Text Size
Smaller
Bigger

State laws regarding conservatorship and mental health

answered 01:56 PM EST, Thu December 05, 2013
Is there a law in Michigan where family members can sign a court order to keep a family member in a rehabilitation center?

Dyan Kolb Says...

 Hi. I'm a licensed clinician in the state of California, so I'm not at all familiar with Michigan laws. I can say that some states refer to conservatorship as "guardianship" or "trustee." When a family member is seeking to keep another family member in "treatment," usually the courts become involved to provide that appointing privilege to a capable family member. The circumstances must be severe enough to warrant this, as the courts have mental health appointed workers who psychiatrically evaluate a person who is allegedly incapable of making legal, financial and medical decisions for themselves. This condition is usually referred to as gravely disabled or a person may suffer from a sever developmental disability in which they cannot take care of themselves. Chemical dependency issues, if that is what you are referring to  "rehabilitation center" is not the same. A person with a substance problem may have to experience legal problems related to their chemical dependency, severe enough where the courts order that person to attend and complete rehab as part of a sentence, but not always. As far as I know, I'm not aware of family members obtaining legal rights to mandate a person to rehab treatment. I would highly recommend getting legal advice within your state of interest. Best of luck to you.

   
 
Subscribe Subscribe to this topic category

Page last updated Dec 05, 2013

Topics Covered by this Expert
Conservatorship Court Order Rehab Guardianship

This website is certified by Health On the Net Foundation. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information.

Find Treatment
Browse by region »
Scan to call us
using your phone camera app