The Nevada Supreme Court is pleased to announce it has been awarded $891,000 in federal funds from the Elder Abuse Prevention Interventions Program. The grant is from the Administration for Community Living, a division of Health and Human Services. The two-year grant runs October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2023. The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) and the Nevada Center for State Courts (NCSC) are partners on this project.


The Project will meet immediate needs to improve equity and innovate how guardianships are viewed, administered, and monitored within the Nevada Judiciary. Through data analysis conducted by the NCSC, the Project will assess the current state of guardianship after the implementation of the thirteen recommendations by the Nevada Permanent Guardianship Commission in 2018. 

The Commission has identified four topics that warrant further study in order to implement the Commission's 2018 recommendations.  The topics include data collection, disparate business processes within district courts, lay guardian training, and judicial training on reasonable alternatives to guardianship.

The Project's proposed products will improve outcomes for older adults who are or may become protected persons by improving training for Nevada's judges on the less restrictive alternative to guardianship, provide training to guardians related to their responsibilities, and improve consistency in guardianship practice and monitoring statewide. The project will positively impact all participants in the guardianship process by expanding access to training of guardians at no-cost to the court-ordered guardian. Training will be expanded to hard-to-reach populations and Nevada's limited English proficiency guardians. Attorneys will benefit from the proposed judicial training, as more options will be available to their clients in lieu of guardianship.

The purpose of the Elder Justice Innovation Grants program is to support the development and advancement of new and emerging issues related to elder justice. Funded projects will contribute to the improvement of the field of elder abuse prevention and intervention at large, such as by developing materials, programs, etc. that can be widely disseminated and/or replicated, or by establishing and/or contributing to the evidence-base of knowledge.

In 2017, after considering the information submitted in the final report of the Commission to Study the Administration of Guardianships in Nevada, the Supreme Court of Nevada created a Permanent Guardianship Commission to address issues of concern related to those persons who may be subject to the guardianship statutes, rules, and processes in Nevada.  All Nevada guardianships are administered by Nevada's courts pursuant to Nevada Revised Statutes Chapter 159, which are reviewed by the Commission along with court rules, policies, and procedures.

The NCSC is an independent, nonprofit court improvement organization founded at the urging of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Warren E. Burger.  He envisioned NCSC as a clearinghouse for research information and comparative data to support improvement in judicial administration in state courts. All of NCSC's services - research, information services, education, consulting - are focused on helping courts plan, make decisions, and implement improvements that save time and money, while ensuring judicial administration that supports fair and impartial decision-making.

The NCJFCJ is the oldest judicial membership organization in the country and provides all judges, courts, and related agencies involved with juvenile, family, and domestic violence cases with the knowledge and skills to improve the lives of the families and children who seek justice.

For more information on NCSC, please visit: https://www.ncsc.org/about-us.
For more information on NCJFCJ, please visit: https://www.ncjfcj.org/