Estate Planning

More on Conservatorships.

By Jennifer Sawday

A conservatorship is often a poor substitute for estate planning. With a proper estate plan in place including powers of attorneys, assets funded into a trust and so on -- the hassles of a court oversight for a conservatorship can largely be avoided in most circumstances.  Moreover, the courts and the legislature are enacting more stringent requirements for conservatorships in general.

Here is a quick run down of some of the new requirements:

CARE PLANS
For conservatorships established as of July 2007, a Care Plan must be filed at least within 60 days of issuance of the Letters of Conservatorship. This Care Plan must be updated annually thereafter from the date it was first filed. Note that for conservatorships established before July 2007, a Care Plan may not be required unless specifically ordered by the court. INVENTORY
For every conservatorship, the court requires an inventory of the conservatorship assets be filed with the court within a specified number of days from the establishment of the conservatorship.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS
For every conservatorship, the court requires that the conservator notify the court immediately if they have moved.

ACCOUNTINGS
One of the most important aspects of the court oversight of all conservatorships is the accounting requirements. Each conservator is required to provide to the court an accounting of the conservatorship estate for approval. This includes tracking all financial and medical expenses borne by the conservatorship estate for care of the conservatee. It includes preparing an accounting in the required court format and having bank statements and other documentation available for the court's review.

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Estate Planning, Probate and Trusts involve complex areas of law. Individual circumstances must be considered before any advice can be given.  The general information above is not to be construed as legal advice, which can only be given after consideration of the unique facts of each matter. Please seek the advice or counsel of your attorney, financial advisor or CPA as it may be appropriate.

Full post as published by Estate Planning Practice Blog on February 14, 2008 (boomark / email).