§ 15-12-622 — Public administrator - acting as conservator or trustee

(1)
When appointed by a court of appropriate jurisdiction, the public administrator may
act as a conservator, temporary conservator, special conservator, trustee, or other
fiduciary of any estate that has assets requiring protection. Each county
department of human or social services may refer any resident of that county, or
any nonresident located in that county, to that county's public administrator for
appropriate protective proceedings if the department determines that the person
meets the standards required for court protective action.

(2) Any case referred to the public administrator pursuant to this section by
a county department of human or social services must be presented to the court of
appropriate jurisdiction by a petition that states to the court that the public
administrator has been requested by the county department of human or social
services to act as a conservator or other fiduciary for the person in need of
protection, that the public administrator is the nominee of that department, and
that the public administrator is not acting as an attorney for that department. The
public administrator may prepare and file such a petition if requested to do so by
the county department of human or social services. The fact that a public
administrator has been requested by a county department of human or social
services to act as a conservator or other fiduciary shall not be construed by the
court as granting any priority for his or her appointment, and the court shall make
that determination solely upon the best interests of the person in need of
protection. If the public administrator is not appointed as conservator or other
fiduciary and the court determines that another individual should act as the
conservator or fiduciary, the court may award reasonable fees and costs to the
public administrator if the court determines that the efforts of the public
administrator were beneficial to the estate or contributed to the protection of the
protected person's assets. In cases where the court awards fees and costs to the
public administrator, to the extent that such funds are available, such fees must be
paid from the protected person's estate. In cases in which the public administrator
is not compensated from the protected person's estate, the court may approve the
payment of such fees from state funds designated for the payment of court-appointed counsel or fiduciaries. The court may determine the amount of fees to be
paid from such state funds as it deems to be just.

(3) In any case in which the public administrator has been nominated to act
as conservator or other fiduciary at the request of the county department of human
or social services and the case develops into a contested court proceeding, the
department's own attorney shall assume all aspects of the contested court case,
and the public administrator must not be required to be involved in such hearings
unless specifically directed to do so by the court.

(4) Missing persons. A public administrator has standing to petition a court
of appropriate jurisdiction for his or her appointment to act as a conservator,
temporary conservator, or special conservator to protect a person's assets and
manage the person's estate if:

(a) The person is missing, detained, or unable to return to the United States;
and

(b) No interested person has initiated protective proceedings to accomplish
this purpose.

Legislative History

Source: L. 73: R&RE, p. 1586, � 1. C.R.S. 1963: � 153-3-622. L. 91: Entire section R&RE, p. 1460, � 4, effective July 1. L. 2007: (4) added, p. 126, � 4, effective July 1. L. 2018: (1) to (3) amended, (SB 18-092), ch. 38, p. 403, � 18, effective August 8.