2023 California Code › Probate Code - PROB › DIVISION 4 - GUARDIANSHIP, CONSERVATORSHIP, AND OTHER PROTECTIVE PROCEEDINGS › PART 4 - PROVISIONS COMMON TO GUARDIANSHIP AND CONSERVATORSHIP › CHAPTER 3 - Temporary Guardians and Conservators › Section 2253.

2253. (a) If a temporary conservator of the person proposes to fix the residence of the conservatee at a place other than that where the conservatee resided before the commencement of the proceedings, that power shall be requested of the court in writing, unless the change of residence is required of the conservatee by a prior court order. The request shall be filed with the petition for temporary conservatorship or, if a temporary conservatorship has already been established, separately. The request shall specify in detail the place to which the temporary conservator proposes to move the conservatee, the precise reasons that the petitioner or temporary conservator has concluded that the conservatee will suffer irreparable harm if the change of residence is not permitted, and why no means less restrictive of the conservatee’s liberty will suffice to prevent that harm.
(b) The court investigator shall do all of the following:
(1) Interview the conservatee personally.
(2) Inform the conservatee of the nature, purpose, and effect of the request made under subdivision (a), and of the right of the conservatee to oppose the request, attend the hearing, be represented by legal counsel, and to have legal counsel appointed by the court if not otherwise represented by legal counsel.
(3) Determine whether the conservatee is unable to attend the hearing because of medical inability and, if able to attend, whether the conservatee is willing to attend the hearing.
(4) Determine whether the conservatee wishes to oppose the request.
(5) Determine whether the conservatee wishes to be represented by legal counsel at the hearing and, if so, whether the conservatee has retained legal counsel and, if not, whether the conservatee plans to retain legal counsel.
(6) Determine, by considering, among other things, the medical information received pursuant to paragraph (7), whether the proposed change of place of residence is required to prevent irreparable harm to the conservatee and whether no means less restrictive of the conservatee’s liberty will suffice to prevent that harm.
(7) Gather and review relevant medical reports regarding the proposed conservatee from the proposed conservatee’s primary care physician and other relevant mental and physical health care providers.
(8) Report to the court in writing, at least two days before the hearing, concerning all of the foregoing, including the conservatee’s express communications concerning representation by legal counsel and whether the conservatee is not willing to attend the hearing and does not wish to oppose the request.
(c) Within seven days of the date of filing of a temporary conservator’s request to remove the conservatee from the conservatee’s previous place of residence, the court shall hold a hearing on the request.
(d) The conservatee shall be present at the hearing except in the following cases:
(1) Where the conservatee is unable to attend the hearing by reason of medical inability. Emotional or psychological instability is not good cause for the absence of the conservatee from the hearing unless, by reason of that instability, attendance at the hearing is likely to cause serious and immediate physiological damage to the conservatee.
(2) Where the court investigator has reported to the court that the conservatee has expressly communicated that the conservatee is not willing to attend the hearing and does not wish to oppose the request, and the court makes an order that the conservatee need not attend the hearing.
(e) If the conservatee is unable to attend the hearing because of medical inability, that inability shall be established (1) by the affidavit or certificate of a licensed medical practitioner or (2) if the conservatee is an adherent of a religion whose tenets and practices call for reliance on prayer alone for healing and is under treatment by an accredited practitioner of that religion, by the affidavit of the practitioner. The affidavit or certificate is evidence only of the conservatee’s inability to attend the hearing and shall not be considered in determining the issue of need for the establishment of a conservatorship.
(f) At the hearing, the conservatee has the right to be represented by counsel and the right to confront and cross-examine any witness presented by, or on behalf of, the temporary conservator and to present evidence on their own behalf.
(g) The court may approve the request to remove the conservatee from the previous place of residence only if the court finds (1) that change of residence is required to prevent irreparable harm to the conservatee and (2) that no means less restrictive of the conservatee’s liberty will suffice to prevent that harm. If an order is made authorizing the temporary conservator to remove the conservatee from the previous place of residence, the order shall specify the specific place wherein the temporary conservator is authorized to place the conservatee. The temporary conservator may not be authorized to remove the conservatee from this state unless it is additionally shown that the removal is required to permit the performance of specified nonpsychiatric medical treatment, consented to by the conservatee, which is essential to the conservatee’s physical survival. A temporary conservator who willfully removes a temporary conservatee from this state without authorization of the court is guilty of a felony.
(h) Subject to subdivision (e) of Section 2252, the court shall also order the temporary conservator to take all reasonable steps to preserve the status quo concerning the conservatee’s previous place of residence.
(i) (1) The report required by this section shall be confidential and shall be made available only to parties, their attorneys, and the court. The clerk of the court shall limit disclosure of the report exclusively to persons entitled to the report pursuant to this section.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), confidential medical information and confidential information from the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) shall be placed in a separate attachment to the report and shall not be made available to the petitioner or proposed temporary conservator if the request is filed with the petition, the temporary conservatee’s spouse or registered domestic partner, and the conservatee’s relatives in the first degree or, if there are no such relatives, to the next closest relative.
(j) (1) A superior court shall not be required to perform any duties imposed pursuant to the amendments to this section enacted by Chapter 493 of the Statutes of 2006 until the Legislature makes an appropriation identified for this purpose.
(2) A superior court shall not be required to perform any duties imposed pursuant to the amendments to this section enacted by the measure that added this paragraph until the Legislature makes an appropriation identified for this purpose.
(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 420, Sec. 40. (AB 2960) Effective January 1, 2023.)