How to Get Conservatorship for a Parent with Dementia in California

If your parent never got around to signing a power of attorney before the dementia diagnosis progressed, and they've now lost the capacity to sign one, you're facing the path every elder law attorney tries to help families avoid: a probate court conservatorship. It's not impossible, and it's not rare, but it is slower, more public, and more expensive than the legal documents your parent could have signed earlier — and it comes with its own procedural traps specific to dementia cases.

Why You Need One at All

Once a parent has lost cognitive capacity without a durable power of attorney or advance health care directive on file, family members have no legal authority to sign contracts, manage the parent's assets, or make binding medical decisions on their behalf — regardless of how obviously appropriate those decisions might be. California law presumes adults retain capacity; to overcome that presumption and obtain a conservatorship, the petitioner must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the parent can't provide for their own basic needs or manage their finances and resist fraud or undue influence.

Conservatorship of the Person vs. Conservatorship of the Estate

California conservatorships split into two distinct types, and families often need both:

• Conservatorship of the Person — grants authority over medical decisions, living arrangements, and daily care.
• Conservatorship of the Estate — grants authority over financial matters: bank accounts, property, benefit applications, and asset management.

A conservator appointed over the estate typically must qualify for and post a surety bond before the court issues Letters of Conservatorship — the bond functions as insurance protecting the conservatee's assets against mismanagement or fraud by the conservator, and generally runs $200 to $1,500 per year depending on the estate's size.

The Filing Process

1. File a petition in the superior court of the county where your parent resides.
2. Complete Form GC-312 (Confidential Supplemental Information), detailing your parent's specific daily functional deficits and — critically — documenting what less restrictive alternatives were already attempted and failed. Courts are required to look for alternatives to conservatorship first, so skipping this step invites delay or denial.
3. A court-appointed investigator conducts an independent assessment, interviewing your parent and family members, then submits a confidential report to the judge.
4. Formal notice and service requirements must be strictly followed. Your parent must be personally served with the Citation for Conservatorship (Form GC-320) and a copy of the petition (Form GC-310) by an independent adult who is not the petitioner. All first-degree relatives and relevant state agencies must separately be served by mail.
5. A hearing is held, after which the court issues Letters of Conservatorship if the petition is granted.

The base superior court filing fee starts at $435, though fees and specific investigator costs vary by county and should be confirmed with the local court before filing.

The Special Orders Dementia Cases Require

This is the step families most often miss, and it's specific to dementia: a standard conservator of the person does not automatically have the authority to place a conservatee in a locked facility or to administer dementia medications, including psychotropic drugs, against their will. Those powers require a separate, specific request:

• Form GC-313 (Attachment Requesting Special Orders Regarding a Major Neurocognitive Disorder) must be attached to the petition, specifically requesting authority to place the conservatee in a secured-perimeter, locked RCFE with a specialized dementia care plan, and to authorize dementia-related medications.
• Forms GC-335 and GC-335A (Confidential Capacity Assessment and Declaration, with the Dementia Attachment) must be executed under oath by a licensed physician or psychologist with at least two years of experience diagnosing and treating major neurocognitive disorders. The clinician must certify that the conservatee has a major neurocognitive disorder, lacks capacity to consent to locked placement or dementia medications, and would benefit from these interventions.

Without these specific forms filed alongside the base petition, a family can obtain a standard conservatorship and still be legally unable to move a parent into a locked memory care unit — a gap that causes real delays when discovered after the fact rather than planned for upfront.

What It Actually Costs

Beyond the $435 base filing fee and the annual surety bond, families should budget for attorney fees, which for a full conservatorship proceeding with the special dementia orders can run into the thousands of dollars given the additional forms, physician declarations, and court appearances involved — meaningfully more than the cost of a power of attorney and advance directive signed while a parent still has capacity. There are also ongoing obligations after the conservatorship is granted: conservators of the estate must file periodic financial accountings with the court, which typically means continued, if lower, legal costs for the life of the conservatorship.

The Real Lesson Here

Every element of this process — the investigator, the special MND orders, the surety bond, the ongoing court accountings — exists because the law is deliberately cautious about stripping an adult of their legal rights. That caution is appropriate, but it's also exactly why families are urged to get a durable power of attorney and advance health care directive signed the moment a dementia diagnosis lands, while capacity still allows it.

How Long the Process Actually Takes

A California probate conservatorship is rarely fast. Between filing the initial petition, waiting for the court investigator's assessment, completing the required notice and service on all first-degree relatives, and getting a hearing date on the court's calendar, families should generally expect the process to take several months from filing to the judge issuing Letters of Conservatorship — longer in counties with a backlogged probate calendar, or if any family member contests the petition. This timeline is exactly why conservatorship is treated as a last resort rather than a routine planning tool: a medical or safety crisis that needs an immediate decision won't wait for a court date months out.

The "Less Restrictive Alternative" Requirement

Courts are required to confirm that less restrictive alternatives to conservatorship have genuinely been considered and ruled out before granting the petition — this isn't a formality, and Form GC-312 specifically asks the petitioner to document what alternatives were attempted. Alternatives a court might expect to see addressed include:

• Whether a power of attorney or advance health care directive could have been executed before capacity was lost (and if not, why not)
• Whether supported decision-making arrangements, where trusted people help the parent make their own decisions rather than making decisions for them, were considered
• Whether a revocable trust with a successor trustee could handle financial matters without a full conservatorship of the estate

A petition that doesn't address why these alternatives aren't sufficient is more likely to face delay or additional questions from the court investigator.

Ongoing Obligations After the Conservatorship Is Granted

Conservatorship isn't a one-time court event — a conservator of the estate is required to file periodic financial accountings with the court documenting how the conservatee's assets and income were managed, and a conservator of the person may have ongoing reporting obligations about the conservatee's care and living situation. These ongoing requirements mean continued (if generally lower) legal and administrative costs for the life of the conservatorship, which is worth budgeting for beyond the initial filing and attorney fees.

Recognizing exactly when the capacity window has closed, and preparing the right documentation before filing a conservatorship petition, is covered in the California Dementia & Memory Care Guide.

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