Durable Power of Attorney vs LPS Conservatorship?
A power of attorney in general is a legal document that many people sign in order to safeguard their financial and medical future in the case that they find themselves incapacitated due to physical ailment. The principle in an power of attorney can also dismiss agent whenever he or she wishes. The agent in a power of attorney can act on behalf of the person if they find themselves incapacitated but if the person is considered capable, they bear the right to make their own decisions. Some instances where the power of attorney may be used is in the case of dementia, Alzheimers, coma, or stoke. However, a power of attorney must be signed when the person is coherent and not impaired. If the person becomes incapacitated after the fact the court may step and in manage the person's business. A power of attorney cannot be signed when someone is declared legally incompetent.


A lot of legal articles discuss whether a patient should consider an conservatorship or a durable power of attorney? In many cases a durable power of attorney over the person and estate is the best option for those who suffer from dementia and other elderly diseases. However, with disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the patient may find it difficult to sign a power of attorney given that they are impaired by delusions and psychosis. If the patient refuses to sign one because they believe that someone is trying to control them, then no further actions can be taken against them. The patient can sign themselves out voluntarily or decide that they want to quit taking their medication and no one bears the power over them to force them to stop. 

With an LPS conservatorship, the patient can be forced to take medication and accept treatment against their will. Even if they object or wish to fire their conservator they cannot simply accomplish this. Rather it takes lengthy court processes for the conservatee to petition for a new conservator. The conservatee also can be placed in a locked facility against their wishes whereas a power of attorney never authorizes closed locked treatment. The durable power attorney rarely permits involuntary psychotropic treatment.

My final words? I believe that a power of attorney for financial and an LPS conservatorship of the person may be the best solution for persons who suffer from mental illness. 

What happens if a LPS conservatee calls a suicide hotline? If they are detained under a 5150 hold despite being under an LPS conservatorship? Is the conservator notified? Does the conservator play a role in the hold? What if the conservator objects to the conservatee being placed under a 5150? 

These issues were issues that were addressed several years back. There are some answers for these questions but lots more left unanswered.:
LPS Conservatee in the ED
• Make reasonable attempts to determine if a conservatorship is in place
• Utilize 5150 until LPS Conservatorship is confirmed
• If possible, consult with conservator and/or case manager
• Standard emergency procedures apply to psychiatric disturbances, and the patient must be stabilized prior to transfer
• Surgery (and presumably similar procedures) are authorized when conservatee faces loss of life or serious bodily injury (apparently without consent of the conservator or conservatee)
• It is always best to obtain consent, if at all possible

Must Law Enforcement       Transport LPS Conservatees?
• Conservators can request law enforcement to detain AWOL conservatees and return them to the facility where they have been placed
• Conservators can request law enforcement to detain conservatees and transport them to “the county designated treatment facility”
• This often causes law enforcement to feel that they are a taxi service
• Compare to 5150 where the individual must appear to the officer to be danger to self, danger to others or gravely disabled in order to transport. Requests for transport of LPS conservatees must be made in writing and must be accompanied by certified copies of the letters of conservatorship.


Although these answers the questions of what general procedures occur when the conservatee is in need a of a 72 hour hold there are several unanswered questions. The first question is even if the conservatee is detained who makes the decisions? The conservator may be unavailable for several reasons. Especially if it is the PC and it might be the weekend when people are not working., who would authorize treatment. Although the patient is not facing risk of bodily injury or death, they may need medication adjustment due to psychiatric outbursts or their current regimen may not be providing therapeutic effect. In these cases who authorizes non bodily injury or death related medical decision making? Also what happens if the conservator cannot be reached after the 72 hour hold? Does the treating facility put the person on a 14 day hold? Do they discharge them again? If the conservatee needs to be transported after their 72 hour hold to a different facility and the conservator is not available who provides the copy of certified letters and orders? Finally what if the conservatee does not have evidence that he or she is under an LPS? What if they are detained in a different county and the county does not have access to a database that complies a list of LPS conservatees? What happens then? Is the hospital liable for discharging them on their own without prior knowledge of an LPS conservatorship? Although this a rare case, it is important that practitioners know of this issue since many people come in for 5150 evaluations but no everyone knows their background and legal status.

A good question for the court is does the conservator hold any responsibility for a conservatee's violent actions?

Let say for sake the conservatee makes a threat against another person and a Tarasaoff warning is issued. The appropriate people are given notice of the intent and dagner that the conservatee poses. After that the conservatee finds a way to carry out his threat. If so who is responsible.? Given that proper notice and protective actions are taken the therapist or which ever professional is told, they are considered to have properly fulfilled their duty. However, what about the conservator? If the LPS conservator has been demonstrated to enact reasonable efforts to prevent the conservatee from behaving in a dangerous manner are they still liable? Usually the court would rule that the conservator is not liable but it does vary county to county. Love to hear input about this. 

In order to be considered to serve as a personal conservator for someone be it a family member or close friend, all persons must be screened by the public conservator. This applies for San Diego mostly but other counties would have similar procedures for applying to serve as private conservator..

For San Diego you need to begin by sending in a request to the public conservator. This must occur after the temporary conservatorship has been opened. You would write a letter to the public conservator marked as Attn: Beth Olin. Within the letter you would discuss serving as conservator for your loved one. The public conservator during their 30 day investigation will perform background checks on you to determine if you are eligible to serve as conservator. They will see if you have the conservatee's best interests in mind. They want to ensure that you aid the conservatee in being compliant and provide them the best care possible. This is the case for conservators who may want to divest the conservator of their rights or conservators who are close friends and will discharge the conservatee even if it is against their best interest. The public conservator will make reasonable efforts to assess the conservatee's opinion about you serving as conservator. The public conservator will also notify all relatives of your intent to serve as conservator. This is to ensure that no one in the family has objections to your office as conservator. The list of relatives is listed in the petition unlike a separate form with limited conservatorships. In some cases the public conservator may hold a meeting with the proposed conservator so that they can sign the agreement to serve as LPS conservator and that they understand the role of conservator.
The judge likes to see that notice has been properly served or they may continue the hearing. This is very common in probate conservatorship matters. Once all relatives are served, the matter will be taken to the judge for review. Usually the judge will appoint family as conservator. You will be issued certified letters of conservatorship and orders of conservatorship. Once you have those letters you do not have to do much more except renew your conservatorship every year if needed.

​In the case of probate cases, when a petitioner asks for a temporary conservatorship, the judge will ensure that the conservatorship is warranted. Many times I have heard a judge remind the petitioners that the conservators that a temporary conservatorship is for those who are imminent danger of hurting themselves or being taken advantage of. The judge will then ask the proposed conservators why they believe that the conservatee need the extra protection of a conservator right away. The conservators must produce documents and evidence of the above. Pictures, bank statements, and witness testimony may be considered when deciding if the conservatee needs a t-con.
 
 
 
 
 

The quotes are from Hannah Hart. Buffering (Kindle Locations 3172-3185). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.​
“READ THIS TOO (Please read this! Please please please!) I want you to know that I didn’t win LPS conservatorship because winning is common or possible and all you have to do is try. I won because of the following advantages:

1. I’m white. This is an advantage. We can’t deny it.

Race does not bear much of an issue when it comes to LPS conservatorship. The public conservator does not conserve based on race alone. The public conservator is overburdened with cases that it bears in mind the person’s severity of mental illness before race. In fact I would say that the public conservator weighs mental illness diagnosis first, how many hospitalizations, compliance, doctor’s recommendations and the force with which he advocates for conservatorship, and patient’s coherence during the conservatorship investigation. I came from a white family that strongly advocated for conservatorship THREE times but failed. Does race play a role? No… not in my opinion and what I’ve seen evidenced based practice.

1. I’m educated. Both Naomi and I have high-level degrees, which means that the intensive research it takes to understand a complicated legal and medical system is more accessible to us than it is to many people.

Yes and no. It does take some level of education to learn about the law and its processes. But it also very important to gain experience through real life practice. Many researchers calls this experience based practice. Meaning that you should base your work off the live results you see and seeing how each county operates. The law will tell you only so much but real life experience and knowing how the PC is far more valuable.

1. I’m healing. I’ve gone to years of therapy, and I take medication. Both Naomi and I have PTSD from a childhood of trauma. It’s hard and triggering to even talk to our mom, let alone display our trauma in front of impassive third parties who have the authority to simply say “No. Your pain isn’t good enough. Let her shoot someone first.”

Irrelevant in a legal sense.

1. I’m wealthy. What paid for my years of therapy and medications to help me excel? Money, dudes. Fucking money. I have it. I’ve saved it. I’m using it to fight this case. And you know what else money buys you? Money buys you time. I spent three weeks in the Bay Area fighting the system. Naomi’s schedule isn’t as flexible as mine—she was able to take only a week off from work—but otherwise she telecommuted. And the icing on the cake:

This is probably the biggest fallacy out there. Money can buy happiness and money can buy an LPS conservatorship. LPS conservatorship is a county run procedure. The courts and the court investigators are all contracted by the county. This means that that they call to what the court says. Money will not buy your way into a judge ruling in your favour. The closest thing that money could earn you is possibly hiring private counsel to fight on your behalf when it comes to P-con. Money can keep your loved one in the hospital but in the end it is the doctor and the county investigator who decide to initiate an LPS conservatorship. Are you going to pay back the county for their time and fees? Do you even know how to reimburse the county for its services? My family came from old money (subtext: 30 million or more) and still were not able to obtain LPS conservatorship despite every effort.

1. I’m famous. People are endeared to me, as I am to them. I have a community that is rooting for me to win.

I am very sorry but fame has very little bearing on LPS conservatorship. Most conservatees are homeless or not particularly notable. Even those who are conserved like Brittney Spears, Randy Meisner, or Amanda Bynes are conserved under a probate conservatorship which is far easier to obtain.
 

Conservatorship Proposals Raise Concern


Interest in conservatorship issues is high in the Legislature this year, as policymakers and counties seek solutions for those living without shelter. CSAC is working to gain clarification on each of the current conservatorship proposals with an eye on the potential fiscal impacts.
Conservatorship activities are funded solely through County General Fund and handled by each county’s Public Guardian (PG) or Public Conservator (PC). The location and organization of each PG/PA office varies across the state, but it is one of the few service-related county functions that is funded solely through County General Fund.
The proposals in the Legislature take a variety of approaches, but most seek to make it easier to conserve people under the state’s Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (LPS Act). A person can be conserved for a year if a PG/PC recommends and a court agrees that they are gravely disabled due to mental illness. The county conservator is responsible for the conservatee’s care and protection, housing, and health care, including involuntary mental health treatment.
Besides the county cost for conservatorship activities, a dearth of placement options for conservatees remains a top issue and is closely tied with the overall lack of housing for at-risk populations in the state. This supply issue is not addressed by any of the current conservatorship proposals. CSAC is working on a comprehensive housing proposal in response to the homelessness crisis, but creating secure and affordable placement options for conservatees will be a longer-term effort.
CSAC is committed to working with counties and legislators on each of the conservatorship measures outlined below:   

AB 1971 (Santiago) is currently a spot bill sponsored by Los Angeles County. The County plans to amend it to expand the current statutory definition of gravely disabled to include a physical health condition. This would allow a county to conserve a person who refuses to seek medical care despite being at risk of harm or death. CSAC Position: Pending
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AB 2156 (Chen) is similar to AB 1971 above and would make changes to the definition of gravely disabled to include a physical health condition. The main issue with this bill is that probate conservatorship address physical conditions. By including physical issues such as diabetes and high blood pressure in criterion for LPS conservatorship, this places some individuals as further risk of losing their civil liberties for non mental health issues. It is understood that a mental illness preventing them from making sound medical decisions is the real reason for this law, but it still stands that the criteria should focus on whether the conservatee is GD. 

AB 2236 (Maienschein) would clarify that a conservatorship continues until terminated by the death of the conservatee. My question? Is this for probate or LPS? It is already answered in probate code and LPS is only for a year and should remain that way since more rights are lost.

SB 931 (Hertzberg) is sponsored by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. It seeks to clarify that a  county conservatorship investigator may begin investigations while a person is in custody in a county jail, which simply affirms what is current law. So why beg the question in the first place? Isn't this what a Murphy conservatorship is?


SB 1045 (Weiner) is sponsored by the City and County of San Francisco. It was amended this week to broaden the scope of who can be conserved, including those with substance use disorders. This is a difficult issue because with substance abuse, the person is making the decision to use. Although drug abuse stems from addiction which in itself can be inherited, the person is intact with reality and can provide for themselves when sober. This also begs the problem of funding. LPS law currently allows alcoholism to be criteria for LPS however, many doctors do not initiate LPS proceedings for alcoholism alone. Adding substance abuse would simply complicate the process and strip the county for funding even more.


SB 1095 (Anderson) would delete a restriction on the court’s ability to order certain revocation matters to the public guardian. This could increase the workload of county PGs and PCs.  This addresses the issue with Karriker and Kennebrew which both address whether the public conservator abused its power in regards to initiating an LPS conservatorship.