Veterans Affairs attorneys can act for veterans without family members to serve as legal guardians
A new agreement enables the US government to appoint Veterans Affairs attorneys as special assistant US attorneys to act in state courts on behalf of veterans without family members to serve as their legal guardians, reported the Wall Street Journal.
These attorneys will be granted “legal authority to initiate and participate in state court guardianship or conservatorship proceedings in cases where a legal decision maker is required,” the justice department said in a statement published by WSJ. The initiative focuses on homeless veterans.
VA estimated that about 700 veterans were ensnared in the system and required guardianship. They may be subject to involuntary or institutional mental health and drug addiction care.
The organization indicated in a news release, a snippet of which was published by WSJ, that the initiative facilitates the authorization of “appropriate transitions of care from VA hospitalization to other forms of VA care or care in the community.” On July 24, 2025, US president Donald Trump had issued an executive order pushing for an increase in hospitalizations – including involuntary hospitalizations – to limit homelessness and “vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks.”
The order authorized the attorney-general to “seek, in appropriate cases, the reversal of Federal or State judicial precedents and the termination of consent decrees that impede the United States’ policy of encouraging civil commitment of individuals with mental illness who pose risks to themselves or the public or are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves in appropriate facilities for appropriate periods of time.”
VA said the initiative was not linked to the order, which was slammed by critics of involuntary civil-commitment programs because it breached civil liberties and stigmatized mental illness. The agreement was announced on March 11.
Conservatorships are generally set for those unable to manage their own affairs, such as elderly people or young people facing substance abuse or mental health problems. Conservators are usually close family members.
In 2021, pop star Britney Spears won a court battle to be released from a conservatorship arrangement with her father.
