Code Section

5361.  

(a) Conservatorship initiated pursuant to this chapter shall automatically terminate one year after the appointment of the conservator by the superior court. The period of service of a temporary conservator shall not be included in the one-year period. When the conservator has been appointed as conservator of the estate, the conservator shall, for a reasonable time, continue to have the authority over the estate that the superior court, on petition by the conservator, deems necessary for (1) the collection of assets or income that accrued during the period of conservatorship, but were uncollected before the date of termination, (2) the payment of expenses that accrued during period of conservatorship and of which the conservator was notified prior to termination, but were unpaid before the date of termination, and (3) the completion of sales of real property when the only act remaining at the date of termination is the actual transfer of title.

(b) If, upon the termination of an initial or a succeeding period of conservatorship, the conservator determines that conservatorship is still required, the conservator may petition the superior court for reappointment as conservator for a succeeding one-year period. The petition shall include the opinion of two physicians or licensed psychologists who have a doctoral degree in psychology and at least five years of postgraduate experience in the diagnosis and treatment of emotional and mental disorders that the conservatee is still gravely disabled as a result of mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism. If the conservator is unable to obtain the opinion of two physicians or psychologists, the conservator shall request that the court appoint them. The petition shall also include an attestation by the conservator that they have considered all available alternatives to conservatorship, including, but not limited to, assisted outpatient treatment pursuant to Section 5346 and the CARE Act program pursuant to Section 5978, as applicable, and that reappointment of a conservator is recommended because no suitable alternatives are available.

(c) (1) A facility in which a conservatee is placed shall release the conservatee at the conservatee’s request when the conservatorship terminates. A petition for reappointment filed by the conservator or a petition for appointment filed by a public guardian shall be transmitted to the facility at least 30 days before the automatic termination date. The facility may detain the conservatee after the end of the termination date only if the conservatorship proceedings have not been completed and the court orders the conservatee to be held until the proceedings have been completed.

(2) A care coordination plan shall be developed by, at a minimum, the individual, the facility, the county behavioral health department, the health care payer, if different from the county, and other individuals designated by the individual as appropriate, and shall be provided to the conservatee prior to their release. The care coordination plan shall include a first followup appointment with an appropriate behavioral health professional. The appointment information shall be provided to the individual before the individual is released. In no event may the individual be involuntarily held based on the requirements of this paragraph beyond when they would otherwise qualify for release. All care and treatment after release shall be voluntary.

(3) For purposes of care coordination and to schedule a followup appointment, the health plan, mental health plan, primary care provider, or other appropriate provider to whom an individual leaving a facility has been referred pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) shall make a good faith effort to contact the referred individual no less than three times, either by email, telephone, mail, or in-person outreach, whichever method or methods are most likely to reach the individual.

(4) The requirement to develop a care coordination plan under this subdivision shall take effect immediately, without waiting for the department to create a model care coordination plan, as required pursuant to Section 5402.5.