Iowa’s New Law Recognizes Rights of Communication and Visitation in Guardianships
On April 24, 2015, Iowa’s Governor signed SF 306 into law, amending Iowa’s Guardianship Law to recognize an express right of adult wards to “communication, visitation, or interaction with other persons.” The law’s effective date is July 1, 2015.
The law further provides that a court shall deny such rights “only upon a showing of good cause by the guardian.” In the absence of an ability to give “express consent to such communication, visitation or interaction with a person due to a physical or mental condition, consent of an adult ward may be presumed by a guardian or a court based on an adult ward’s prior relationship with such person.”
This is an interesting law, especially coming on the heels of the Henry Rayhons trial in Iowa, even though there appears to be no direct correlation. The new provision does not, for example, define “interaction.”
According to news reports, Kerri Kasem, the daughter of radio D.J. Casey Kasem, was present at the ceremony and lobbied for the bill after her late father was moved from his nursing home in California, first to Nevada and then to Washington without his children’s knowledge or consent:
“This is a silent epidemic,” she said. “There are so many abuses of guardianships and so many abuses of caretakers.”