My parents are in assisted living. Once their caregivers discovered that they own substantial assets, they petitioned for appointment of guardianship. What should I do?

Get a living trust. You as trustee and trustor and your parents as sole beneficiaries til they die. A living trust feeds the guardianship but at your discretion to protect your parents. A lawyer can draw this up. Your mom and dad need to move their money over to you to fund the trust. However, you must understand that this type of trust is written up only for your parents to benefit from the money in there. If you decide to go shopping or buy yourself dinner, you'd be in BIG trouble. A revocable living trust in your name with your parent as beneficiary ensures they can't try to get mom and dad...because they money will be in your name but legally bound to be spent only on them...

If your parents are both living at an Assisted Living Facility and are not covered by Long Term Care Insurance, then the facility management must consider financial risk. Petitioning for Guardianship under these circumstances is both reasonable and fair to all concerned. Since you have been made aware of the Petition you have to opportunity to dispute it and the family can be represented by legal counsel. If your parents are capable of handling their own financial affairs, then they can designate a family member as their Power of Attorney who can ensure the ALF fees will be paid in accordance with the terms of your parents agreement. However, if your parents are not able to handle their own financial affairs and do not have the proper legal framework in place such as a Will and POA, then you must get legal representation ASAP. You need someone with experience in both elder law and estate planning.

yikes. Get involved quickly. I've only been through my mother's conservatorship investigation and hearing (to protect her from sister financial abuse). All beneficiaries and close relatives would be notified, and you and whomever else show up at the hearings, should they get that far. But there were so many interviews and investigations in my Mom's case, I can't imagine it really getting very far.

If I were you, I'd report this facility and those involved in this scam to your county's Adult Protective Agency, which ironically is the agency in charge of suing for conservatorship on behalf of at risk adults. Of course, you do not know the whole story, but this place (or probably some unscrupulous employees within the facility) could be using their access to senior to get information and win them over, perhaps badmouthing the seniors grown children. I smell a scam.
I read of this sort of thing happening at with elderly vets who obviously had no children around in their old age. Scammers would sue for conservatorship, and do things like put the old guy's house up for sale at a high price. Gee, no offers. Drop the price and it's scooped up by an accomplice. This stuff got really out of control in Los Angeles I read.

Good luck. Get in there and stop this nonsense.

Oh, if your parents do not have a lawyer, they will be appointed one by the judge at an initial hearing. It could be the lawyer might be in cahoots with the person who is suing, so obviously the lawyer would find nothing to object to. You might want to sue for conservatorship yourself, though I believe you have to put up such a huge cash bond, it might be impossible for you to pull off.

For pete's sakes, what do your parents have to say about this? are they still capable of handling their own affairs?