Publication 502 (for 2018) states: You can include in medical expenses legal fees you paid that are necessary to authorize treatment for mental illness. However, you can't include in medical expenses fees for the management of a guardianship estate, fees for conducting the affairs of the person being treated, or other fees that aren't necessary for medical care.
This to me seems to say that the fees paid to an attorney to gain guardianship are deductible, if guardianship was necessary in order for the mentall ill individual to obtain treatment. Court costs also, I suppose. But that other fees for the ongoing management of guardianship are not deductible.
I have no legal or tax expertise, just reading what the IRS has written. I would like to hear what others have to say on this.
