Mathias, J.
Leora McGee (“Wife”) appeals the Lake Superior Court’s grant of the petition for dissolution of marriage filed by the co-guardians of Robert McGee (“Husband”) on Husband’s behalf. Wife presents several issues on appeal, but we address a single dispositive issue, namely, whether the trial court erred in granting the petition where Indiana statute provides no authorization for a guardian to file a petition for dissolution on behalf of his or her ward.
We reverse.
…
While the statutes governing dissolution and guardianship in Indiana have evolved since 1951, when Quear was decided, it is still the case today that neither the current Indiana statutes governing dissolution of marriage nor those governing the guardianship of incapacitated persons provide a means for a guardian to file a petition for dissolution of marriage on behalf of his or her ward. Dissolution of marriage actions in Indiana are governed by Indiana Code Title 31, Article 15, which provides that a party who seeks to initiate a dissolution of marriage proceeding must file a verified petition for dissolution. Ind. Code § 31-15-2-5. Indiana Code section 29-3-8-4 provides that the guardian of an incapacitated person may take action and make decisions for the benefit of the incapacitated person. For example, the guardian may “invest and reinvest the property of the protected person,” may exercise control over the incapacitated person’s business or income, and, if reasonable, may “delegate to the protected person certain responsibilities for decisions affecting the protected person’s business affairs and well-being.” Neither statute, however, provides the guardian with the right to file a petition for dissolution on behalf of the incapacitated person. In a world full of subsequent marriages and available pre-nuptial agreements, we will not read into a statute such a sweeping and potentially overreaching authority, authority that is not the clearly expressed intent of the General Assembly.
Therefore, since Indiana statute does not provide guardians with the authority to petition for dissolution of marriage on the ward’s behalf, the trial court’s grant of the petition for dissolution Hilton and Kalajian filed on Husband’s behalf was improper.
Conclusion
For all of these reasons, we conclude that the trial court erred by granting the petition for dissolution filed by co-guardians Hilton and Kalajian on behalf of their ward, Husband.
Reversed.
NAJAM, J., and BROWN, J., concur.