Guardianship process gets easier to navigate in Lake Co.

Kathy Sotomayor knew it had to be done, but she was not looking forward to it.

Her granddaughter needed a legal guardian, and although Sotomayor was willing to do the job, getting the title looked none too appealing.

"I thought I would get into all kinds of confusing paperwork and so forth," the Waukegan woman said. "The idea of having to go to court to work this out seemed like it was going to be a huge hassle."

Finding one's way through the legal system without professional assistance can be a daunting task.

The language is confusing, the documents are confounding and the process can be frustrating.

In the case of those seeking to establish legal guardianship over minors in Lake County, the cavalry has arrived.

The Lake County Bar Association, the College of Lake County and the 19th Judicial Circuit joined forces earlier this year to create the Guardianship Help Desk, where the fog of law gives way to the sunlight of satisfaction.

Housed in a room just steps from Circuit Judge Diane Winter's probate courtroom, where guardianship cases are handled, the desk is abuzz with activity every Friday morning.

Adults hoping to secure legal responsibility for children they support, but are not parents of, must be appointed legal guardians of the children to access several services.

These include the right to register children for school, consent to medical treatment and apply for any public benefits the children may be eligible to receive.

More than 60 percent of the people in Lake County seeking to be appointed guardians do so without attorneys, according to Elizabeth Rochford, first vice-president of the LCBA.

"Without any experience with the legal system, people who apply for guardianship very often come to court unprepared through no fault of their own," Rochford said. "That places the judge in the position of having to slow her call so she can assist with the paperwork and other matters, frequently leading to more court appearances for the individual applicants."

To keep things moving in the courtroom and to reduce the time consumed by the process for all parties, Rochford and Winter came up with the concept of the desk as a clearinghouse for information and a prep center for those about to enter the arena.

They sought guidance from officials at the Cook County Guardianship Assistance Desk, which has been in business for more than 10 years.

Margaret Benson, the executive director of Chicago Volunteer Legal Services and the person who oversees the Cook County operation, said the Lake County group studied their model carefully.

"We essentially showed them what we are doing here and what is necessary to do for the clients before they go in to see the judge," Benson said. "We staff our desk with court clerks and volunteer lawyers who are adept at handling the routine cases, as well as those that have complications."

Armed with a blueprint, Rochford turned to the College of Lake County's paralegal education program for her first platoon of volunteers.

The paralegals meet first with people seeking to establish guardianship without lawyers, who are directed to the desk when they first file their applications in the circuit clerk's office.

All unrepresented clients are given court dates on Fridays when the desk is open. After they answer a few questions from the paralegals about the specifics of their cases, the paperwork is started.

Rochford or another volunteer lawyer checks over the paperwork, then passes the file out to Winter's courtroom clerk while the client waits for the case to be called.

"The desk is just a tremendous benefit for the people coming in to be appointed guardians," Winter said. "Without the help, it was often difficult for the clients to focus on the issues they needed to address, but now they have a calm and quiet place where they can sit and be told what is going on."

On a recent busy Friday, Rochford moved up and down behind a line of seated paralegals answering questions and checking paperwork.

When the desk first started in February, she said, staffers were using carbon paper to make the multiple copies of some forms needed for the court files.

"Thankfully, someone from the bar foundation came by the second day we were open and decided we should not be operating in the Stone Age," Rochford said. "The next time we opened, we had a combination copier and fax machine they had donated."

Kathy Sotomayor was at the desk that day for a quick run-through before making her second and final court appearance in her quest to be appointed guardian of her granddaughter.

A paralegal and Rochford went over the last of the paperwork and dispatched Sotomayor to the courtroom, where Winter called her to the bench after a few minutes wait.

A couple of questions, a few bangs of the clerk's file stamp and a "Congratulations and good luck," from Winter later, and Sotomayor was on her way out the door.

"I have to admit, I was a little overwhelmed when I first came in to do this," Sotomayor said. "But I really got comfortable after talking with the people at the help desk, and they went out of their way to answer every question I had."

With more than 100 clients helped so far, Rochford said she hopes the assistance will expand someday to people seeking to be guardians for disabled adults. For now, her focus is on the present.

"I think we do a pretty good job for an operation with no budget and no paid staff," she said. "And the spirit is contagious, because I can sometimes recruit lawyers who are not formally involved right out of the courtroom to help out when we get really busy."