Unfortunately, there are instances in which people lose the ability to make their own informed decisions. This often happens due to old age or a long-standing illness, but it can also occur because of an accident or other emergency. What if this happens to someone you love, but you don’t have decision-making powers? You may well have to find out how to get emergency conservatorship powers.

This post will show you what an emergency conservatorship is in California and how to obtain one.

What Is a Conservatorship in California?

Before jumping into the concept of an emergency conservatorship, it’s important to understand what a conservatorship is. A conservatorship is a court ordered legal arrangement in which a conservator manages another person’s personal or financial affairs. The most basic type of conservatorship is probate conservatorship.

The conservator can be a person or company with the legal authority to manage the conservatee’s affairs. They might partake in an educational opportunity, such as a class, for assistance in delivering regular reports on the conservatee’s financial or medical condition to the court.

Types of Conservatorships

There are four varieties of conservatorships. They vary based on the duration of authority and the types of decisions the conservator is allowed to make. 

This is important even for emergency conservatorship, which must be tied to an application for a more permanent arrangement.

Areas of Conservatorship in California

First, there are the types of decisions the conservator makes. This can take the form of a conservatorship of the person or conservatorship of the estate.

Conservator of the person: This is all about the conservator managing the conservatee’s personal affairs and care. It can include arranging for housing and food, scheduling medical and psychological services, making medical decisions, changing a living situation, and so on.

Conservator of the estate: This person manages a conservatee’s financial decisions, which can include paying bills and managing financial investments. A conservator of the estate might handle business affairs and take care of income from social security, retirement, or medical leave, for example.

There are also other varieties of conservatorships, such as the limited conservatorship and the LPS conservatorship (Lanterman-Petris Short conservatorship). You can learn about these on the A People’s Choice blog.

Duration of Conservatorship in California

First, let’s talk about permanent conservatorships. These arrangements typically work well for impaired elderly people, and they are also used for younger people who need help due to accidents, addictions, illnesses, or disabilities.

Permanent or long-term conservatorships may terminate under specific circumstances, such as the resignation or death of the conservator.

Emergency Conservatorship

The court takes 60 days or more to prepare for a permanent conservatorship hearing. However, through an additional emergency petition filed concurrently with your petition, you can request that the court appoint a temporary conservator (also known as an emergency conservator) in  the interim.

After filing an emergency conservatorship petition, the court will set a hearing on a much shorter time-frame, usually within five to 10 days. An emergency conservatorship in California lasts between 30 and 60 days.

Emergency conservatorships can also be put in place while a petition for appointment, renewal or reappointment of conservatorship is being processed. Keep in mind that you can’t request an emergency conservatorship (also known as a temporary conservatorship) without a larger conservatorship application.

Limitations on Emergency Conservators in California

Due to the shorter duration of an emergency conservatorship, the power of the short-term conservator over a conservatee isn’t as overarching as those involved in a more permanent conservatorship. This certainly isn’t a case of unlimited conservator power. For example:

  • Emergency conservators of the person can’t make certain long-term medical treatment decisions.
  • Although exceptions may exist, generally speaking an emergency conservator of the estate cannot market or rent any of the prospective conservatee’s estate and real property.

The court usually considers all types of conservatorship situations on a case-by-case basis. They might allow a temporary appointment, even one of limited conservator power, to make some extra decisions. For example, a temporary conservator may be able to sell a conservator’s property if the conservatee needs to pay for an important treatment program.

Want to find out more about these types of situations and the limitations placed on emergency conservators? Check out the California Handbook for Conservators.

How to Get an Emergency Conservatorship in California

The following steps will guide you through the process for an emergency conservatorship.

1. Submit a Petition for Appointment of Emergency Conservator

First, you need to petition for conservatorship to start the conservatorship proceedings. You can do this by applying for the appointment of a conservator.

Keep in mind that a petition for an emergency conservator has to be made in tandem with a basic conservatorship request for an actual conservator. Therefore, you’ll be asking for both at the same time.

Basically, anyone can file for a conservatorship, including:

  • The individuals closest to the conservatee
  • The emergency conservatee
  • The recommended conservator
  • A public guardian or public conservator
  • The recommended conservatee’s relatives or a suitable family friend
  • Anyone else with interest in the case

Your application for an emergency conservatorship must include the following:

  • Information on the proposed conservatee, their family members, and the potential conservator
  • The connection between the suggested conservator and the conservatee
  • Why the conservatorship issue has arisen (why the conservatee needs help) and why they cannot wait on a long-term conservatorship

There are other documents related to your initial petition as well. A People’s Choice can assist you with filing all of the suitable documents. As soon as you’ve prepared the paperwork, you pay the filing charges and the court examination cost at the time of declaration.

2. Informing All Parties

As a petitioner, you need to find a third party to serve papers to certain people for this step of the conservatorship process. Since you need to have an emergency conservator quickly, you won’t have a 30-day duration or 14-day period to complete this. You need to handle this reasonable notice requirement quickly.

You should have your server notify the ill or disabled person and other interested parties (relatives, etc.) with a copy of the application and a citation on the court hearing. Your server then must provide proof to the court that this step has been completed.

3. The Court Conservatorship Investigation

This part of the emergency conservatorship action process is meant to prevent the approval of unneeded conservatorships. The court investigator will check out the potential conservatee as part of the emergency conservatorship procedure to see if your conservatee’s situation meets the lawful standards for a conservatorship.

The conservatorship investigator may consider the conservatee’s state, properties, medical scenario, and treatment record. This is a shortened version of what takes place throughout the basic conservatorship procedure.

4. Court Hearing

During a court hearing, the conservatorship court decides whether or not your recommended conservatee is qualified for short-term conservatorship. The incapacitated person should attend this unless the court waives this need. Infirm or elderly individuals who cannot participate are likewise excluded. For example, if the conservatee needs round-the-clock care, they won’t be required to attend.

If the court declares your suggested conservatee eligible after considering the emergency appointment, a temporary letter of conservatorship is issued. This includes the order assigning an emergency conservator.

Both the proposed conservatee and the emergency specialist conservator must sign and submit the papers to the court to make the conditions for appointment official. After that, the temporary conservatorship appointment is complete, and the conservator can start fulfilling their duties.

How Much Does an Emergency Conservatorship Cost?

Emergency conservatorship expenses aren’t so different from those of a permanent conservatorship, as they’re wrapped up in the same process. The fees include a filing fee for submitting a petition, a court investigation, and (in many cases) attorney costs.

Currently the court filing fee is $435 for a conservatorship in California for an adult conservatee. The court investigation fee varies depending on the court and also the conservatee’s assets. Other charges include the conservator’s cost and the court-appointed lawyer’s costs.

If you cannot afford the charges, there is a fee waiver request to file. If the conservatorship court accepts, you will be given specifics on how to proceed.

Do You Need a Conservatorship Attorney for an Emergency Conservatorship?

You most likely do not need a conservatorship attorney for a successful emergency conservatorship application. The exemption to this is if the conservatee, a relative, or a concerned family friend files a dispute with the emergency conservator petition. In this situation, although not always necessary, either or both parties may hire an attorney for representation in the contested proceedings (or, at the very least, a family law facilitator).

Barring a dispute, the hardest part of an emergency conservatorship application is generally the documentation. Legal document preparation can give a lot of people a difficult time. Luckily, A People’s Choice can assist you with this.

How to Get an Emergency Conservatorship with A People’s Choice

Unlike a long-term conservatorship, an emergency conservatorship is a rushed process to urgently assist someone in need. You have little time to take care of all the legal documents or paperwork when preparing this petition.

Let A People’s Choice help you. We have a budget-friendly and trusted team that can help with all your legal documents. We cannot give legal advice; however, we can aid you with a variety of legal documents, including emergency conservatorships, arrangements for a limited conservator, and more. Call us today to get started!