Conservatorship: Definition and How It Works in California

By Eric Ridley, attorney, Ridley Law. Updated September 2026.

A conservatorship is a court proceeding that appoints someone to manage the person or finances of an adult who can no longer safely manage their own affairs.

How it works in California

Prob. Code, § 1801 splits conservatorship into two kinds that can exist separately or together, and most families never need either one if the right documents are signed in advance. A conservatorship of the person is for someone who can’t properly provide for their own physical health, food, clothing, or shelter. A conservatorship of the estate is for someone substantially unable to manage their own financial resources or resist fraud or undue influence.

The court appoints a conservator, supervises the conservator’s decisions, and requires regular reporting back to the court. Getting one in place takes a petition, notice to the proposed conservatee and close relatives, and typically a hearing, so it isn’t fast and it isn’t private the way a family’s own planning documents are.

Why it matters

An advance healthcare directive and a durable power of attorney are how most families avoid a conservatorship in the first place. Signed while the person is still capable, those documents let a chosen agent step in immediately if incapacity happens, without asking a court to appoint anyone. Without them, family members may have no choice but to petition for a conservatorship just to pay bills or make medical decisions for someone who can no longer manage those things alone.

Common mistakes

Families sometimes wait until a crisis to look for planning documents, only to find the person is no longer capable of signing anything, which forces a conservatorship petition instead. People also assume a power of attorney alone covers everything, when a separate directive is still needed for medical decisions specifically.

Related terms

• Advance Healthcare Directive: names a healthcare agent in advance, one of the two documents that most often prevents a conservatorship of the person.
• Durable Power of Attorney: names an agent for financial decisions, preventing the need for a conservatorship of the estate.
• Guardian ad Litem: a narrower, case-specific appointment rather than the ongoing authority a conservator holds.
• Guardianship: the equivalent proceeding for a minor rather than an incapacitated adult.
• Power of Attorney: the broader category that includes the durable form used for incapacity planning.

Part of the California estate planning glossary. For the full treatment, see Avoiding Conservatorship in California.