Family Law

Oakland Family Law Attorney explains the conservatorship process

By Scott Sagaria

Oakland Family Law Attorney explains the conservatorship process.

If someone close to you is no longer able to care for themselves, a probate lawyer can help you set up a conservatorship, also known as an adult guardianship, to make sure that your loved one is cared for and their property is looked after in a professional and competent manner.

Ideally, a person will have already appointed someone to care for their well-being and their estate plan, in the event that they do become incapacitated. If not, however, a judge can appoint a conservator for them. A person or an organization can be appointed to the role of conservator.

There are three types of Conservatorships:

• Conservator of a person ? which includes deciding where the conservatee will live, arranging for care, and taking care of a conservatee's food, clothing, transportation, exercise, and housekeeping.
• Conservator of an estate ? which includes overseeing the conservatee?s financial arrangements including payment of bills, filing taxes, investing funds and making regular reports to the court.
• Conservator of the person and the estate ? includes all of the aforementioned items.
  

Conservators can be named for developmentally disabled individuals as well as individuals who have suffered a serious medical issue that has left them unable to care for themselves. If your estate plan does not have provisions for a conservator, you may want to talk with your attorney. Otherwise, the court will appoint someone who may not be the person you want taking care of your affairs.

Here at Sagaria Law, we offer a full range of family law and legal services including divorce, paternity, adoption, child custody and visitation matters, child support, spousal support, alimony, juvenile dependency, domestic violence, division of property, grandparent visitation and custody, etc. We have seven Northern California locations including San Jose, San Francisco, Redwood City, Fremont, Salinas, Roseville and Sacramento. We offer a free thirty minute consultation, either in person at any of our offices, or over the phone. Call our offices today and we can connect you with an attorney immediately or we can schedule your free consultation with one of our family law attorneys : (408) 279-2288 or (800) 941-6730 or visit www.sagarialaw.com.

Full post as published by California Family Law Blog on September 04, 2009 (boomark / email).