1. The board of county commissioners of each county shall establish the office of public guardian.

2. The board of county commissioners shall:

(a) Appoint a public guardian, who serves at the pleasure of the board, for a term of 4 years from the day of appointment;

(b) Designate an elected or appointed county officer as ex officio public guardian;

(c) Pursuant to the mechanism set forth in NRS 244.1507, designate another county officer to execute the powers and duties of the public guardian;

(d) Except in a county whose population is 100,000 or more, contract with a private professional guardian to act as public guardian; or

(e) Contract with the board of county commissioners of a neighboring county in the same judicial district to designate as public guardian the public guardian of the neighboring county.

3. The compensation of a public guardian appointed or designated pursuant to subsection 2 must be fixed by the board of county commissioners and paid out of the county general fund.

4. As used in this section, “private professional guardian” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 159.024 and 159A.024, except that the term does not include:

(a) A banking corporation, as defined in NRS 657.016, or an organization permitted to act as a fiduciary pursuant to NRS 662.245 if it is appointed as guardian of an estate only.

(b) A trust company, as defined in NRS 669.070.

(c) A court-appointed attorney licensed to practice law in this State.

(d) A trustee under a deed of trust.

(e) A fiduciary under a court trust.

(Added to NRS by 1977, 486; A 1989, 1041; 2003, 804; 2007, 2489; 2009, 593; 2015, 2370; 2017, 892)