A conservatorship is granted in a court proceeding where a superior court judge appoints a responsible person (a conservator) to care for another adult (a conservatee) who cannot care for themselves or their finances.

After the filing of a petition for limited conservatorship, a proposed limited conservatee is assessed at a regional center to determine if the proposed conservatee should be conserved. The regional center submits a written report of its findings and recommendations in regard to the conservatorship to the court. While the regional center report is not binding, it provides the court with guidance about the appropriateness of the conservatorship.

In addition, the court appoints an attorney and an investigator to represent the proposed conservatee, as a means to ensure the conservatorship is in an appropriate manner.

Usually, the entire process of obtaining a conservatorship takes about 3 months to sometimes 8 months after filing the petition (varies significantly depending upon the county in which the court is located and local practices/policies). A temporary conservatorship can be obtained for emergency purposes if time is of the essence and there truly is an emergency (e.g.: immediate need for surgery).

Our experienced Conservator Attorneys are familiar with IEPs, psychoeducational assessments, regional center assessments, and other clinical documents that are often critical for petitioning the court to grant a conservatorship.

Conservatorship Litigation
We are also experienced with contested conservatorship matters requiring a trial (evidentiary hearing).
The following are examples of circumstances requiring judicial interventions

• Disputes regarding who should serve as the conservator
• Proposed conservatee objecting to the establishment of a conservatorship
• Removal of an existing conservatory
• Disputes regarding Visitation orders
• Conservator not considering the reasonable wishes of the conservatee
• Modifying existing conservatorship powers
• Appointment of a successor conservator
• Co-conservators unable to make joint decisions

In contrast to obtaining a conservatorships for elderly individuals, where disputes often involve the children and siblings of the conservatee, in special needs conservatorships, the disputes usually involve divorced parents of the disabled adult child.

Contested conservatorship matters can be very costly as well as emotionally draining. If you decide to litigate, you must have the financial means to fund the litigation. You should choose an attorney that will maintain communication with you. Accordingly, we highly recommend that you first request an in-office consultation before deciding to litigate; even if you have to pay for the consultation (we charge a flat price for an in-office litigation consultation).

Attorney Fees
Most of our cases are not contested (which means that no one objects to the establishment of the conservatorship or to the proposed conservator). For a non-contested conservatorship, we generally charge a flat attorney fee (such that your costs are reasonably predictable).

Non-attorney expenses such as court-required filing fees are paid separately by the client (which can vary from several hundreds of dollars to well over $1,000). Non-attorney expenses as explained above are in addition to attorney fees.

If the case becomes contested or is anticipated to become contested, we charge an hourly fee.

Most contested cases involve a continuing dispute between divorced parents or a high functioning proposed conservatee who objects to the need for a conservatorship.

It is our opinion that our attorney fees are just above the average cost for obtaining conservatorship legal services from other law firms. Our fees are in recognition of our knowledge of the diverse special needs population, our conservatorship experience with courts throughout California, as well as the effort we make on behalf of our clients.