To provide leadership for advancing the consistent, impartial, independent, and accessible administration of justice, the Judicial Council must be aware of the issues and concerns confronting the judiciary, as well as appropriate solutions and responses. The council carries out this mission primarily through the work of its advisory committees and task forces. The Judicial Council Trial Court Liaison Program, established in , improves the administration of justice in California by enhancing direct communications between trial courts and the Judicial Council and increasing transparency of Judicial Council policymaking and branch leadership within trial court leadership and judges.
Assignments to the superior courts of 58 counties are dispersed among the judicial officer members of the Judicial Council. In their liaison roles, they serve as a resource for the courts to transmit information, raise concerns, and have direct access to the council.
If you believe that this is the type of help the adult needs, contact your local county Public Guardian or Public Conservator. The probate court can appoint a conservator of the person, a conservator of the estate, or both, depending on the needs of the conservatee.
Being appointed conservator of the person does NOT automatically make that person the conservator of the estate. If someone wants to be conservator of both, the person and the estate, he or she must petition to be appointed as both.
If someone is a conservator of the person and later decides that he or she needs to be appointed as conservator of the estate, he or she can file a new petition for conservatorship and, this time, request to be appointed as conservator of the estate.
Decide where the conservatee will live. Read the Handbook for Conservators to learn more about conservatorships. In appointing a conservator, the court is guided by the best interests of the conservatee.
If the proposed conservatee has not or cannot nominate anyone, the law provides a list of preferences that the court generally follows when the court determines whether all these persons are qualified to serve as a conservator. If the person closest to the top of the list does not want to be conservator, he or she can nominate someone else.
In the end, regardless of this order of preference, the selection of the conservator is up to the judge, and the judge makes this decision by considering the best interests of the proposed conservatee. If you know someone who needs help and probably needs a conservator, but there is no suitable family friend or relative that can be the conservator, do some research to find a private professional fiduciary to act as conservator.
Professional fiduciaries charge fees, but the court must approve in advance all fees paid by the person to be helped. There may be fees charged, but they are usually less than the fees requested by a professional fiduciary. They have experienced personal conservators and property administrators who can serve as conservator. If there is another way, an alternative to the conservatorship, the court may not grant your petition.
Setting up a conservatorship is a long and complex process. Before asking the court to appoint a conservator, the person asking for the conservatorship should be sure this is an appropriate arrangement for the proposed conservatee.
If a judge grants the conservatorship The conservator must purchase a copy of the Handbook for Conservators from the court or download it at the link provided. He or she can then assume the powers authorized under the law. Also, the conservator of the person, conservator of the estate, and limited conservator of the estate must attend the training for conservators offered by the court. Each conservator will have the ongoing duty to report to the court for regular reviews and to meet with the court investigator.
The court investigator gives neutral information about the case to the judge. The investigator will call the proposed conservator and set up a visit with him or her and the proposed conservatee.
Sometimes, he or she will meet with both more than once. The investigator must also interview relatives of the proposed conservatee. Once a conservator is appointed, the court investigator stays involved. The investigator will review the case again in another 6 months and at the end of each month period after that.
If the investigator thinks the conservator is acting in the best interests of the conservatee and the court agrees, the court can reduce the scope of the reports the investigator must write and file in later reviews, but the investigator must make a personal visit and interview the conservatee and must prepare and file at least a short status report every year after the first year.
The court may order additional reviews as necessary or helpful to protect the conservatee. If the investigator thinks there may be a problem after one of these reviews, he or she may ask the judge to appoint a lawyer for the conservatee.
This may start the legal process to sanction or remove the conservator and either appoint someone else as successor conservator or end the conservatorship. The court investigator will explain these situations to the conservatee. A temporary conservator may also be appointed by the court to fill in temporarily in between permanent conservatorships, for example, if one conservator is removed and a new one has not yet been appointed.
Temporary conservatorships have a specific end date. A temporary conservator is usually appointed for a fixed time period, usually 30 to 60 days. These conservatorships can be of the person, of the estate, or both. The main role of the temporary conservator is to ensure the temporary care, protection, and support of the conservatee. To ask for the appointment of a temporary conservator, the request must be made as part of a general conservatorship court case.
A conservatorship is usually a permanent arrangement. But, in certain cases, a conservatorship may be ended or the conservator may be changed. When a conservator is removed or resigns, or the conservatorship ends, the conservator will be released from his or her duties, but only after he or she wraps things up and provides the court the needed information or documents to either transfer the case to a new conservator or end the conservatorship.
For conservatorships of the estate, the conservator will have to turn in a final accounting. In California, people with developmental disabilities have a right to services they need to live independent, productive, normal lives. The state must provide services for each person with a developmental disability at each stage of his or her life, regardless of age or the degree of the disability.
These state services are provided through the regional centers, which are nonprofit corporations that have contracts with the California Department of Developmental Services to serve people with developmental disabilities. The services provided through Regional Centers are available to persons with developmentally disabilities whether they are under a general conservatorship, a limited conservatorship, or no conservatorship at all. Find a directory of regional centers in California.
Get more information on regional centers and the California Department of Developmental Services. Limited conservatorships are for adults with developmental disabilities. Developmental disability refers to a severe and chronic disability due to a mental or physical impairment that started before age Limited conservatorships are set up to assist developmentally disabled adults who are unable to provide for all their personal or financial needs.
As with general conservatorships, there are two kinds of limited conservatorships:. But you need a conservatorship of the estate if the developmentally disabled adult has other assets, such as an inheritance or a settlement from a lawsuit that is not in a special needs trust. But, keep in mind that a limited conservatorship can be established at any time after the person with the developmentally disability has reached age The Superior Court Probate Department will supervise the limited conservator.
The investigator will also visit the conservatee. The limited conservatee keeps all other legal and civil rights. All of your actions as conservator are subject to review by the court. An attorney is best qualified to advise you about these matters.
You should clearly understand the information on this form. You will find additional information in the Judicial Council Handbook for Conservators, which you are required by law to possess. All conservatees have the right to be treated with understanding and respect, the right to have their wishes considered, and the right to be well cared for by you.
A conservatee generally keeps the right to 1 control his or her own salary, 2 make or change a will, 3 marry, 4 receive personal mail, 5 be represented by a lawyer, 6 ask a judge to change conservators, 7 ask a judge to end the conservatorship, 8 vote, unless a judge decides the conservatee is not capable of exercising this right, 9 control personal spending money, if a judge has authorized an allowance, and 10 make his or her own medical decisions, unless a judge has taken away that right and given it to you.
Ask your attorney what rights the conservatee does not have and consult your attorney when you are in doubt. You must not move the conservatee from the state or place the conservatee involuntarily in a mental health treatment facility without permission of the court. You must notify the court of each change of the conservatee's address and your address.
If you are authorized to place the conservatee in a secure facility because of dementia, you must be sure that the placement is appropriate, meets all special needs, and is the least restrictive. You may not, however, give or withhold consent for medical treatment over the conservatee's objection unless the court has given you exclusive authority to consent because the conservatee has lost the ability to make sound medical choices.
If you have the authority to approve the use of psychotropic medications to treat dementia and the behaviors associated with it, you should be sure that other, less intrusive treatment options are explored first. Purchases you make for the conservatee must be approved by the conservator of the estate or you may not be reimbursed. If you have legal questions, check with your attorney, not the court staff.
Other questions may be answered better and less expensively by calling on local community resources. To find these resources, see the Handbook for Conservators and the local supplement distributed by the court.
Note: The assets and finances of the conservatee are known as "the estate. Prudent investments You must manage the estate assets with the care of a prudent person dealing with someone else's property. This means you must be cautious and you may not make any speculative investments.
Keep estate assets separate from anyone else's You must keep the money and property in this estate separate from anyone else's, including your own. When you open a bank account for the estate, the account name must indicate that it is a conservatorship account and not your personal account. Never deposit estate funds in your personal account or otherwise mix them with your or anyone else's property, even for brief periods.
Securities in the estate must be held in a name that shows they are estate property and not your personal property.
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