Siblings, Family Systems Theory, Guardianship, and Restoring the Triad

Special needs estate planning introduces additional complexity, including the need to plan for ongoing caregiving after members of the parents’ generation have passed. This caregiving role is often left to siblings. (Brandy, Burke, Landon, Oertle, 2018). The sibling relationship has not been well-studied in this context, and the relationship dynamic has become more complex as families have changed in recent years (Sanner & Jensen, 2021). The overall goal of the paper is to discuss alternatives for structuring caretaking (e.g., conservatorship, guardianship, supported decision-making) that may restore the triad relationship, i.e., the strongest relationship identified in Family Systems Theory through which stress or friction may be resolved (Gale & Muruthi, 2017), and how to have these conversations with clients as they make guardianship plans.