1. A state office of public guardian is established within the department to create and administer a statewide network of guardians, conservators, and representative payees who provide guardianship, conservatorship, or representative payee services if other guardians, conservators, or representative payees are not available to provide the services.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 231E.4

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Client: means an individual for whom a representative payee is appointed. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Conservator: means conservator as defined in section 633. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Court: means court as defined in section 633. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Department: means the department on aging established in section 231. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Director: means the director of the department on aging. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Guardian: means guardian as defined in section 633. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Incompetent: means incompetent as defined in section 633. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Local office: means a local office of public guardian. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Local public guardian: means an individual under contract with the department to act as a guardian, conservator, or representative payee. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Public guardian: means the state public guardian or a local public guardian. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Public guardianship services: means guardianship, conservatorship, or representative payee services provided by the state public guardian or a local public guardian. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Representative payee: means an individual appointed by a government entity to receive funds on behalf of a client pursuant to federal regulation. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Rule: includes "regulation". See Iowa Code 4.1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • State agency: means any executive department, commission, board, institution, division, bureau, office, agency, or other executive entity of state government. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • State office: means the state office of public guardian. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • State public guardian: means the administrator of the state office of public guardian. See Iowa Code 231E.3
  • Ward: means the individual for whom a guardianship or conservatorship is established. See Iowa Code 231E.3
 2. The director shall appoint an administrator of the state office who shall serve as the state public guardian. The state public guardian shall be qualified for the position by training and expertise in guardianship, conservatorship, and representative payee law and shall be licensed to practice law in Iowa. The state public guardian shall also have knowledge of social services available to meet the needs of persons adjudicated incompetent or in need of guardianship, conservatorship, or representative payee services.
 3. The state office shall do all of the following:

 a. Select persons through a request for proposals process to establish local offices of public guardian. Local offices shall be established contingent upon the appropriation of necessary funds to the department as determined by the director.
 b. Monitor and terminate contracts with local offices based on criteria established by rule of the department.
 c. Retain oversight responsibilities for all local public guardians.
 d. Act as a guardian, conservator, or representative payee if a local public guardian is not available to so act.
 e. Work with the department of human services, the Iowa department of public health, the Iowa developmental disabilities council, and other agencies to establish a referral system for the provision of guardianship, conservatorship, and representative payee services.
 f. Develop and maintain a current listing of public and private services and programs available to assist wards and clients, and their families, and establish and maintain relationships with public and private entities to assure the availability of effective guardianship, conservatorship, and representative payee services for wards and clients.
 g. Provide information and referrals to the public regarding guardianship, conservatorship, and representative payee services.
 h. Maintain statistical data on the local offices including various methods of funding, the types of services provided, and the demographics of the wards and clients, and report to the general assembly on or before November 1, annually, regarding the local offices and recommend any appropriate legislative action.
 i. Develop, in cooperation with the judicial council as established in section 602.1202, a guardianship, conservatorship, and representative payee education and training program. The program may be offered to both public and private guardians, conservators, and representative payees. The state office shall establish a curriculum committee, which includes but is not limited to probate judges, to develop the education and training program. The state office shall be the sole authority for certifying additional curriculum trainers.
 4. The state office may do any of the following:

 a. Accept and receive gifts, grants, or donations from any public or private entity in support of the state office. Such gifts, grants, or donations shall be appropriated pursuant to section 231E.9. Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys retained by the department pursuant to this section shall not be subject to reversion to the general fund of the state.
 b. Accept the services of individual volunteers and volunteer organizations. Volunteers and volunteer organizations utilized by the state office shall not provide direct guardianship, conservatorship, or representative payee services.
 c. Employ staff necessary to administer the state office and enter into contracts as necessary.
 5. The department shall provide administrative support to the state office.
 6. The department shall adopt rules in accordance with chapter 17A necessary to create and administer the state office and local offices, relating to but not limited to all of the following:

 a. An application and intake process and standards for receipt of guardianship, conservatorship, or representative payee services from the state office or a local office.
 b. A process for the removal or termination of the state public guardian or a local public guardian.
 c. An ideal range of staff-to-client ratios for the state public guardian and local public guardians.
 d. Minimum training and experience requirements for professional staff and volunteers.
 e. A fee schedule. The department may establish by rule a schedule of reasonable fees for the costs of public guardianship services provided under this chapter. The fee schedule established may be based upon the ability of the ward or client to pay for the services but shall not exceed the actual cost of providing the services. The state office or a local office may waive collection of a fee upon a finding that collection is not economically feasible. The rules may provide that the state office or a local office may investigate the financial status of a ward or client that requests guardianship, conservatorship, or representative payee services or for whom the state public guardian or a local public guardian has been appointed for the purpose of determining the fee to be charged by requiring the ward or client to provide any written authorizations necessary to provide access to records of public or private sources, otherwise confidential, needed to evaluate the individual’s financial eligibility. The rules may also provide that the state public guardian or a local public guardian may, upon request and without payment of fees otherwise required by law, obtain information necessary to evaluate the individual’s financial eligibility from any office of the state or of a political subdivision or agency of the state that possesses public records.
 f. Standards and performance measures for evaluation of local offices.
 g. Recordkeeping and accounting procedures to ensure that the state office and local offices maintain confidential, accurate, and up-to-date financial, case, and statistical records. The rules shall require each local office to file with the state office, on an annual basis, an account of all public and private funds received and a report regarding the operations of the local office for the preceding fiscal year.
 h. Procedures for the sharing of records held by the court or a state agency with the state office, which are necessary to evaluate the state office or local offices, to assess the need for additional guardians, conservators, or representative payees, or to develop required reports.
  Previous section
Next section  
 Chapter 231E Contents