Guardian of Person Lacks Standing to Object to Trust Accounting

In Matter of Mary XX, __ A.D.3d __, __ N.Y.S.2d __ (3d Dep't 2008) the Appellate Division, Third Department held that although a guardian of the person appointed pursuant to MHL Article 81 ("Article 81 Guardian") has standing to compel an accounting on behalf of the ward, the Article 81 Guardian lacks standing to object to the account after it has been filed.

On a prior appeal, the Court had held that the Article 81 Guardian had standing to compel the account, because otherwise no one would have had standing to compel the account during the ward's lifetime and because the Article 81 Guardian is entitled to information as to available resources. However, since in the later commenced voluntary accounting proceeding, the Court had appointed a guardian ad litem to represent the ward's interest and the order appointing the Article 81 Guardian contained no authority concerning property management, the Article 81 Guardian lacked standing to contest the account.