Serving the Adult and the Relatives

When you file to be a guardian, you have to “serve” a copy of the Petition and the Citation on the adult, many of the adult's relatives, and possibly some other agencies. The court does not serve these documents for you; you have to make sure they are properly served or your hearing will be cancelled. Visit this section to find out how to properly serve the relatives and any other required agencies. 

 Who to serve.  There are many people you will have to send the documents to.  
 What to serve.  There are 2 forms you have to serve. 
 How to serve.  There are different ways to serve people - you can choose what works for you. 
 What if I can't find some relatives?  Learn about options for relatives you cannot find.  
 Get ready for the hearing.  

 Who to Serve

The people you must serve generally includes the person you are asking to be the guardian over (the "proposed protected person"), their spouse, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, and older grandchildren (age 14 and older).  If the adult is in a hospital or care facility, or receiving Medicaid or Veteran's benefits, those agencies must be notified as well.  A full list of the people you must serve is on the Who Must Be Told About a Guardianship page. Make sure you serve all of the required people, or your case may be delayed!

 What to Serve

You must send a copy of the Petition (the document you filled out asking to be named the guardian) and the Citation (the document that sets a court hearing) to the adult, the required relatives, and agencies.

 How to Serve

There are three ways to have the required people served.  You can use different methods for different relatives depending on what works best for you.

 Personal service.

You can have a neutral person (not you, a relative, or a significant other) hand-deliver the documents to any of the required people.  This must be done at least 10 days before the hearing. The person who served should complete a separate Affidavit of Service for each relative that is personally served.  File the Affidavit of Service. 

Affidavit of Service - General (pdf fillable) 

The adult who you want to be the guardian over must be personally served, even if they are unresponsive.  This is mandatory and cannot be avoided under any circumstance.  Someone who is not involved in the case must hand-deliver the documents to the adult (even if it means just placing the documents on their hospital bed) and complete an Affidavit of Service below. 

Whoever serves the adult has to fill out the Declaration of Service form below.  Make sure it is filed with the court.  This is a MANDATORY form.

 Declaration of Service on Adult (pdf fillable)

 Certified mail, return receipt requested.

You can send the documents by certified mail, return receipt requested, at least 20 days before the hearing.  When you mail the documents, use the "green cards" at the post office.  You will receive the signed “green cards” back from the post office when people sign for the mail. When you get the green cards back, complete the Certificate of Mailing, tape the green cards to a blank sheet of paper, and attach the paper with the cards to the Certificate of Mailing. File the Certificate of Mailing. 

Certificate of Mailing (pdf fillable)
 

 Get a signed consent and waiver of service

If a person is willing to accept the papers from you without being formally served, the person can sign a “Consent and Waiver of Service.” All consents must be filed.

Consent and Waiver of Service (pdf fillable)

 What if I don’t know where to find some relatives?

You must do everything you can to locate any missing relatives. Contact friends, family members, employers, coworkers, or anyone who might know where the relatives can be found. Search for the relatives online through social networking sites and by email. You can also check the Post Office for forwarding information. Check with any source that might lead you to a good address for the relative. This is called doing your “due diligence.” 

If you still cannot find the relatives, you can ask the Court to waive service on the relatives, or instead, for permission to publish the citation in a newspaper and mail a copy of the citation and the petition to the relative’s last known address. You will have to detail all of the efforts you made to find the missing relative.

To ask the Court to waive service or to allow publication, follow these steps:

1. Mail a copy of the Petition and Citation to the last known address you have for each relative. You must send the Petition and the Citation to each person's last known address by regular mail.  
    
2. After mailing the Petition and Citation, fill out the following forms. Fill out the forms in the packet below.  You must complete a SEPARATE Affidavit of Due Diligence for each relative that you cannot find, so download as many extras of those as you need.
   
   There are two orders in the packet: one to waive service and one to allow service by publication.  Complete both of them, since it will be up to the judge to decide whether to waive service or require publication.  Do not put anything on the judge's signature line.
   
   Publication Packet (pdf)
   
   Publication Packet (pdf fillable)
   
   Affidavit of Due Diligence (pdf) - fill out a separate form for each relative
   
   Affidavit of Due Diligence (pdf fillable) - fill out a separate form for each relative
   
   
3. File all of the affidavits with the Court.  E-file them or mail them.  
    
4. Submit the proposed Orders to the judge. Fill out the orders and mail or email them to the department assigned to your case.  To email them, find the letter that your case is assigned to (for example, Dept C, Dept F, etc.).  Insert the department letter where the _ is in the following email format: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and send it by email.
     
5. Wait for your answer. If the judge believes that you have done enough and the relatives truly cannot be found, the judge will sign one or both of the orders to waive service or require you to serve by publication. If not, you will receive a memo from the judge's staff letting you know what needs to be fixed.
    
6. If the judge signs your Order to Serve by Publication, contact a newspaper to arrange for publication. The popular Clark County newspapers you may want to contact to arrange for publication are the Nevada Legal News (702-382-2747) and the Las Vegas Review-Journal (702-383-0383).  You will have to provide the newspaper with a copy of the Citation (that includes the names of ALL the relatives you are serving by publication) and the Order to Serve by Publication. The citation must be published once a week for 4 consecutive weeks. The last date of publication must be at least 20 days before the hearing in your case.  
    
7. Make sure the Affidavit of Publication is filed with the court. The newspaper usually files this for you, but if they do not, be sure to ask for a copy of the Affidavit of Publication and file it yourself.

 Get ready for the hearing

Once the relatives have been served, you will need to prepare for the hearing with the judge.  Visit the Guardianship Hearing page to learn how to prepare for your hearing and find out what to expect at the hearing.