he risk factor we will examine here concerns your family’s dynamics combined with your not having an Advance Health Care Directive or Power of Attorney for Health Care.
As a practical matter, doctors and hospitals will look to the closest relative for medical decisions should you not be able to make them yourself. However, what happens if your family is one where there is a strong difference of opinions? Could this difference of opinions result in fighting? Take a close look at your family:
- Are you in a blended family with stepchildren?
- How strong are the personalities in the family?
- How combative?
- Are there strong different religious beliefs in your family?
- Are there any family members with a mental illness that could make a family consensus difficult?
If there are any difficulties with your family in making decisions about your medical care, at some point the hospital will ask that a Conservator be appointed so that the hospital has one person legally responsible for your medical care.
Assuring Your Wishes Will be Followed
You can best take control of this situation now while you have capacity
. By preparing and signing an Advance Health Care Directive or Power of Attorney for Health Care, you reduce your risk of Conservatorship of the Person. If you state your wishes, pick your agent and successor agent, you control what will happen if you become incapacitated. It also makes it easier for your family by eliminating future conflicts during what will be a stressful time for your family.
Click Conservatorship Risk Factors to see all of the posts in this series.
ou are at risk of having a Conservatorship imposed upon you if you become incapacitated. As you know, incapacity can happen not only as a result of dementia in older age, but at any time. For example, you could become incapacitated as a result of a car accident, a stroke or heart attack. A Conservatorship should not be filed unless there is no other alternative, as the process is costly, procedurally complex, time consuming, and extremely stressful for a non-professional Conservator. Do you have some of the risk factors that may indicate that you might be someone who could have a Conservatorship filed against you?
Click Conservatorship Risk Factors to see all of the posts in this series.
ffective immediately, the Alameda County Local Rules require Conservators to submit a record showing how much time they spent doing what, each day. Further, time spent as Conservator of the Person (concerning food, clothing, shelter and physical health) and that spent as Conservator of the Estate must be recorded separately. Both time records shall be submitted to the court with the next account and report.
We have prepared a timesheet form that you may use to accomplish this task. Clicking on the link below will open a new window displaying the timesheet. From there you may print directly to your printer, or if you want to save it to your computer for future use, choose ‘Save as…’ from the ‘File’ menu; then choose a location to save to:
Compensation Rate
The Court has historically awarded a range of hourly rates to Conservators. The Court will review all the circumstances surrounding the request, such as the size of the estate, the rate of expense for the Conservatee’s care, the difficulty of the tasks performed by the Conservator, etc. The Court has discretion to set the hourly rate in each case. The local rules previously provided for $25 per hour, and we hope to raise the request to $40-$50 per hour.
Background
The Alameda County Local Rules long provided a commission
‚ for Conservators, payable upon approval of each account and report. The commission was 1% per year of the assets being managed in the Conservatorship, regardless of the amount of time the Conservator spent on all the tasks involved. There had also been the option of submitting time records and requesting a larger amount, but the commission was useful for its simplicity, as it did not require any recording of time.
The Court was concerned however, that this 1% automatic commission was not a reasonable way to determine what the conservator should receive. It sometimes resulted in very large amounts being paid, in cases with substantial assets, to the Conservator. In cases where the estate was almost entirely real property, there was very little cash with which to pay these large amounts. In other such cases, the payment to the Conservator was seriously out of proportion to the work actually done.
here were some important changes in the California conservatorship law enacted by the Conservatorship Reform Act of 2006 that have recently taken effect. These changes will affect Conservators here in Alameda County and Contra Costa County.
Regarding moving a Conservatee, Conservators must give notice as follows:
- Notice Before Moving a Conservatee. Conservators planning to move a Conservatee from her/his personal residence must first give fifteen-days notice to all relatives within the
first and second degree
and anyone who requested special notice, before moving the Conservatee. Of course, if there is a medical emergency, the Conservatee can be moved without prior notice.
- Notice After the Conservatee is Moved. After the Conservatee is moved, a second notice, which states the new residence of the Conservatee, is required to be mailed to all relatives within the
first and second degree
.
here were some important changes in the California conservatorship law enacted by the Conservatorship Reform Act of 2006 that have recently taken effect. These changes will affect Conservators here in Alameda County and Contra Costa County.
Regarding what documents Conservators must request and save, the new rules are as follows:
- Original bills from care facilities. Conservators now must save the original monthly statement/invoice from the assisted living facility or skilled nursing facility for inclusion in the documents filed with an accounting.
- Original bank statements. Conservators must also retain original bank statements, and include them in the documents filed with an accounting. For most Conservators, the Court requires the filing of the original bank statements only for the beginning of the account period and the end. However, if you are a professional fiduciary, the Court requires that all original bank statements for the entire account period be either filed or lodged (depending upon the County), with the Court.
