Spendthrift

Some states let a family ask the court to declare a person a spendthrift. Vermont law, quoted in Black's, defined one as a person who by drinking, gaming, idleness or debauchery wasted his estate so as to leave his family in want or make the town pay for their support.

Once declared, the spendthrift lost the right to make binding contracts and a court-supervised guardian took charge of his property. Massachusetts and Oregon are among the states that used such laws in the 1800s and 1900s.