700.5301 Appointment of guardian or designation of standby guardian for incapacitated person by will or other writing.

Sec. 5301.

    (1) If serving as guardian, the parent of an unmarried legally incapacitated individual may appoint by will, or other writing signed by the parent and attested by at least 2 witnesses, a guardian for the legally incapacitated individual. If both parents are dead or the surviving parent is adjudged legally incapacitated, and no standby guardian has been appointed under section 5301c, a parental appointment by will or other writing becomes effective when, after having given 7 days' prior written notice of intention to do so to the legally incapacitated individual and to the person having the care of the legally incapacitated individual or to the nearest adult relative, the guardian files acceptance of appointment in the court in which the will containing the nomination is probated or, if the nomination is contained in a nontestamentary nominating instrument or the testator who made the nomination is not deceased, when the guardian's acceptance is filed in the court at the place where the legally incapacitated individual resides or is present. The notice must state that the appointment may be terminated by filing a written objection in the court as provided by subsection (4). If both parents are dead, an effective appointment by the parent who died later has priority.

    (2) If serving as guardian, the spouse of a married legally incapacitated individual may appoint by will, or other writing signed by the spouse and attested by at least 2 witnesses, a guardian of the legally incapacitated individual. If no standby guardian has been appointed under section 5301c, the appointment by will or other writing becomes effective when, after having given 7 days' prior written notice of intention to do so to the legally incapacitated individual and to the person having care of the legally incapacitated individual or to the nearest adult relative, the guardian files acceptance of appointment in the court in which the will containing the nomination is probated or, if the nomination is contained in a nontestamentary nominating instrument or the testator who made the nomination is not deceased, when the guardian's acceptance is filed in the court at the place where the legally incapacitated individual resides or is present. The notice must state that the appointment may be terminated by filing a written objection in the court as provided by subsection (4).

    (3) An appointment effected by filing the guardian's acceptance under a will probated in the state of the decedent's domicile is effective in this state.

    (4) On the filing of the legally incapacitated individual's written objection to a guardian's appointment under this section in either the court in which the will was probated or, for a nontestamentary nominating instrument or a testamentary nominating instrument made by a testator who is not deceased, the court at the place where the legally incapacitated individual resides or is present, the appointment is terminated. An objection does not prevent appointment by the court in a proper proceeding of the parental or spousal nominee or another suitable person on an adjudication of incapacity in a proceeding under sections 5302 to 5317.