Restoration: How to Get Rights Back After Guardianship
A man under guardianship looked at his guardian one day and said something that should be the goal of every guardianship case. “I don’t think I need a guardian anymore. I think I’m doing really well.”
He was right, but only partly. There were some areas where he still needed support. So instead of an all-or-nothing conversation, he and his guardian sat down and walked through the ten powers of guardianship one by one. Where do you live independently? Where do you manage well on your own? Where do you genuinely still want help?
By the end of that conversation, they had identified four powers he no longer needed. They went back to court, and the judge restored those four powers to him. He moved from a full guardianship to a limited one. They kept working together. A few years later, he came back to court again, and this time he was fully restored. As his guardian recalled, his goodbye was simple: “Thanks. I hope I never see you again.”
That’s restoration. And in Minnesota, it’s a right that belongs to every adult under guardianship.
What restoration actually is
Restoration is the legal process by which an adult under guardianship can petition the court to have some or all of their decision-making rights returned to them. The petition can ask for a single power, several powers, or every power, which would result in the termination of the guardianship altogether.
The right to file a restoration petition belongs to the person, and they can file it at any time. Not every petition is granted, but the path to ask is always open.
Restoration shouldn’t be thought of as the end of a guardianship. It should be thought of as the goal a guardianship is working toward.
A shift in how Minnesota thinks about guardianship
For a long time, guardianship was treated as something that, once put in place, tended to stay in place. Someone became a person subject to guardianship at eighteen, and that’s where they stayed for the rest of their life.
Minnesota law has shifted significantly in recent years to push back on that default. A 2020 statute change introduced the concept of limited duration guardianship, which requires that any guardianship for a person under thirty have an expiration date no longer than seventy-two months. The reasoning behind that change is straightforward. Between eighteen and thirty, people change enormously. The skills, capacity, and circumstances of a young adult at twenty are often very different at twenty-six. A guardianship ordered without an expiration date risks staying in place long after it stopped being needed.
The same statute change required petitioners for any guardianship to demonstrate that less restrictive options had been tried first. That requirement applies on the front end, before guardianship is granted. Restoration is the back-end equivalent. It asks whether the same person, now further along in their journey, still needs the level of support a guardian provides.
Together, these changes signal a clear direction. Minnesota courts want guardianships to be no more restrictive than necessary, for no longer than necessary.
How a restoration petition works
A restoration petition is filed with the court that issued the original guardianship order. The petition typically lays out which powers the person is asking to have restored, what has changed since the guardianship was put in place, and what supports will be in place after restoration to help the person continue managing well.
A judge reviews the petition, often with input from the guardian, the person’s care team, and any family or supporters involved. In some cases, restoration is straightforward and uncontested. In others, particularly when the guardian and the person disagree about whether restoration is appropriate, the process involves more deliberation.
Critically, restoration doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. The man at the start of this post got four powers back the first time, then the rest later. That gradual approach is often the most realistic. It lets the person demonstrate, in lower-stakes areas, that they’re ready for more autonomy. It lets the relationship between guardian and person evolve from one of authority into one of partnership. And it gives everyone time to build confidence that the change is sustainable.
Why every guardianship should start with an exit plan
If you serve as a guardian for a loved one, or if you work with families navigating guardianship, the most important shift in mindset is this. From the day a guardianship begins, the question to keep in mind isn’t only “how do I make decisions for this person?” It’s also “how do I help this person eventually need fewer of those decisions made for them?”
That doesn’t mean every person under guardianship will ultimately be restored. Some people, due to the nature of their condition, will need a guardian’s support for the rest of their lives. That’s a real and valid outcome.
But for many others, restoration is achievable, and the work of getting there starts on day one. Building skills. Documenting growth. Reassessing which powers are still genuinely needed. Treating the person not as a permanent recipient of decisions, but as someone working toward greater independence wherever it’s possible.
That orientation, more than any single legal step, is what changes outcomes for people under guardianship in Minnesota.
Where to go from here
If you or someone you love is currently under guardianship and you’re wondering whether restoration might be possible, that question is worth asking out loud.
The team at Everbright Legacy Law can help you think through what restoration might look like in your situation, and what the path forward might involve. Call us at (952) 925-4147 or email hello@everbrightlegacy.com.
You can also watch our recent free webinar on supported decision-making, co-hosted with Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota.
