N.J.S.A. 3B:12-25 sets forth a statutory priority for the
appointment of a guardian. It states that, when a person is adjudicated
incapacitated and a guardian is appointed,
Letters of guardianship shall be granted to the
spouse or domestic partner..., if the spouse is living with the incapacitated
person as man and wife or as a domestic partner... at the time the
incapacitation arose, or to the incapacitated person’s heirs, or
friends, or thereafter first consideration shall be given to the Office
of the Public Guardian for Elderly Adults in the case of adults within the
statutory mandate of the office, or if none of them will accept the
letters or it is proven to the court that no appointment from among them will
be in the best interest of the incapacitated person or the estate, then to any
other proper person as will accept the same....