In California, a conservatorship grants an adult the legal authority to make decisions on behalf of an elderly or disabled loved one who has been deemed incapable of making decisions for themselves because of mental or physical limitations.
If you are considering guardianship of a parent or someone else in your life, it’s essential to consult with an experienced conservatorship attorney. Our team of lawyers can help you navigate the process and protect your vulnerable loved one’s best interests. Contact us today for a free consultation.
We address these questions and more in the following guide to conservatorships. Contact our team at Keystone Law Group for more information.
A conservatorship is a court case in which a judge appoints a responsible person (called a “conservator”) to protect adults who cannot care for themselves (called “conservatees”). Anyone can start a conservatorship case.
In some states, a conservatorship is also known as a guardianship. Although in California, a guardianship refers to proceedings for minors.
Conservatorship cases exist on a wide spectrum. You may need a conservatorship attorney to help you obtain a conservatorship over a vulnerable adult or to help you oppose a conservatorship proceeding you feel is unwarranted. If you are an appointed conservator, you may need help navigating California’s complex conservatorship laws. Below are some of the kinds of conservatorship matters Keystone’s skilled team can handle.
Has someone you love suffered a stroke or developed dementia, causing them to be unable to communicate, make informed decisions, or manage their own finances or health care? Will they remember to take their medication? Will they show up to their doctor appointments? Will they pay their bills on time?
When it becomes apparent that your loved one can no longer care for their own health or finances, it is vital that you take the necessary steps to protect them. The best way to do this may be through a conservatorship, which is granted through your state’s probate court.
A conservatorship attorney can help you navigate the process of establishing a conservatorship and explore with you the different conservatorship options available.
Has someone come forward to oppose the conservatorship? Are there family disagreements about who should be a loved one’s conservator? Is someone challenging your right to act as an adult’s power of attorney or trustee through a conservatorship? How will the court decide whether a conservatorship is necessary and who should be appointed conservator?
Family disagreements are at the heart of many conservatorship disputes. A conservatorship lawyer can help resolve these kinds of matters and litigate on your behalf if an agreement cannot be reached.
Do you suspect your loved one’s conservator is stealing their money or property? Is the conservator failing to properly tend to the conservatee’s needs? Is the conservator keeping the conservatee isolated and away from their family and friends? All of these situations are red flags calling for the potential removal and replacement of the conservator.
Whether you are the loved one of the conservatee or the conservatee themselves, Keystone’s skilled team of attorneys can help you determine whether the conservator’s actions constitute misconduct. If they do, we can proceed with bringing a petition to remove and replace the conservator.
Now that you’ve been appointed conservator, what’s next? Can you move the conservatee into an assisted living facility and rent or sell their home? Is it necessary to seek permission from a judge for every decision you make on behalf of the conservatee? Is there a limit to the amount of compensation you can receive? Can you hire professional help to assist with your conservatorship duties?
As a conservator, you are responsible for the life of another. You must be clear about what your duties to the conservatee are and fulfill them to the best of your abilities. Otherwise, legal action can be taken against you. An adult guardianship attorney can serve as an excellent resource for conservators who need help.
Was a conservatorship established under false pretenses? Has the person for whom a conservatorship was established regained their mental capacity? In these situations, a conservatorship may no longer be needed.
Keystone can help the loved ones of conservatees or conservatees themselves terminate a conservatorship that had not been needed in the first place or is no longer needed. Our team can gather the facts of the case and effectively present them to the court, giving the conservatee the best chance at obtaining their desired outcome.
Keystone is proud to offer a variety of conservatorship services to all types of clients. Our conservatorship attorneys are well-versed in every aspect of the law, and they will work their hardest to obtain for you the outcome you want. Below, you can see some recent examples that demonstrate the types of conservatorship cases we handle on a regular basis.
When our client learned that her elderly mother with advanced Alzheimer’s disease was being kept in a home that she suspected of being a hotbed of COVID-19 cases, she reached out to Keystone to see if anything could be done to get her out.
Not only was the mother frequently in the presence of family members with visible symptoms of the virus, but her own caretaker also showed symptoms and tended to the mother without wearing the recommended protective equipment. As a result of this negligence, the client wanted to immediately move her mother out of her current residence and into her home.
Because the mother’s living situation posed a clear and immediate threat to her health and overall safety, our conservatorship attorneys were able to secure a temporary conservatorship for the client over her mother. The mother now resides safely inside the client’s home, has a licensed caretaker with the proper protective gear, and is in higher spirits and better health than before.
In this instance, a temporary conservatorship may have quite literally saved the mother’s life.
A client reached out to us upon learning that her brother was heavily sedated and unconscious after suffering a heart attack. He would likely need further medical procedures, possibly even a heart transplant, but he was not married, nor did he have any estate planning documents indicating who should make medical and financial decisions for him in the event of his incapacitation.
It was urgent for our client to gain temporary conservatorship over her brother to ensure he received the treatment he needed. Our conservatorship lawyers worked fast to have one approved within two days.
The temporary conservatorship enabled our client to make life-saving health care decisions on her brother’s behalf. She was also able to ensure he did not suffer major financial losses during his incapacitation by managing the rental properties he owned and making payments on his health and life insurance policies to prevent gaps in coverage.
Thankfully, the client’s brother fully recovered, eliminating the need for a permanent conservatorship.
Keystone’s team is extraordinarily well-versed in probate law, and every conservatorship attorney at our firm can navigate even the most complex cases with ease. We’re proud to serve the state of California, and we work hard to assist residents with conservatorship services and other probate matters. Learn more about our firm below.
Our attorneys practice exclusively in probate law. This singular focus enables us to be experts in our field to better serve you.
Our conservatorship lawyers can help obtain a conservatorship, contest a conservatorship, litigate conservatorship matters, and provide guidance to conservators. Significant accomplishments by members of our team include:
We are a California conservatorship practice. We regularly serve:
If your conservatorship matter is in California, but you do not see your city or county on the list above, we may still be able to offer you our conservatorship services.
In our Conservatorship FAQ section, you can find answers to many of the common questions we hear from clients. If you don’t see your question here, don’t hesitate to contact us to learn more about how we can assist you.
The total fees come down to whether a conservatorship is contested or uncontested.
Contested conservatorships can get costly and are usually charged at an attorney’s hourly rate. Uncontested conservatorships often cost significantly less. Depending on the case, you may be able to hire our conservatorship lawyers without paying any money up front.
A permanent conservatorship is generally reserved for individuals who have suffered a significant decline in their mental or physical capacities and are no longer able to take care of themselves or make informed decisions.
This type of conservatorship almost exclusively is granted for conditions that irreversibly impair mental function, such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
In many states, like California, there is a difference between a guardian and conservator.
The term “conservator” refers to a third party appointed by the court to manage the person and/or finances of another adult, known as the “conservatee.” The term “guardian” refers to an adult who is appointed by the court to manage the person and/or finances of a minor, known as the “ward.”
A financial conservator is called a conservator of the estate. This person handles all financial matters that come up for the conservatee, such as paying taxes, bills and so forth.
A physical conservator is called a conservator of the person. This individual makes health care decisions on behalf of the conservatee and ensures the conservatee’s basic needs, such as food, clothing and shelter, are met.
People with mental illnesses who pose a danger to themselves or others and must be involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility may need an LPS conservatorship.
Before the court appoints a conservator to manage a conservatee’s finances, the conservator usually must first obtain a conservatorship bond. A conservatorship bond is a kind of security deposit designed to safeguard conservatees’ assets in the event their conservator misuses them.
A conservator bank account pertains to financial conservatorships. It is a bank account containing the conservatee’s assets, which the appointed conservator must preserve and manage.
A conservator can hold a conservatorship sale with court confirmation to collect funds to pay for the conservatee’s personal, medical or other needs. Most states will not allow conservators to sell property without permission from the court.
It is important to keep in mind that conservators cannot sell a conservatee’s property for personal or financial gain. If they do, they risk legal retaliation.
As conservator, you will be compensated for the time you spend managing the conservatee’s affairs. How much a conservator gets paid depends on their credentials. Most non-professionals will earn between $25 and $75 per hour.
It is crucial for conservators to document their hours and take notes about what they did during those hours in case the court requests this information.
A conservator’s pay will usually come out of the conservatee’s finances, but many conservators, especially those who are family members or close friends of the conservatee, choose not to accept it.
Yes. Conservatee rights cannot be disregarded. Conservatorships are not set in stone, and it is possible to ask the court to modify or even terminate a conservatorship after one has been granted. You can hire a conservatorship attorney or have the court appoint one for you if you feel a conservatorship is unwarranted. You will have to prove that you are of sound state of mind and capable of making informed personal and financial decisions on your own.
Yes. You will need to file a petition with your state probate court. If, during the court proceeding, you provide ample evidence of the adult’s neurodegenerative condition, the judge may choose to grant you a probate conservatorship with dementia powers, which would give you special authority to authorize the use of psychotropic drugs to treat dementia and to place the conservatee in a locked facility designed for dementia patients.
Financial guardianships for elderly persons offer protection against fraud and undue influence. This type of legal arrangement gives you, or another trusted party appointed as conservator, the right to manage your loved one’s finances and ensure a third party is not abusing them financially.
While you can opt for a do-it-yourself conservatorship, we highly recommend hiring a conservatorship lawyer to help you navigate the probate process, which can be drawn-out and complicated.
Depending on the specifics of your situation, you may not be required to pay anything up front.
While every court is different, most courts take approximately five weeks to hear a conservatorship case after you have filed the initial petition.
If the proposed conservatee faces an immediate threat, the court can grant a temporary conservatorship to serve as a placeholder until it can hear the case for a general conservatorship.
The definition of conservatorship will vary from conservatee to conservatee since each conservatee will have different needs.
For example, a judge may determine that a limited conservatorship is appropriate for a functioning autistic adult, but that for an elderly parent with dementia, a general conservatorship – which gives the conservator the same level of legal authority that a parent has over their child – is more suitable. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to conservatorships; their character and duration are based on the nature of each person’s disability.
Below is a breakdown of the main types of conservatorships available.
“Probate Conservatorship” is an umbrella term for court proceedings in which someone petitions the court for legal authority to make decisions on behalf of an incapacitated adult. Probate conservatorships can be further designated as general, limited or temporary, depending on the specifics of the case.
LPS conservatorships are reserved for people suffering from serious mental health issues that make them a threat to themselves or others. Because a local government agency must initiate this type of conservatorship, you will need to reach out to your Public Conservator or Public Guardian.
To find a conservatorship attorney who can help with your situation, contact Keystone Law Group. Our probate firm has all the resources and know-how to get the job done. We look forward to working with you!
