want to work your way through a few basic questions concerning guardianship before purchasing.
Is The Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit Right For My Family?
Although the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit was initially created and intended primarily for situations where parents are seeking guardianship of their adult child with a disability in Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit will also work equally well in the case of a person seeking guardianship of any adult who has lost the ability to manage their own affairs (such as in the case of an adult suffering a brain injury or experiencing some form of dementia, for example).
Young adults with disabilities tend not to have many assets of their own, meaning that families can often file a personal bond with two sureties. However, in situations where the incompetent person has a significant estate (such as, for example, where the family member of a senior citizen is seeking guardianship due to incompetency caused by dementia), the person(s) seeking guardianship would be required to purchase a bond from an insurance company and there would be no need for the sureties. The Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit provides the necessary documentation to proceed in either situation.
As noted above, the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit is primarily intended to be used in situations involving uncontested guardianship applications.
The Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit, on its own, was not created to deal with the situation where anyone (including the person who is to be declared incompetent) contests the guardianship and its usefulness in such a situation is questionable.
In such circumstances, you have two options:
- retain a lawyer (be it me or someone else) to bring the application as opposed to purchasing the Kit; or
- if cost remains a significant consideration, you could purchase the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit and work through (draft) the documents yourself prior to retaining a lawyer. Approaching it in this way should mean less work for the lawyer you ultimately retain and, thus, less paid by you in legal fees.
The discerning reader will also have noted the court appearance referenced above. Applying for the guardianship of an adult in Nova Scotia involves one court appearance - take heart, up until a year ago, it involved two such appearances. Some individuals will not at all be comfortable with the idea of appearing in court. The Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit is not for these individuals.
The most challenging part of the paperwork will be drafting the affidavits [a form of written evidence which will set out, in paragraph summary form, the story of your child's life and their current level of functioning (in the case of parents applying for guardianship of their disabled child) or the applicant(s) relationship to the incompetent person and the evidence of that incompetence, in other cases] required from the person(s) applying for guardianship and the two doctors who will support your application.
If you feel comfortable and confident that you can do this (with the extensive support and examples provided in the Kit) and make one court appearance in front of a judge who has already been provided with copies of the paperwork you have completed, the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit could be for you.
One Final Comment - Should you feel that the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit will be useful to you, I would strongly suggest that you not purchase the Kit too far in advance of the time you plan to make the application. For example, if your child is currently 16 years old, you would be well advised to wait to purchase the Kit until a few months before his or her 19th birthday.
That reason for this is that is is possible that some portion of the Civil Procedures Rules or some aspect of court procedure could change in the intervening time, requiring the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit to be updated. By waiting until closer to the time you plan on making the application (perhaps purchasing the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit four to six months in advance of that date) you will know you are receiving the most up-to-date version of the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit.
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Although we now know that the Nova Scotia government intends to bring in new adult guardianship legislation some time in the Spring of 2017, we don't know what hoops a family member might have to jump through under the new legislation. For that reason, families seriously considering guardianship of a loved one over the age of 19 might well be advised to make such an application sooner rather than later.
Once this new legislation comes into effect, I will, of course, make any necessary changes to the Guardianship Kit so as to comply with the new law.
In the interim, whether you currently have a copy of the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit or are interested in purchasing the Guardianship Kit so as to proceed with an application before the new legislation comes into effect, I would suggest you contact me after drafting all the documentation set out in the Guardianship Kit, with the exception of the final document, the Pre-Hearing Memorandum, but before any paperwork is filed with the court. I would be pleased to review your documentation and assist you with drafting the pre-hearing memorandum so as to ensure that the issues that the court expressed concern with in the Webb decision are dealt with.
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Purchasing the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit
I hope to soon be in the position to offer the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit as a download; however, at the present time, I am continuing to offer a hard copy version for sale.
Should you choose to order a hard copy version, the Nova Scotia Legal Guardianship Kit will come to you neatly and professionally organized in a sturdy binder and with exactly the same content as I hop will eventually be available online.
** IF YOU PREFER NOT TO USE PAY PAL, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT mmc@ns.sympatico.ca OR MAIL A CERTIFIED CHEQUE OR MONEY ORDER ONLY IN THE AMOUNT OF $424.96 PAYABLE TO MMC LEGAL SERVICES TO 9435 COMMERCIAL STREET NEW MINAS, NS B4N 3G3
HST Reg. No. 825531858RT001
