My elderly mother lives in Nebraska and her doctor has certified that she is incompetent to make decisions for herself. All siblings live in other states. Can one of us be appointed guardian/conservator? If not, who would serve in that capacity and how is that person determined?
I've been executrix twice (TX) and probate court is also where guardianship &/or conservatorship (G/C) are done and spend more hours there than I ever thought. Here's my thoughts: the probate judge is God and really what happens is totally within his or her purview and they take their job pretty seriously. They fully expect someone to show up in their court and like right now if need be. There will be reporting to the court on where the elder's funds went and if there are all sorts of money going to something the judge doesn't recognize (as it's out of state), that can be a problem. Realistically & usually you need a local G/C - even if your state allows for an out of state G/C. The court will require regular reporting and really someone local needs to do this. Most of the time, family will retain G/C but work with a local law firm to get all mailings and court notices so that judge is happy, the state is happy and everybody is on the same page.
Also the state may have it where someone who is a legal resident of the state to be the executor or the out of state executor have a local lawyer for mailings - so you might as well get an attorney now to work with you all for the long term.