BAILEY, J.
D.R. raises one issue for our review, which we restate as whether the trial court abused its discretion when it designated Carey as guardian of J.Y.’s person although Carey, a domestic nonprofit corporation, cannot serve as a domiciliary personal representative of a deceased person’s estate under Indiana law.
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The guardianship statutes define “guardian” as “a person who is a fiduciary and is appointed by a court to be a guardian or conservator responsible as the court may direct for the person or the property of an incapacitated person or minor.” I.C. § 29-3-1-6 (emphasis added). The statutes define “person” to include not only natural persons (as “individuals”) but also numerous other legal entities, including nonprofit corporations. Ind. Code § 29-3-1-12.
The crux of the matter before us is whether a nonprofit corporation may constitute a qualified person under section 29-3-5-4. The guardianship statutes do not define “qualified” as it appears in section 29-3-5-4, or “fiduciary” as it appears in section 29-3-1-6. While the guardianship statutes incorporate many of the procedural and substantive provisions of the Indiana Probate Code, Ind. Code 29-1-1 et seq., among the provisions not specifically adopted under the guardianship statutes are the Probate Code’s definitions in section 29-1-1-3, including the Probate Code’s definition of “fiduciary” at section 29-1-1-3(10) and “person” at section 29-1-1-3(20). I.C. § 29-3-2-6(b) (stating in relevant part “IC 29-1-1-6 through IC 29-1-1-7 … apply to guardianships under this article”). Nowhere is “qualified” defined in either body of law, except to require that guardians execute and file bonds unless a court permits otherwise, and to restrict from guardianship appointment persons who have been convicted of committing certain sexual offenses. I.C. § 29-3-7-7 (Indiana Code 29-3-7 is titled “Qualification and Bonding Requirements for Guardians”).
The issue before us today concerns the qualification of a non-profit such as Carey, which is not a corporate fiduciary, to serve as a guardian under Indiana law. Our research of Indiana law reveals no case dealing squarely with the question D.R. presents, whether a nonprofit corporation not also authorized as a corporate fiduciary may qualify as a personal guardian. Absent direct statutory guidance or other applicable case law on the key matter before us, we are left with a matter of statutory construction.
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We find two considerations dispositive: 1) the purpose and conduct of a guardian when compared to the purpose and conduct of the personal representative in a probate proceeding; and 2) the Legislature’s restrictions on who may serve as a guardian versus its restrictions on who may serve as a personal representative.
As to the purpose of a guardian when compared to the purpose of a personal representative in probate, we note that the primary purpose of probate is to close the deceased individual’s estate “as promptly as possible.” I.C. § 29-1-16-2. The personal representative of the estate of a deceased is to preserve the assets of the estate in order to distribute the assets of the estate completely and efficiently for the benefit of creditors and the deceased’s heirs and devisees. Inlow v. Henderson, Daily, Withrow & DeVoe, 787 N.E.2d 385, 394-95 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003), trans. denied. Trustworthiness with the assets of others and to carry out their expressed wishes are thus of paramount importance to the role of a personal representative. Court supervision of the personal representative begins with the opening of an estate, and ends with a final accounting. Many estates go largely unsupervised by a court, see I.C. 29-1-7.5-1 et seq. (authorizing unsupervised administration of probate), further highlighting the importance of trustworthiness in relation to the role of personal representative when dealing with others’ property.
Guardians, however, may serve a number of purposes. A particular guardian’s role in a guardianship may be purely financial in nature, purely personal in nature, or a combination of the two. I.C. § 29-3-8-1 (setting forth the responsibilities of a guardian subject to the limits expressed in the court order appointing the guardian); I.C. § 29-3-8-8(a)(3) (affording courts discretion in the creation of limited guardianships). Guardians who protect an individual’s estate are required to submit an at-least biennial accounting of their use of the individual’s assets, making court supervision of the guardian more regular. I.C. § 29-3-9-6(a)-(b) (requiring accounting on an at least biennial basis for most guardians and accounting within thirty days of the termination of a temporary guardianship). This differs from the role of the personal representative in probate, whose conduct of the estate of a deceased individual is permanent and final.
Because the roles and level of supervision differ, it is logical that different sets of definitions and requirements were enacted by our Legislature to govern who may fill each role. We note again that the guardianship statutes expressly exclude the Probate Code’s definition of person, setting forth a more detailed and seemingly comprehensive list that expressly includes nonprofit corporations without otherwise disqualifying such corporations in other substantive provisions. I.C. § 29-3-1-12.
More crucial to our analysis is the Legislature’s decision to leave “qualified” undefined in the phrase “qualified person.” Only two criteria are prescribed by statute for qualification as a guardian. One is that a guardian must post a bond unless a court decides such is unnecessary. I.C. § 29-3-7-1. The other is that certain sex offenders cannot serve as guardians. I.C. § 29-3-7-7. It is to the second qualification that we now turn.
In determining who may serve as a guardian, the Legislature has restrained a trial court’s discretion only through its definition of “person” and the statutory provision disqualifying as guardians individuals who have committed certain sex offenses. That is, only those individuals who have committed one or more offenses within a limited subset of the broad range of felonies are excluded as a matter of law from serving as a guardian. By contrast, any felon is precluded from service as a personal representative. I.C. § 29-1-10-1(b)(3).
This leads us to the conclusion that a nonprofit corporation not authorized as a corporate fiduciary is not precluded from serving as a guardian. In enacting the restriction against sex offenders as guardians, the Legislature necessarily took into account other statutory provisions that might affect the qualifications of guardians. If the Legislature had intended to apply the Probate Code’s limitations on who may serve as a personal representative to the definition of a “qualified person” as a guardian, it could have taken any number of courses of action: it could have duplicated the Probate Code’s limitations within the guardianship statutes, defined “qualified” with reference to the applicable Probate Code, or included the Probate Code’s definitions within the scope of the provisions the guardianship statutes specify are applicable to the conduct of guardianships.
Yet the Legislature did none of these. Instead, it expressly excluded only a subset of all felons—all of whom are restricted from service as a personal representative by separate provision in the Probate Code—from service as guardians. To read the “qualified person” of the guardianship as requiring the same qualifications as a personal representative would require us to construe as a nullity or treat as mere surplusage section 29-3-7-7’s restrictions upon sex offenders. This we will not do, as it risks treating provisions in the guardianship statutes to be of no effect by virtue of its reference to the Probate Code. Cf. Estate of Inlow, 735 N.E.2d 240, 251 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000).
We acknowledge the attractiveness of D.R.’s approach, which seeks to permit only organizations that are also corporate fiduciaries to act as guardians. Nevertheless, the Legislature entrusted the courts with discretion to determine who should serve as a guardian, and circumscribed this decision with fewer limitations than it has the appointment of a personal representative.
We hold that the requirements of a personal representative are not the same as the requirements for a guardian, and that as a result a nonprofit corporation not authorized as a corporate fiduciary in Indiana may serve as guardian where it could not serve as a personal representative. Because this is the only issue raised by D.R. before this court—D.R. does not argue that the court abused its discretion in any other way when it appointed Carey as guardian of J.Y.’s person—we conclude that the trial court was within its discretion to appoint Carey guardian of J.Y.’s person.
NAJAM, J., and DARDEN, J., concur.