A new law in California will require people who have entered into a conservatorship over someone else to submit a plan for the person’s care and estate management to the conservatee, their lawyer, and spouse or family. 

Senate Bill 280, authored by state Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, requires a comprehensive care and estate management plan to be filed within 120 days of being appointed as a conservator, or at least 10 days before a hearing to continue or terminate a conservatorship. 

Two previous attempts to require care and estate plans for conservators died in the legislative process.  

The issue of probate conservatorships, in which someone takes charge of another person’s estate and medical care because of incapacitation, received renewed attention in 2021 after the pop star Britney Spears, whose father had taken charge of her estate, objected to her conservatorship. The case was cited in a legislative analysis of the bill by the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee. 

The bill was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, along with a separate bill related to conservatorships, Senate Bill 43. That bill makes it easier to commit someone involuntarily for mental health and addiction problems. 

Society has a responsibility to care for and protect the most vulnerable among us and nowhere is the responsibility of that more apparent than in conservatorships. Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz

The care plan required under SB 280 must include a description of the conservatee’s living arrangements, level of care, medications used, and any plan to change them within the next year, as well as a description of their financial needs, and a visitation schedule that details the conservator’s contacts with the conservatee and ensures they have access to other visitation, among other provisions. 

Conservators will have to file the plan with the conservatee and the conservatee’s attorney, their own attorney, a conservator of the estate if there is a separate arrangement, and the conservatee’s spouse or other family members. 

If a care plan is not filed, a fine of $1,000 could be levied and the conservator could be removed. 

“Society has a responsibility to care for and protect the most vulnerable among us and nowhere is the responsibility of that more apparent than in conservatorships,” Laird wrote in a committee analysis in support of the bill. “With SB 280, we ensure care plans are properly detailed and reviewed by courts, certifying transparent fairness for those living under conservatorships.” 

The law will take effect Jan. 1, 2025. In the meantime, the state’s Judicial Council will finalize the form that will need to be filed.