What is a Conservatorship?

A conservator is an individual (or organization) chosen to protect and manage the personal care of a person who has been found by a judge or a jury to be unable to manage his or her own affairs.  When a conservator is appointed in this role by the court, this is called a Conservatorship.  There are multiple ways to be a Conservator, but the information on this page is only about Conservatorships of the Person, where the Conservator is responsible for making sure that the Conservatee’s physical health, food, clothing, shelter, safety, comfort, recreation, and social needs are met.

One way to be a Conservator of the Person is what is known as “Limited Conservatorship” – this is often appropriate for adults with developmental disabilities who cannot fully care for themselves, but who do not need the higher level of care or help given under a general conservatorship.

Another way is known as “General Conservatorship” – this is for adults who cannot handle their own care. This is often in older individuals with limitations caused by aging, such as dementia or Alzheimer’s. However, this can also be for younger individuals who have been seriously impaired through the result of a catastrophic event or similar circumstances. 

This page is not about Conservatorships of the Estate, which deal with individuals who are unable to manage their own financial affairs. 

How Does it Work?

Limited Conservatorships

A limited conservatorship may be appointed for an adult with a developmental disability. Limited conservatorships are set up to assist developmentally disabled adults who are unable to provide for all of their personal needs. Because the conservatee’s growth and development have been impaired or delayed, a limited conservatorship attempts to encourage further development wherever possible. A limited conservator’s duty is to help the limited conservatee develop maximum self-reliance and independence. 

A limited conservator can have up to 7 powers. The judge can authorize a limited conservator to have the power to:

1. 1. 1. Fix the conservatee’s residence/specific dwelling
      2. Access the conservatee’s confidential records & papers 
      3. Give or withhold consent for the conservatee to marry
      4. Exercise the conservatee’s right to enter into a contract
      5. Give or withhold medical consent on behalf of the conservatee
      6. Exercise or limit the conservatee’s right to control social/sexual contacts/relationships
      7. Make decisions about the conservatee’s education

How Is This Different From a General Conservatorship?

As a limited conservator, you have the authority to do only those things that were laid out by the judge when you were appointed. The judge has decided which responsibilities the conservatee will keep and which ones you will have. Your “Letters of Conservatorship” and the judge’s order appointing you state what you are allowed to do.

By contrast, a general conservator is empowered to act in areas that aren’t necessarily specified in his or her Letters. The Letters of a general conservator specifies only special powers or limits set by the judge.

What Does the Process Look Like?

1. File Your Petition

To get started, you can use a form builder program called LawHelp Interactive. It will ask you relatively simple and direct questions, and it will use your responses to complete the Conservatorship Petition forms for you. You can either book an appointment to complete the program here at the library or you can create an account at home. There are a few additional forms that will need to be completed and are not included in the documents the program generates. You will submit both the original documents that you have completed and signed, and a full copy of the packet. 

          (You can access the additional forms here: Additional Local Forms – Click here to access)

Once your forms are completed, you will file them at the Juvenile Justice Center located at 2100 College Ave, Bakersfield, CA 93305. There is a filing fee of $435, unless a fee waiver is included in your petition. (This can be generated within the program as well.)

2. Serve Your Documents

After your documents are submitted, the court will typically notify you by phone to pick up the copy of the forms that you submitted in your initial filing. If you have not heard from them in about a week, give them a call to confirm that they are ready for pick-up. Once you have the copy, you will then need to have a server (someone over the age of 18 & not a party/listed in the forms) distribute copies of some of the forms to the listed relatives within the documents. The service must be done at least 15 days prior to the assigned hearing date.

For further discussion on this process, please see Serving Instructions – Click Here to Access.

3. Check For Notes

About a week prior to your hearing date, you will need to check and see if the clerks have provided notes on your petition for you to fix before your assigned hearing date. You ultimately have two options on how you can check, which are listed below:

A) Contact the Probate Clerks directly to inquire about possible notes in your case; or

B) Register an account through the Kern County Superior Court website. Click HERE to access the website.

C) If you do have notes that need to be cleared, you can CLICK HERE to access our page on clearing notes where it provides the forms and instructions to do so.

4. Attend Your Hearing

If you have followed all of the instructions within the previous steps listed, and have made all of the necessary corrections prior to this date, the judge will make a decision on your petition. After the hearing, the court will draft up a document called a Minute Order. Typically, this is ready by the next business day after the hearing date. You will need a copy of this document from the clerks to advance to the next step.

5. File “After Hearing” Documents

Once the petition has been granted, and you have obtained a copy of the minute order, you will need to complete a few more documents. We refer to this as the “After Hearing Forms.” This is a two step process that is recommended to be done here at the library. (An appointment is preferred.)