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.

	Conservatorship of the person	Conservatorship of the estate
For someone who is	Unable to properly provide for their own physical health, food, clothing, or shelter	Substantially unable to manage their own financial resources or resist fraud or undue influence
Document that most often prevents it	Advance healthcare directive	Durable power of attorney

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.

Scope: I do not handle conservatorship proceedings. My practice is the planning that avoids them: durable powers of attorney, advance health care directives, and living trusts. If your family already needs a conservatorship, I can refer you to counsel who handles those cases.

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