Conservator Ordered To Pay Pre Conservatorship Debt From Conservatee’s Estate.

Before the creation of a conservatorship, the now-conservatee committed a tort and a jury issued an award against the now-conservatee. An unpaid balance of $350,000 for punitive damages remains. Before judgment was entered, a temporary conservatorship was established and later became permanent. The judgment creditor petitioned the probate court to direct the conservator to pay the judgment. The probate court ruled that the conservatee’s debt pre-dates the conservatorship “because the debt was incurred at the time the tort occurred” and “all debts and expenses incurred before the conservatorship must be paid by the Conservator regardless of whether that payment would impair the ability to provide the necessaries of life to the Conservatee.” The probate court ordered the conservator to pay the $350,000, plus $137,958 in interest. Citing to Probate Code section 2430, subdivision (a)(1), which states that a conservator “shall pay” from the principal and income of the estate “debts incurred by the [] conservatee before creation of the conservatorship, the appellate court affirmed.  (Conservatorship of the Person and Estate of Parker (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 2; August 4, 2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 803, [175 Cal.Rptr.3d 700].)