A. The guardian of an incapacitated person shall file an initial report with the appointing court within ninety days of the guardian's appointment. Thereafter, the guardian shall file an annual report within thirty days of the anniversary date of the guardian's appointment. A copy of the report shall also be submitted to the district judge who appointed the guardian or the judge's successor, to the incapacitated person and to the incapacitated person's conservator, if any. The court shall review this report. The report shall include information concerning the progress and condition of the incapacitated person, including the incapacitated person's health, medical and dental care, residence, education, employment and habitation; a report on the manner in which the guardian carried out the guardian's powers and fulfilled the guardian's duties; and the guardian's opinion regarding the continued need for guardianship. If the guardian has been provided power pursuant to Paragraph (4) of Subsection B of Section 45-5-312 NMSA 1978, the report shall contain information on financial decisions made by the guardian. Only reports that substantially comply with forms approved by the supreme court shall be accepted by the court as fulfilling the requirements of this section.

B. Any guardian may rely on a qualified health care professional's current written report to provide descriptions of the physical and mental conditions required in the report provided for in Subsection A of this section.

C. The guardian may be fined twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per day for an overdue interim or annual report. The fine shall be paid to the current school fund.

D. The court shall not waive the requirement of an annual report under any circumstance but may grant an extension of time not to exceed sixty days. The court may require the filing of more than one report annually.

E. A guardian of a protected person shall fully comply with the requirements of any audit of an account, inventory, report or property of a protected person.

History: 1978 Comp., § 45-5-314, enacted by Laws 1989, ch. 252, § 14; 1993, ch. 301, § 11; 2009, ch. 159, § 41; 2018, ch. 10, § 7; 2019, ch. 228, § 7.

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, revised provisions related to the form of a guardian's report on the progress and condition of an incapacitated person; in Subsection A, in the introductory paragraph, after "financial decisions made by the guardian.", deleted the remainder of the subsection, which provided the template for a guardian's report on the progress and condition of an incapacitated person, and added "Only reports that substantially comply with forms approved by the supreme court shall be accepted by the court as fulfilling the requirements of this section; in Subsection B, after "required in", deleted "items 7, 8, 9, 14 and 15 of the annual report as specified in" and added "the report provided for in"; and in Subsection C, after "fined", deleted "five dollars ($5.00)" and added "twenty-five dollars ($25.00)", and after "shall be", deleted "used to fund the costs of visitors, counsel and functional assessments utilized in conservatorship and guardianship proceedings pursuant to the Uniform Probate Code" and added "paid to the current school fund".

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, removed mandatory language regarding the form of the report required to be filed by the guardian of a protected person, and required guardians to comply with the requirements of any audit of an account, inventory, report or property of a protected person; in the catchline, added "audits"; in Subsection A, after "including", deleted "but not limited to", and after the second occurrence of "The report", deleted "shall" and added "may"; corrected the designation of the next three subsections as Subsections B through D; and added Subsection E.

Applicability. — Laws 2018, ch. 10, § 16 provided that the provisions of Laws 2018, ch. 10, §§ 1 through 14 apply to:

A. a proceeding for appointment of a guardian or conservator or for a protective arrangement instead of guardianship or conservatorship commenced on or after July 1, 2018; and

B. a guardianship, conservatorship or protective arrangement instead of guardianship or conservatorship in existence on June 30, 2018 unless the court finds application of a particular provision of this act would substantially interfere with the effective conduct of the proceeding or prejudice the rights of a party, in which case the particular provision of this act does not apply and the superseded law applies.

The 2009 amendment, effective June 19, 2009, in Subsection A, in the first sentence, after "incapacitated person shall file an", changed "annual" to "initial"; after "appointing court within", changed "thirty" to "ninety"; after "ninety days of", deleted "the anniversary date of"; added the second, fourth and sixth sentences; and deleted the former form of guardian's report and added a new form of guardian's 90-day, annual or final report; and in Subsection B, after "items 7, 8", deleted "and 11" and added "9, 14 and 15".

The 1993 amendment, effective July 1, 1993, inserted the second sentence in Subsection A; added current Subsection B; redesignated former Subsections B and C as Subsections C and D; added the second sentence in Subsection D; and made a minor stylistic change in Subsection C.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 39 Am. Jur. 2d Guardian and Ward §§ 162 to 165.

39 C.J.S. Guardian and Ward § 145.