Mulling Over Becoming Guardian Of My Autistic Brother Since Our Father Passed Away

I am 34 years old and my brother is 39. He was diagnosed with Asperger’s and OCD, has quite a few difficulties with daily living, and is, quite frankly, a deeply troubled person.

Our father passed away on Memorial Day. He was the legal guardian and the in-home full-time caretaker of my brother as a retiree. I've taken over being my brother's full-time caretaker until we can get to a more permanent solution.

My brother has a slightly checkered past. There have been a couple instances where he sent threats to local schools (but never did anything) and did a little bit of time in jail along with other legal repercussions. He's been known to get caught up on the wrong end of online scams. He's run away out of the house a few times and police have had to find him and bring him back. He has some pretty wild mood swings sometimes and has anger episodes/meltdowns that have resulted in breaking drywall, hitting himself in the head, and other things. He's a lot to deal with, and I think the only option for his placement is for him to go into an adult foster care home.

While talking with our family law attorney relating to our father's passing, the attorney brought the issue of guardianship up. He asked if I would want to be his guardian and that, if not, that he has another attorney contact that he trusts that could take him on as a guardian in lieu of myself. He advised we generally want to avoid a public appointed guardianship.

For a couple reasons, I feel very reluctant to take on the responsibility of becoming his guardian, quite frankly. I'm a little scared of liability coming back to me from his actions, from someone getting the idea that I didn't place him in a good home, that kind of thing. I also am thinking about moving out-of-state and I think that might make managing my brother's circumstances awkward.

On the other hand, having somebody I don't really know become his guardian could have its own set of problems. My brother has a special needs trust in his name with a decent amount of money in it, could the new guy steal my brother's money? Will my brother and I have any options or recourse if my brother's needs are neglected?

Would someone be able to help me understand the pros/cons of becoming someone's guardian in Michigan, what the liability if any there would be for me, etc?