All Roll Calls
Yes: 62 • No: 0
NevadaAB38783rd Regular Session (2025)HouseWALLET
AN ACT relating to guardianship; revising provisions relating to service of certain notices, petitions and citations relating to guardianships of minors; revising provisions relating to the appointment, modification, removal or termination of guardianships of minors; revising provisions relating to the powers and duties of guardians of minors; revising provisions relating to the management of the estates, property and other assets of protected minors; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
Sponsored By: Assembly Committee on Judiciary
Signed by Governor
BDR 13-869
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17 provisions identified: 8 benefits, 0 costs, 9 mixed.
Ending a guardianship when parents are ready
A parent who asks to end a guardianship before emancipation gets a full review. The court looks for a material change, whether the parent is fit again, and the child’s best interests. The judge weighs factors like safety, neglect, the bond with the guardian, school impact, and the child’s wishes. The court appoints a lawyer for the child if needed to protect the child.
Stronger penalties and recovery for stolen assets
Courts have stronger tools to get a child’s property back. A judgment to recover an asset named in a citation order must be three times the asset’s value. Courts can order a person to return the asset or its value, or to give information about where it is. People who ignore orders or refuse to appear can be held in contempt. If a respondent is found not liable, the court may order the petitioner to pay the respondent’s attorney fees; if a guardian’s misconduct is deliberate, the court may award double actual damages plus attorney fees.
Tighter court control of a child’s money
If the child’s estate is over $10,000, the court orders the money into a blocked account; for private professional or public guardians, the court can require a bond instead. Courts can require a care plan and budget and review it each year. With court approval, the guardian may spend for extraordinary needs, set up trusts or structured settlements, and invest funds. The guardian must file an inventory within 60 days and report new property within 30 days, and must pay valid claims from the estate. In summary administration, cash is invested under state rules and yearly accountings may be waived.
Tighter rules on legal fees and filings
Anyone who wants the estate to pay their attorney fees must give written notice, disclose rates and why the work is needed, and ask the court. The court holds a hearing and approves only reasonable, detailed bills, and in fights over who should be guardian it generally pays the prevailing party. If a court‑appointed lawyer is not paid by public money, the judge may let the child’s estate pay reasonable fees. Judges limit when an attorney can also serve as guardian ad litem, and may sanction people who file repeat, meritless petitions.
Disability or cannabis card not a bar
A judge cannot deny someone as guardian just because they are deaf, blind, have a physical disability, or hold a valid medical cannabis card.
Guardians can access child health records
A guardian of the person is the child’s HIPAA personal representative. The guardian can get the child’s health and health insurance information from providers, agencies, businesses, and creditors.
Higher bar to appoint child guardians
A petitioner must prove by clear and convincing evidence that a guardianship is needed and in the child’s best interest. The court must weigh set best‑interest and suitability factors, including safety risks, the parent‑child relationship, time out of parental care, ability to meet needs, recent substance use, and serious crimes or abuse. Any appointment order must clearly state whether it covers the person, the estate, or both, the child’s residency, any bond, and who must get notice of the order.
Plan guardianship as child turns 18
Up to 90 days before age 18, the court may hold a hearing to decide if guardianship should continue. If the court finds the young adult would be incapacitated at 18, someone may file for an adult guardianship that begins at 18. The young person has the right to a lawyer in that process.
Remote video for court hearings defined
Audio-video communication means real-time video where people can see and hear each other. The court may allow remote appearances using this.
Visitation can include close family friends
The court can grant visitation to parents, relatives up to the fourth degree, and close family friends (fictive kin). If the court limits a parent’s visits, it must state facts showing the limit is needed to protect the child.
Child attendance at guardianship hearings
If the child is in Nevada, they must attend the guardianship hearing unless the court excuses them for good cause. The court may allow the child to appear by phone or video. If the child is outside Nevada, the court will only require attendance if it is necessary for justice.
Emergency child guardianships: faster, tighter limits
To get a temporary guardianship, the petitioner must file a sworn request that shows the child faces immediate harm and that they tried to give notice or could not. Any ex parte request must include a written affidavit explaining the emergency. If notice was excused, the petitioner must notify people entitled to notice within 48 hours after appointment or after learning who and where they are, or the court can end the temporary guardianship. For medical emergencies, the court holds a hearing within 10 days to decide any extension and limits the guardian’s powers to only what is needed for care. The court may extend a temporary guardianship for good cause for up to two more 60‑day periods, and it presumes a temporary guardian is in the child’s best interest if no parent had custody for the past 6 months. If the current guardian cannot act, the court may appoint a temporary guardian until a new one is chosen.
Emergency guardianships: faster help, tighter limits
The court can appoint a 10-day temporary guardian for urgent medical care that cannot wait. You no longer need to file a birth certificate with the emergency papers. The court may hold a quick hearing and set notice rules. After appointment, the petitioner must try in good faith to notify people entitled to notice and of any extension hearing. The first 10 days cannot be extended unless required notice steps are underway or statutory notice rules are met.
Guardians must give move and end-of-life notice
Before moving a child, the guardian must file and serve a notice at least 10 days ahead. For residential treatment placements, the guardian must also notify the court unless there is an emergency, prior court approval, or a licensed professional’s written recommendation. After any move, the guardian files a report within 10 days, serves the child and the child’s lawyer, and gives the report to the estate guardian. If death is likely within 30 days, or after death, the guardian must promptly notify family and interested people, and must tell the court and others within 30 days after death. When the child dies or is emancipated, the guardian’s authority ends except to wind up the case.
Old guardianship sections repealed
The law repeals four guardianship sections (NRS 159A.014, 159A.0345, 159A.049, 159A.0755). Those rules no longer apply.
Parents favored; teens 14+ can refuse
Courts start with the presumption that a parent is suitable and that parental care is best. The court can reject that presumption if a parent cannot meet basic needs, poses a serious safety risk, or did not have custody for the last 6 months. If the child is 14 or older, the court generally must get the child’s consent before appointing a guardian.
Stronger notice to families in guardianships
The law expands who gets notice in a minor guardianship. Parents, the child (age 14+), relatives within two degrees, custodians, and the proposed guardian must be served. Serve by certified mail at least 20 days before the hearing, or by personal service at least 10 days before. If no one can be found after due effort, the court can allow other service methods; notice must still arrive at least 10 days before the hearing, unless the court waives timing for good cause. Nonrelative caregivers who get notice do not receive estate inventories or accountings, and child‑welfare agencies get notice when they have the child.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Assembly Committee on Judiciary
Affiliation unavailable
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 5/21/2025
Final Passage - Senate (2nd Reprint)
Yes: 21 • No: 0
House vote • 4/21/2025
Final Passage - Assembly (1st Reprint)
Yes: 41 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Chapter 253.
6/3/2025legislatureApproved by the Governor.
6/3/2025legislatureEnrolled and delivered to Governor.
5/29/2025legislatureSenate Amendment No. 577 concurred in. To enrollment.
5/26/2025HouseIn Assembly.
5/22/2025HouseRead third time. Passed, as amended. Title approved. (Yeas: 21, Nays: None.) To Assembly.
5/21/2025SenateTaken from General File. Placed on General File for next legislative day.
5/20/2025SenateTaken from General File. Placed on General File for next legislative day.
5/19/2025SenateFrom printer. To re-engrossment. Re-engrossed. Second reprint.
5/19/2025SenateRead second time. Amended. (Amend. No. 577.) To printer.
5/16/2025SenateFrom committee: Amend, and do pass as amended.
5/15/2025SenateRead first time. Referred to Committee on Judiciary. To committee.
4/23/2025SenateIn Senate.
4/23/2025SenateTo Senate.
4/23/2025HouseFrom printer. To engrossment. Engrossed. First reprint.
4/23/2025HouseTo printer.
4/21/2025HouseRead third time. Passed, as amended. Title approved. (Yeas: 41, Nays: None, Excused: 1.)
4/21/2025HouseDispensed with reprinting.
4/18/2025HouseRead second time. Amended. (Amend. No. 148.)
4/18/2025HouseFrom committee: Amend, and do pass as amended.
4/17/2025HouseFrom printer. To committee.
3/11/2025HouseRead first time. Referred to Committee on Judiciary. To printer.
3/10/2025House
Bill Text
As Enrolled
As Introduced
Reprint 1
Reprint 2
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