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When you file papers to start a guardianship or conservatorship case, you pay a filing fee. There are also fees for an investigation and certified copies of court forms. There may be other fees later in your case.

You can ask the court for a “fee waiver” so you do not pay these fees. When you ask for the fee waiver, the court will look at

Before your hearing, the court will appoint someone (an investigator) to do an investigation. The investigator might be a court employee or someone from Child Protective Services or Social Services (typically, a social worker).

Find a specific page or step-by-step instructions within our Guardianship pages.

This guide can help you:

• Understand what a guardian does
• Become a probate guardian
• Respond (object) if someone started a court case to become your child's guardian
• End a guardianship 
• Ask for visitation rights, as a parent, in a guardianship 

Before your hearing to end the guardianship, the court may appoint an investigator to do an investigation. The investigator might be a court employee or someone from Child Protective Services or Social Services (typically, a social worker). Courts do not always have an investigation to end a guardianship.