Firm News

Family is complex and various stages in life overlap, which can be stressful.  A term we’ve been hearing a lot about lately is the “Sandwich Generation.”  The term was first coined in 1981, by Dorothy Miller[1].  The term illuminates the time when the middle...

I get a lot of calls from clients asking this question and wanting to know about options.  In fact, just this week I spoke with a client who’s uncle lost capacity and she needs to finalize his tax returns.  Her first thought was that she needed to file a petition for...

I received a call today from a woman who was concerned about what seemed to be a will.  The will in question, she assured me, was written on the tiniest scrap of paper ever.  Could this be an actual will she asked?  Would this be a valid will?  I immediately flashed...

The issue of what powers does a conservator of the person have over a conserved person’s right to receive their mail and right to see people that they want to see comes up quite often in my conservatorship matters.  While a conservator of the person has broad powers...

I often get calls related to notices of probate proceedings or a notice from a Trustee about being a beneficiary in a Trust.  Of course, the sadness and emotional experience of processing a loved one’s death is difficult, but at the same time, a feeling of...

As I mentioned in my last post, a common asset in a conservatorship of the estate is a retirement account that a conservator of the estate must marshal and manage. The conservator of the estate has the authority to continue the retirement, profit-sharing, and employee...

Once a conservator of the estate is appointed and Letters of Conservatorship have been issued, the conservator must marshal the conservatee’s assets.  This means that the conservator of the estate needs to determine what assets the conservatee owns, they need to make...

This post discusses only a general probate conservatorship of the person and does not discuss an LPS conservator’s, a limited conservator’s, or a temporary conservator’s authority to make medical decisions for a conservatee. Generally, a conservatee is presumed to...

The authority that a limited conservator of the person has over a limited conservatee depends on what powers the court has granted the limited conservator of the person. In a limited conservatorship, the court must specifically grant medical powers for the conservator...

The simple answer is that a lot of people, and potentially entities, are entitled to notice when a petition for the appointment of a conservator is filed.  The idea of including a wide scope of individuals or entities to be aware of the proposed appointment of a...