General information from a recorded webinar, not legal advice for your situation.

What is a supported decision-making agreement?

Quick answer · 0:56 · From Supported Decision-Making: Less Restrictive Alternatives to Guardianship · Recorded Apr 24, 2026

Short answer

A supported decision-making agreement is a written plan that names your support team, the areas where you want their help and the areas where you do not. Lutheran Social Service created one version, and other templates are available online.

Key points

  • Lists who is on your team.
  • Spells out where help is welcome.
  • Protects areas you want to handle alone.

Katie HestnessEducation Navigator, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota · Guest presenter

Read this part of the transcript

That is always an option, but they might not be putting together that if they can’t manage their situation and they didn’t name anybody else to manage their situation, then the only option, it might lead to something like a court-appointed conservator to manage it. So again, there’s options there, but just to be kind of aware of what authority you’re granted and what you want that document to look like. Another tool is a support decision-making agreement. This is one that LSS created, but there are different templates online. This is a tool that allows somebody to say, “Here’s who my team is, here’s where I want their help, and here’s where I don’t want their help.” Often when I’ve worked with people, they can say, “Here’s my team.

Created automatically from the recording. Full transcript on the webinar page.

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