General Guardians

When an action is brought by a general guardian appointed and bonded by a court of competent jurisdiction, the requirements of this rule may be modified as deemed desirable by the court because of bonding or other action taken by the appointing court, except that there must be compliance with the settlement approval requirements of Minnesota Statutes, section 540.08, or amendments thereof. Cross Reference: Minn. R. Civ. P. 17. Advisory Committee Comments - 2000 Amendment This rule is derived from Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 540.08 and Rule 3 of the Code of Rules for the District Courts. The Task Force considered it a thoughtful recommendation that a minor's social security number be required to be included on all minor settlement petitions. Such a requirement would make it easier to locate a minor at the time of reaching majority. The Task Force ultimately concluded, however, the privacy interests dictate that the inclusion of this number should not be mandatory. The information may nonetheless be required by the financial institution with which the funds are deposited, and many lawyers will routinely include it in petitions in order to facilitate locating the minor should the need arise. The 1994 amendment of Rule 145.02(c) allows the filing of medical records in lieu of a full report of each health care provider where those records provide the information necessary to evaluate the settlement. This may be especially appropriate where the injuries are not severe, or where the cost of obtaining reports would represent a substantial portion of the settlement proceeds. The court can, in any case, require any further information or reports deemed necessary to permit the court to discharge its duty to evaluate the overall fairness of the settlement to the minor. Rule 145.02(d) is new. It is designed to advise the court of factors to take into consideration when approving or disapproving a settlement on behalf of the minor or incompetent person. Rule 145.02(e) is added in 1992 to provide the court in the petition the information necessary for the court to make the determination required by Rule 145.06(a). Although the parties are the obvious source of the cost information necessary to make the cost determination, the rule explicitly requires the petition to include this information. This information must be disclosed by the parties, and not only the party filing the petition, as often the tortfeasor will have the only accurate information on this subject.