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HB99
ZQ9XBRW-1
By Representative Brinyark
RFD: Children and Senior Advocacy
First Read: 13-Jan-26
PFD: 06-Jan-26
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ZQ9XBRW-1 12/18/2025 GP (L)lg 2025-3709
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PFD: 06-Jan-26
SYNOPSIS:
This bill would establish the Guardianship Bill
of Rights to provide adults with guardians certain
rights relating to access to justice, core human
rights, and decision-making.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to adults with guardians; to establish the
Guardianship Bill of Rights; to provide adults with guardians
certain rights relating to access to justice, core human
rights, and decision-making.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. (a) This section shall be known and may be
cited as the Guardianship Bill of Rights.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the following
terms have the following meanings:
(1) ADULT. An individual who has reached the age of
majority pursuant to Section 26-1-1, Code of Alabama 1975.
(2) GUARDIAN. The same meaning as Section 26-2A-20,
Code of Alabama 1975.
(c) Each adult with a guardian has the right to access
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(c) Each adult with a guardian has the right to access
justice, which includes the right of each adult with a
guardian to:
(1) Maintain all rights that the court has not granted
to the adult's guardian;
(2) A lawyer who advocates for the outcome that the
adult desires;
(3) Be present and participate in all court hearings
relating to the adult;
(4) Inform the court of the adult's concerns or
complaints about the adult's guardianship or guardian;
(5) Ask the court to review whether to change,
continue, or end the adult's guardianship and to review
whether the guardian is right for the adult;
(6) If there is a question about the adult's capacity
to exercise a specific right, have a qualified person evaluate
the adult's abilities and whether some or all of the adult's
rights should be restored;
(7) Support and accommodations as necessary to
effectively communicate with the court and to understand court
proceedings; and
(8) Have the adult's rights explained in the method of
communication and in the language that the adult chooses.
(d) Each adult with a guardian retains core human
rights, including the right of each adult with a guardian to:
(1) Be treated with dignity and respect;
(2) Be free from abuse, neglect, exploitation, and
discrimination;
(3) Remain as independent as possible;
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(3) Remain as independent as possible;
(4) Express and practice the adult's own religious
preferences;
(5) Personal privacy; and
(6) Humane, safe, and sanitary living, learning, and
working environments.
(e) Each adult with a guardian retains decision-making
rights, including the right to:
(1) A competent guardian who advocates for and respects
the adult's goals, needs, preferences, and desires, including
but not limited to those relating to medical treatment,
cultural practices, and religious beliefs;
(2) Fully participate in all decisions to the extent
that the adult desires to and is able to be involved,
especially those decisions affecting the adult's care, living
situation, activities, and social interactions;
(3) Receive necessary services and rehabilitation in
the least restrictive conditions, within available resources
and which protect the adult's personal privacy;
(4) Have the adult's guardian prudently manage the
adult's resources;
(5) Fully participate in decisions relating to the
management of the adult's property, to the extent that the
adult desires to and is able to be involved; and
(6) Keep confidential those matters that the adult
wishes to keep confidential, unless that information is
necessary to: (i) obtain services; (ii) prevent abuse,
neglect, or exploitation; or (iii) modify the adult's
guardianship order.
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guardianship order.
(f) The rights provided in this section are together
with, and in addition to, the rights of an adult with a
guardian otherwise provided by the law.
Section 2. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2026.
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