What is a conservatorship?
• A conservatorship is a court action which appoints someone to handle your money and property. • A conservator is appointed when the court determines you cannot manage your own property and affairs for reasons such as a mental or physical illness or disability, advanced age, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication, confinement, detention by a foreign power, or disappearance. • Under North Dakota law the Conservator’s powers must be limited to only those financial or business functions which you are no longer able to handle.
If you suffer from an incurable disease or are involved in a debilitating accident and are unable to manage your own affairs, state law might require someone to go to court to have a conservator appointed by the court. The conservator is given the authority to make financial decisions and handle your financial affairs, under court supervision, when you lack the capacity to manage them on your own. The conservator has to make periodic reports to the court and petition the court for additional authority under certain circumstances. Typically, the conservator may be paid for services rendered on your behalf and there will be attorney fees as well. In addition, the court will often require your conservator to purchase a “surety bond” which is a type of insurance policy, to protect the conservatorship estate. The costs and expenses of a conservatorship are paid by your estate.
A conservatorship is a court proceeding designed to protect a person who cannot make decisions regarding financial and personal care matters (i.e. a person who is incapacitated). Another person, usually a spouse or child, is appointed by the court to manage their financial affairs. This person must account for every penny spent on behalf of the incapacitated person. This can be a very humiliating, frustrating, costly and time consuming process for everyone involved. Conservatorship usually costs thousands of dollars. You should, therefore, select the person or persons you wish to care for you and your estate in the event that you become incapable of managing your assets or providing for your own care before it happens! With respect to the management of your assets, the trustee of your living trust will provide the necessary management of the assets held in your living trust. However, to deal with assets which may not have been transferred to your living trust prior to your incapacity o
Conservatorship is similar to guardianship in that it is a legal relationship between a protected person and one or more individuals appointed by the court to make decisions on behalf of the protected person. However, while a guardianship may encompass all personal affairs of a protected person, a conservatorship is limited to the management of the property and financial affairs of a protected person. As with guardianship, a conservatorship may be full, limited, temporary, or joint.
