Self-Help Conservatorships

General Conservatorships

A conservatorship is a court proceeding where a judge appoints a responsible person to care for another adult who cannot care for him/herself or his/her finances.

Conservatorships apply to adults, for minors (children) see the Self-Help Guardianship section .

LPS (or Mental Health) Conservatorships

A Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) (or mental health) conservatorship makes one adult responsible for a mentally ill adult. This type of conservatorship is only for adults with mental illnesses listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

A LPS conservatorship is only for people who are seriously mentally ill and need special care (usually placement in a locked facility and/or very powerful drugs to control behavior).

For more information, see the Santa Clara County National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)  website and the  Office of the Public Administrator, Guardian, and Conservator  website.

Limited Conservatorships

A limited conservatorship is a court proceeding where a judge gives a responsible person certain rights to care for another adult who has a developmental disability.

Generally, a person qualifies as developmentally disabled if s/he has an IQ less than 70 or is diagnosed with autism. Because developmentally disabled people can usually do many things on their own, a limited conservator has more limited powers than an LPS conservator.

If you are trying to set up a limited conservatorship and can't afford a lawyer, please see our Limited Conservatorship Workshop page .