When a court appoints you as someone's guardian, you step into a role defined by law. You are not simply a caregiver or a money manager — you are a fiduciary, legally accountable to the court and to the person in your care. The duties that come with that appointment are specific, ongoing, and enforceable.

Arkansas Code § 28-65-301 sets out the general duties of guardians in Arkansas. Understanding those duties before you accept the appointment — or as soon as possible after — is essential. Failing to fulfill them can expose you to personal liability, removal as guardian, and in serious cases, civil or criminal consequences.

This article explains what Arkansas law requires of guardians, broken down by the type of guardianship you hold.

The Two Types of Guardianship — Person and Estate

Arkansas law distinguishes between two distinct forms of guardianship, each carrying its own set of duties. A guardian of the person is responsible for the ward's physical care and wellbeing. A guardian of the estate is responsible for the ward's property and finances. A court may appoint the same person to serve in both roles, or it may appoint different people to each — and a court may also limit either appointment to specific powers if full guardianship is not warranted.

Understanding which role — or roles — you hold is the starting point for understanding what you owe your ward. Every duty described in this article flows from one or the other of these two appointments.

Duties of the Guardian of the Person

If you have been appointed guardian of the person, your fundamental obligation under Arkansas law is to care for and maintain your ward. This is not a vague aspiration — it is a legal duty. You are responsible for ensuring that the ward's basic needs are met: shelter, food, clothing, medical care, and whatever level of personal support their condition requires.

The statute makes clear that this duty must be carried out consistently with the ward's resources — meaning you are expected to provide care appropriate to what the ward's estate can support, not necessarily the maximum level of care money could theoretically buy, and not out of your own pocket beyond what the law requires. The ward's own estate funds the ward's care. Your job is to make sure that care actually happens and that resources are applied appropriately toward it.

In practical terms, being guardian of the person means you are the one making day-to-day and long-term decisions about where your ward lives, what medical treatment they receive, who provides their care, and how their daily life is structured. You are the decision-maker for everything that touches the ward's physical person — not their money, but their life.

Additional Duties When the Ward Is a Minor

When the ward is a minor child, the duties of the guardian of the person expand significantly. Arkansas law specifically requires that a guardian of a minor see to it that the child is protected, properly trained, and educated. The guardian must also ensure that the minor has the opportunity to learn a trade, occupation, or profession.

This language reflects the law's recognition that guardianship of a minor is not simply about meeting immediate physical needs — it is about providing the kind of environment and opportunity that a responsible parent would provide. You are standing in for the child's parents, and the law expects you to take that role seriously across every dimension of the child's development.

In practical terms, this means ensuring the child is enrolled in school, receiving appropriate educational services, and being raised in an environment that supports their growth. It means making decisions about extracurricular activities, medical care, religious upbringing, and eventually — as the child approaches adulthood — vocational or higher education opportunities. These are not optional extras. They are statutory duties.

If the child has special educational needs, the guardian of the person is typically the appropriate person to participate in IEP meetings, make decisions about educational placement, and advocate for the child within the school system. This is a meaningful and sometimes demanding responsibility that requires active engagement, not passive oversight.

Custody Without Control of Property

Arkansas law gives the guardian of the person custody of the ward — but explicitly limits that authority. The guardian of the person does not have the power to bind the ward or the ward's property. This distinction matters enormously in practice.

What it means is that you can make personal decisions for your ward, but you cannot make financial decisions that obligate the ward's estate. You cannot sign contracts on behalf of the ward that create financial obligations. You cannot authorize expenditures from the ward's funds — that authority belongs to the guardian of the estate. If you are serving only as guardian of the person, you will need to coordinate closely with the guardian of the estate whenever decisions have financial implications, which in practice is often.

This separation of authority is intentional. It creates a check on the exercise of power over a vulnerable person. When the same individual holds both roles, they must still be mindful of the distinction — acting in each capacity appropriately and maintaining records that reflect that distinction.

Reporting to the Court

As guardian of the person, you may be required to report to the court on the condition of your ward at regular intervals or as the court directs. These reports are not a formality — they are the mechanism by which the court fulfills its ongoing responsibility to oversee the welfare of the ward. The court retains jurisdiction over the guardianship throughout its duration, and your reports are how it exercises that oversight.

What goes into a report depends on what the court's order requires, but typically it covers the ward's current living situation, physical and mental condition, any significant changes in health or circumstances, the care being provided, and any issues or concerns that have arisen. Courts require these reports annually. The Arkansas courts provide an official Annual Report of Guardian form that you can use to meet this requirement.

Failure to file required reports is a serious matter. Courts can and do remove guardians who fail to meet their reporting obligations. If you are having difficulty filing a report because of circumstances in the guardianship, the right approach is to communicate with the court proactively — not to go silent.

Duties of the Guardian of the Estate

If you have been appointed guardian of the estate, your duties are distinct from — and in some ways more demanding than — those of the guardian of the person. You are a financial fiduciary. The ward's assets are not yours to use as you see fit. They are held in trust for the ward's benefit, and the law holds you strictly accountable for how you manage them.

Arkansas Code § 28-65-301(b) sets out the core duties of the guardian of the estate. They are worth understanding one by one.

Exercise due care to protect and preserve the estate

Your first duty is to protect what the ward has. This means taking prompt action to identify and secure the ward's assets, addressing any threats to those assets, maintaining appropriate insurance, and avoiding actions that could diminish the estate. Due care is the standard — you are not expected to be perfect, but you are expected to act as a reasonably prudent person would in managing property belonging to someone else.

This duty begins at the moment of your appointment. If assets are at risk — a property that needs maintenance, a bank account that is being improperly accessed, a business interest that needs attention — you need to act promptly. Delay in protecting the ward's assets is itself a breach of your duty.

Invest it and apply it as provided by this chapter

The guardian of the estate has a duty to invest the ward's assets prudently and to apply those assets for the ward's care and benefit. Investment decisions must comply with the Arkansas guardianship statutes and, to the extent applicable, the principles of prudent investor law that apply through the trust law standards incorporated into guardianship.

Applying the ward's assets means using estate funds for the ward's care, maintenance, and support — coordinating with the guardian of the person on what the ward needs and ensuring those needs are funded from the estate. The guardian of the estate is not supposed to hoard assets or refuse reasonable expenditures for the ward's benefit, nor is the guardian supposed to spend assets extravagantly or for improper purposes.

Account for it faithfully

Perhaps the most demanding ongoing duty of the guardian of the estate is the obligation to account faithfully for all assets. This means maintaining thorough, accurate records of every financial transaction involving the ward's estate — every deposit, every withdrawal, every investment, every expense. Courts require periodic accountings, and those accountings must be supported by documentation.

Faithful accounting is not simply good practice — it is a legal obligation. A guardian who cannot account for the ward's assets, or whose records are incomplete or inaccurate, is in breach of their fiduciary duty. This can result in personal liability for any losses the ward suffers as a result.

From a practical standpoint, this means you should maintain a separate bank account for the ward's funds, keep the ward's money entirely separate from your own, retain all receipts and documentation, and track transactions in a way that allows you to produce a complete accounting at any time the court requests one.

Perform all other duties required by law

Beyond the specific duties enumerated in the statute, the guardian of the estate is subject to all other legal requirements applicable to fiduciaries managing property for others. This is a catch-all that reinforces the breadth of your obligation — you are not simply required to do the things explicitly listed, but to comply with the full body of law governing fiduciaries in Arkansas.

How Trust Law Applies to Guardians of the Estate

One of the most significant provisions in Arkansas's guardianship statute is that the law of trusts applies to the duties and liabilities of a guardian of the estate, to the extent applicable. This is not a trivial incorporation — trust law imposes a comprehensive body of fiduciary standards on trustees, and by extension, on guardians of the estate.

What this means practically is that the same duties that govern a trustee — the duty of loyalty, the duty of prudence, the duty of impartiality, the duty to keep records, the duty to inform and account — apply to your role as guardian of the estate. You must act solely in the interest of the ward, not in your own interest or the interest of anyone else. You must manage assets with the care and skill of a prudent investor. You must treat all beneficiaries (in this context, the ward and any remainder beneficiaries of the ward's estate) impartially.

The incorporation of trust law also means that the remedies available for breach of trust are available for breach of a guardian's duties. A guardian who mismanages the ward's estate can be held personally liable for losses, required to restore assets, and removed from the role.

Accounting and the Duty of Faithfulness

The duty to account faithfully deserves separate emphasis because it is where guardianships most often break down. Courts take accounting obligations seriously, and guardians who fail to maintain adequate records or submit required accountings face real consequences — including removal, surcharge (being ordered to repay amounts to the estate from your own funds), and in cases of intentional misappropriation, criminal exposure.

An accounting is not simply a list of transactions. It is a formal document that shows the beginning balance of the estate, all receipts and disbursements during the accounting period, any investments made or liquidated, and the ending balance — with all transactions supported by documentation. The Arkansas courts provide an official Accounting by Guardian form for this purpose. Guardians of the estate are also required to file an initial inventory of the ward's assets — the court's official Inventory of Ward's Estate form should be filed promptly after your appointment.

If you have been appointed guardian of the estate and you are not sure what accounting the court requires or when it is due, find out immediately. This is not something to figure out later. The court's order appointing you as guardian should specify when your first accounting is due and at what intervals subsequent accountings are required.

At Termination — Delivering Assets to the Right People

When the guardianship ends — whether because the ward has died, a minor ward has reached adulthood, the ward has regained capacity, or the court has terminated the guardianship for another reason — the guardian of the estate has a final and critical duty: to deliver the assets of the ward to the persons entitled to them.

Who those persons are depends on why the guardianship terminated. If the ward has died, the assets pass to the ward's estate and are distributed according to the ward's will or by intestacy. If a minor ward has reached adulthood, the assets are delivered to the former ward directly. If the ward has regained capacity, the assets are returned to the ward.

This final delivery must be accompanied by a final accounting — a complete record of the estate from the beginning of the guardianship to its end. The court must approve the final accounting before the guardianship is formally closed. Attempting to close a guardianship without a proper final accounting is not possible through legitimate means, and failing to deliver assets to the correct persons at termination is a serious breach of duty.

When You Serve as Both Guardian of the Person and Estate

Many guardians serve in both roles simultaneously. When you do, you carry all of the duties described above — the care and custody obligations of the guardian of the person, and the financial fiduciary obligations of the guardian of the estate. The combination of roles creates efficiency but also demands careful attention to the distinction between the two functions.

Even when serving in both roles, you should think of them separately. Decisions about the ward's care and living situation are made in your capacity as guardian of the person. Financial decisions — how to invest the estate, what expenditures to authorize, how to account for funds — are made in your capacity as guardian of the estate. Keeping these roles conceptually distinct helps you avoid conflicts of interest and ensures that your decisions in each area are defensible if questioned by the court.

Getting It Right from the Start

Accepting a guardianship appointment is one of the most significant legal commitments a person can make. The duties are ongoing, the court oversight is real, and the consequences of failing to fulfill your obligations can be serious — both for you and for the person in your care.

Whether you are about to be appointed, have just been appointed, or have been serving as a guardian for some time and want to make sure you are meeting your obligations, understanding what the law requires is the foundation. Beyond that, maintaining careful records, communicating proactively with the court, and seeking legal guidance when you face difficult decisions are the practices that protect both you and your ward.

I work with Arkansans serving as guardians — helping people understand their responsibilities at the time of appointment, navigating difficult decisions during the guardianship, and ensuring that the guardianship is properly closed when the time comes. If you have questions about your duties as a guardian, I'm glad to help.