How to Get Emergency Guardianship in Indiana: Petition and Hearing

To get an emergency guardianship in Indiana, you file a verified petition for appointment of a temporary guardian, along with a recent physician’s report, in the circuit or superior court of the county where the person lives. A judge can appoint a temporary guardian without advance notice to the proposed ward when the evidence shows immediate and irreparable harm would otherwise occur. The appointment lasts up to 90 days, with one possible 90-day extension after a noticed hearing. The governing statute is Indiana Code 29-3-3-4, and although the code uses the phrase “temporary guardian,” courts and lawyers treat “emergency guardianship” as the same thing.¹

When a Judge Will Grant One

Worry alone is not enough. IC 29-3-3-4 requires four things to be true at the same time:

No guardian has already been appointed for the person.
An emergency exists that threatens the person’s health, safety, or property.
Immediate action is necessary; waiting for the standard guardianship process would put the person’s welfare at risk.
No one else has legal authority to act, such as an agent under a valid power of attorney.

All four must be present. Family disagreement over care decisions doesn’t qualify. Neither does a situation where someone with power of attorney is already authorized to act, even if you disagree with their choices.¹

The Incapacity Standard

The person you want to protect must fit Indiana’s legal definition of an incapacitated person under IC 29-3-1-7.5: someone unable to manage their own property, provide their own self-care, or both. The statute recognizes causes including mental illness, physical illness, excessive use of drugs or alcohol, dementia, fraud or undue influence, developmental disability, and inability to be located after a reasonable search.² Making choices you disagree with is not incapacity. The inability has to trace back to a recognized condition.

Less Restrictive Alternatives Come First

The petition itself must describe what less restrictive options were tried or considered, why they weren’t used, and why they can’t meet the person’s needs.³ If a valid power of attorney, representative payee arrangement, or supported decision-making agreement could handle the crisis, the court may deny the petition.

What Goes in the Petition

The core document is a Verified Petition for Appointment of a Temporary Guardian. “Verified” means you sign it under oath. Blank forms are available from the clerk’s office in the county where the proposed ward lives, and many Indiana counties post them online through the Indiana Office of Court Services.

Under IC 29-3-5-1, the petition must include:

The proposed ward’s name, age, residence, and mailing address.
A description of the incapacity and why the person cannot manage their own affairs.
An approximate value and description of the person’s property, including pensions, insurance, and government benefits.
Your name, address, and relationship to the proposed ward.
Names and addresses of close relatives, as far as you can reasonably determine.
The name and address of whoever currently has physical care or custody of the person.
A clear explanation of the emergency and your interest in the appointment.
A description of less restrictive alternatives considered and why they aren’t sufficient.

Vague statements like “my mother can’t take care of herself” won’t carry a petition. You need specific facts: when the crisis began, what triggered it, and exactly what harm follows if the court does not act.³

The Physician’s Report

A petition alone won’t do it. You also need a physician’s report, sometimes called a capacity evaluation, from a physician holding an unlimited license to practice medicine in Indiana. The evaluation should have been performed within three months of the filing date.

The report has to cover more than diagnosis. The doctor addresses whether the person is totally or only partially unable to make personal and financial decisions, describes mental and physical condition, recommends an appropriate living arrangement, and states whether the person can appear in court without harm to their health. The physician also gives an opinion on whether the person can consent to a guardian and whether the incapacity prevents a knowing waiver of notice.

This step is often the bottleneck. If the proposed ward is already hospitalized, the treating physician may finish it quickly. Otherwise you may need to arrange an independent evaluation, which takes coordination and can cost several hundred dollars or more. Start it the day you decide to file, not after the petition is drafted.

Filing and Notice

File the petition and physician’s report with the clerk of the circuit or superior court in the county where the proposed ward lives.⁴ The filing fee runs about $177, with slight variation by county.⁵ If you can’t afford it, apply for an indigency waiver.

Normally the proposed ward and other interested parties get advance notice. IC 29-3-3-4 carves out an exception for true emergencies: a judge can appoint a temporary guardian without prior notice when the petition alleges, and the court finds, that waiting would result in “immediate and irreparable injury” to the person or their property.¹

Skipping advance notice doesn’t end your notice obligations. After the court enters the order, you must serve complete copies of the petition, the order, and the required statutory notice on everyone entitled to receive them. You also have to comply with Rule 65 of the Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure, which requires a specific showing of what you did to try to give advance notice or why you could not.

The Hearing

Emergency hearings are short. The judge reviews the petition and physician’s report and may ask you to testify about the facts. The court is not deciding whether a long-term guardianship is appropriate. It is answering one narrow question: does the evidence show immediate harm and that appointing a temporary guardian is the only way to prevent it?

If satisfied, the court enters an order appointing a temporary guardian and specifies the exact powers granted. If the evidence is thin, the petition is denied and you’ll need to pursue the standard guardianship process instead.

What the Order Actually Authorizes

A temporary guardianship doesn’t hand you open-ended authority over someone’s life. The court tailors the guardian’s powers to the specific emergency. If the crisis involves a medical decision, the order may authorize you to consent to a particular treatment. If the danger is financial exploitation, the order may let you freeze accounts or block specific transactions. You can’t act outside the boundaries the court sets.

The appointment runs for the period the court specifies, capped at 90 days. With good cause, the court may grant one extension of up to 90 more days, but only after a hearing with notice to all interested parties. The absolute maximum duration is 180 days.¹⁵

Bond and Ongoing Duties

If the temporary guardianship gives you any control over the proposed ward’s property, the court will likely require a bond. Under IC 29-3-7-1, the bond amount is the total value of the guardianship property plus one year of estimated income, minus the value of any property the guardian cannot sell or encumber without a separate court order.⁶ You pay a surety premium as a percentage of the bond amount. The court can waive the bond if it finds one unnecessary, exempts banks and trust companies serving as guardian, and may accept alternative collateral like pledged securities or a mortgage.

Appointment starts a clock on filings. You must file an inventory of all property under your control within 30 days of appointment. When the guardianship terminates, you must file a written, verified account of your administration within 30 days of the termination date, following a specific three-schedule format detailing every financial transaction.⁵ Missing these deadlines can expose you to personal liability and get you removed as guardian.

The Proposed Ward’s Rights

Speed doesn’t erase the protections owed to the person at the center of the case. Indiana requires the court to appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the alleged incapacitated person if that person isn’t already represented by an attorney.⁷ The guardian ad litem is an independent advocate whose job is to investigate and advise the court on what outcome best protects the proposed ward, not the petitioner.

If a temporary guardian is appointed without advance notice, the proposed ward can file a petition at any time asking the court to terminate the guardianship or modify the order. The statute requires the court to hear that petition “at the earliest possible time,” which in practice means within days.¹

Planning for After 90 Days

A temporary guardianship is a bridge. If the person’s condition isn’t going to resolve inside the 90-day window (or 180 days with an extension), you need a separate petition for a permanent guardianship. That process involves a full evidentiary hearing, broader notice, and a more detailed examination of whether guardianship is the least restrictive option available.

Don’t wait until the temporary order is about to expire. Filing the permanent petition, arranging evaluations, and getting a hearing date typically takes weeks. Many attorneys file the permanent petition within the first few weeks of the temporary appointment so the two proceedings overlap and no gap opens in protection.

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-3-3-4 – Temporary Guardians; Notice; Hearing; Suspension of Guardian; Powers and Responsibilities
2
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-3-1-7.5 – Incapacitated Person
3
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-3-5-1 – Petitions for Appointment of a Guardian or to Have a Protective Order Issued
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-3-2-2 – Venue for Appointment of Guardian; Stay of Proceedings; Transfer of Proceedings
5
Indiana Courts. Best Practice Guidance to Trial Courts regarding Guardianships
6
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-3-7-1 – Guardian’s Bond; Amount; Collateral
7
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-3-2-3