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: Sponsor information unavailable
Signed by Governor
BDR 13-869
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
18 provisions identified: 8 benefits, 0 costs, 10 mixed.
Stronger safeguards for a child’s money
If a minor’s estate is over $10,000, the court orders the money into a blocked account, or may require a bond for a professional or public guardian. A guardian of the estate must protect and invest the minor’s property and file yearly accountings. The guardian needs court approval before major moves like investing, selling or leasing property, creating trusts, or shifting money from a blocked account. The court can allow spending for extraordinary needs and let the guardian set up special‑needs or structured‑payment trusts. The estate must pay valid claims, but the guardian cannot pay the guardian’s family for room, board, or routine support unless the court approves for an extraordinary need.
Faster help in emergencies
Courts can appoint a temporary guardian when a child faces immediate physical, emotional, educational, or financial harm. If no parent had custody for the past 6 months, the law presumes a temporary guardianship is in the child’s best interest. Judges can extend a temporary guardianship for up to two 60‑day periods, and longer only for extraordinary circumstances. In emergencies, a guardian may act right away without court permission but must notify the court and interested persons as soon as possible. If the current guardian cannot serve, the court may appoint a temporary guardian to keep care going.
More notice on moves and care
Before placing a child in residential treatment or changing homes, the guardian must file and serve notice at least 10 days in advance. If no one objects within 10 days after service, the move may proceed without another court order. Notices must include the child’s current location, but not to anyone protected by a court order; people can also opt out of notices in writing. Guardians must give immediate notice if the child may die within 30 days, at death, and when burial or cremation details are known. Guardians must also file annual reports and report within 10 days after any residence change, including the written recommendation supporting the move.
Stricter filing and safety checks
Petitions must include ID for the child and the proposed guardian, kept confidential; missing ID must be filed within 120 days. Petitions must show if a professional guardian meets legal requirements, or say a non‑professional is not paid guardian for more than one unrelated person. They must disclose any substantiated child‑abuse findings or current investigations in the guardian’s household and list who currently has the child. Petitions must also ask for specific powers needed. The appointment order must state key findings, residency, bond amount, and which relatives get notice.
Tough remedies for misuse of assets
If the court finds someone took or hides a child’s asset, it can order the asset or its value returned and hold the person in contempt if they do not comply. In those recovery actions, the judgment equals double the asset’s value plus extra damages equal to that value. If the respondent is not liable, the court may order the petitioner to pay the respondent’s lawyer fees. If a guardian violates the child’s rights, the court can order fixes, remove the guardian, and award damages; for deliberate or fraudulent harm, it can award twice the actual damages plus attorney fees.
Child’s right to a lawyer, payment rules
The child is a party in the case and may have a lawyer at every stage. Legal aid programs can prioritize which children to represent when money is limited. If no public funds pay the child’s lawyer, the court can order reasonable fees to be paid from the child’s estate.
Managing and protecting a child’s money
Child support assigned to the guardian and SSI are not part of the guardianship estate. If no estate guardian exists, a guardian of the person may seek support and receive money or property for the child. Guardians must file a verified inventory within 60 days and report new property within 30 days, or face court action. Guardians can view and manage estate accounts through a bank’s secure website. Guardians must report serious disqualifying events to the court, and the court may remove them if needed.
Rules for where a child lives
Guardians can choose a child’s home anywhere in Nevada, but must pick the least restrictive and affordable place that meets the child’s needs. A court order is required to move a child out of Nevada, and the guardian must file for guardianship in the new state within 6 months. A child cannot be moved before a guardian is appointed. The child’s preferences and the right to a least restrictive setting guide all placement decisions.
Better notice and help in court
Petitioners must notify caregivers and, if the child is in agency custody, the child‑welfare agency. Court papers must say the judge may appoint an attorney and a best‑interests advocate. Where a funded local program exists, the court appoints a program attorney for qualifying children. A child in Nevada may attend by phone or video if the judge allows. If people cannot be found after due diligence, the court may allow service by publication or other methods. An attorney for the child cannot also serve as guardian ad litem.
Care duties, visits, and out‑of‑pocket
A guardian of the person must provide food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education, and protect the child’s belongings. The court may order visitation with parents, relatives up to the fourth degree, and fictive kin; limits on a parent’s visits must be backed by facts. If the minor’s estate cannot repay necessary costs, the guardian may have to pay some expenses out of pocket.
Clear rules to end or change guardians
A minor, the guardian, a close relative, the child’s lawyer, a child‑welfare agency, or an interested person may seek removal or changes. To end or change a guardianship, the petitioner must usually prove by clear and convincing evidence that it is in the child’s best interest and list any property and its value. A guardianship ends at death, a move with transfer of jurisdiction, court order, at 18, or up to 19/high school with a consent filed at least 14 days before 18. The guardian must report the child’s death within 30 days and then only wind up the estate. If a guardian dies or is removed, the court may appoint a successor; if no one can serve, the court notifies child welfare. The court can sanction vexatious or bad‑faith petitioners.
Court‑reviewed care plans and budgets
The court may require a proposed care plan and budget when you seek a guardian of the estate or of the person and estate. The Nevada Supreme Court sets the format and timing for these filings. If a budget is approved, the court reviews it each year with the annual accounting. The court can order a revised budget if the current one does not meet the child’s needs.
Tighter rules for fees and pay
If you hire a lawyer in a guardianship case, you are personally responsible for fees unless the court approves payment from the estate. Anyone seeking estate payment must file early written notice and give detailed, itemized bills; the court will deny internal office tasks and lump‑sum entries. A private professional guardian may receive reasonable compensation and reimbursements, but only with court approval and only when needed to help the minor or the estate.
Guardian access to health records
The guardian of the person is the child’s personal representative under HIPAA. The guardian can get the child’s medical and health insurance records from doctors, hospitals, agencies, and insurers to manage care.
How to end a guardianship
When a parent asks to end a guardianship, the court looks for a material change, whether the parent is again suitable, and what is best for the child. Factors include any neglect or harm risk, the parent’s involvement and stability, bonds and school impact, and the child’s wishes, including step‑by‑step visitation or therapeutic reunification.
Stronger hearing notices to parents
Petitioners must give hearing notice to a child’s parent or legal guardian in every guardianship case. The law also uses the State’s standard definition of child‑welfare agencies so courts know which agencies must get notices.
Tighter limits on temporary guardians
A temporary guardian’s powers are limited to what is needed for immediate medical care. If the court allowed appointment without prior feasible notice, the petitioner must notify people entitled to notice within 48 hours, or within 48 hours of learning who and where they are. Not giving this notice can end the temporary guardianship.
Old guardianship sections repealed
The law repeals NRS 159A.014, 159A.0345, 159A.049, and 159A.0755. Families and guardians should review the updated guardianship chapter to see the rules that now apply.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
There is no primary sponsor on record.
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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