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A copy of the filed petition and related documents, and of any document filed later, provided to Family Court Services (Room 204, Visalia Courthouse) or to the counter clerks at the South County Justice Center; once the court orders a probate conservatorship investigation (Probate Code Section 1820), a Court Investigator interviewing the petitioners and the proposed conservatee and reporting on best interest, necessity or alternatives and suitability, the investigators having 90 days; the mandatory Confidential Conservatorship Care Plan (Part 1 and Part 2) completed accurately; changes of contact information reported to Family Court Services at (559) 730-5000, Option 6, and filed on form MC-040; the online orientation and its declaration completed by each proposed conservator, the Live Scan Fingerprint forms obtained from the Self-Help Resource Center and a copy of the completed form given to Family Court Services or the SCJC front counter; the report filed and mailed to the parties (Probate Code Section 1826), any investigation fee ordered paid at the hearing; after appointment, a Care Plan for each conservatee as the court requests, Family Court Services mailing a blank plan about 60 days before the month the conservatorship was granted and a plan not filed set for an order to show cause; for a conservatorship of the estate, an Inventory and Appraisal within 90 days of appointment and an accounting within 60 days of the first-year anniversary and every other year after; the Court Investigator's unannounced visit one year after appointment and biennially after (Probate Code section 1850); Family Court Services called if no investigator has called within 30 days, calls returned within 48 hours; and on the conservatee's death, form GC-399 filed and served with the death certificate and a copy given to Family Court Services.
California > Fifth Appellate District > Tulare County > Superior Court of California, County of Tulare
For general conservatorship information, see www.tulare.courts.ca.gov/divisions/probate. Once your petition for PROBATE guardianship and related conservatorship documents are filed with the Court, you or your attorney will provide a copy of your filed documents to Family Court Services, Room 204, at the Visalia Courthouse; or provide a set to the counter clerks at the South County Justice Center, which will be routed to Family Court Services. A copy of any subsequently filed documents should be provided to Family Court Services. CONSERVATORSHIP INVESTIGATION PROCESS: Once the Court has ordered Family Court Services (FCS) to conduct a probate conservatorship investigation {see Probate Code Section 1820)}, your case will be assigned to a Court Investigator. The Court Investigator will be contacting the petitioners and the proposed conservatee to conduct interviews and to write a report and recommendation to the Court regarding whether it is in the proposed conservatee’ s best interest for the conservatorship to be granted, whether it is necessary or if there are alternatives to the conservatorship, and whether you are a suitable conservator/s. If you have a change in contact information, it is mandatory that you notify Family Court Services staff at (559) 730-5000, Option 6 with this updated information. You will be directed to contact the Self-Help Resource Center or your attorney to file the necessary change of contact information with the Court, and to provide FCS with a copy. If FCS staff are not able to reach you to conduct the interviews, this will delay your court process. When the Court Investigator contacts you (the petitioner/s), the Court Investigator will ask you questions about you and your household members so that an inquiry may be made to obtain any Adult Protective Services involvement with the family. This is why the accurate and detailed information is necessary in the mandatory forms, Confidential Conservatorship Care Plan (Part 1 and Part 2). If this information is incomplete, this may also delay your court process. In addition, the Court Investigators check local court records on the parties in the case and provide a summary of this information to the Court in a confidential report to the Court. In addition, the Court Investigator will inquire into the status of the completion of the Mandatory Online Conservatorship Orientation video by EACH petitioner (proposed Conservator) and the completion and filing of the mandatory Declaration of Completion of Online Orientation. After the Declaration of Completion of Online Orientation is filed with the Court, the parties shall obtain the Live Scan Fingerprint forms from the Self-Help Resource Center at either Court location. The Court Investigator will also inquire into the status of the completion of the required Live Scan Fingerprinting for EACH proposed Conservator (hyperlink to probate Background check tile in Probate Division). It can sometimes take months to receive results on parties from the Department of Justice, so it is important this is completed ASAP, otherwise it may cause a delay in the investigation. Please remember to turn in a copy of the completed Live Scan form to FCS or to the front counter at SCJC, who will forward it to FCS staff. This way we can track your results. ***Failure to complete the Mandatory Online Orientation and filing the declaration for EACH Proposed Conservator, as well as failure to complete the Live Scan process for EACH proposed Conservator is the most common reason why investigations are delayed. Once the investigation is completed, a copy of the Conservatorship Report will be filed with the Court and mailed to the parties of record by FCS pursuant to Probate Code Section 1826(11) (California Code, PROB 1826.). If the Court assess a fee for the Court Investigation, you will be ordered to pay these fees at the time of the Court hearing. This is a separate fee than the filing fee and may be waived if a fee waiver is granted by the Court. What Happens after Conservatorship is Granted? Once the conservatorship is granted, the Court will remind the Conservator/s to file with the Court any contact information changes immediately using the MC-040, referenced below. The Court will also notify the Conservator/s that they are required to complete a Confidential Conservatorship Care Plan (Part 1 and Part 2) for EACH CONSERVATEE as requested by the Court until the conservatorship is terminated. Family Court Services will mail out a blank Care Plan to the address of record for each conservatee about 60 days prior to the month the Conservatorship is granted. If this is not received timely from the Conservator/s, the matter will be set for court hearing for an order to show cause why the conservatorship should not be terminated for failure of the Conservator/s to perform the Duties of a Conservator. Change of Contact Information: Please complete and file the MC-040 NOTICE OF CHANGE OF ADDRESS OR OTHER CONTACT INFORMATION (ca.gov) and provide a copy to Family Court Services. Care Plan: Located here : Confidential Conservatorship Care Plan (Part 1 and Part 2) If you have been granted conservatorship of the estate, it is important to note that an Inventory and Appraisal of the estate is to be filed within 90 days of appointment, and as needed until all of the estate has been accounted for. In addition, an Accounting of the estate is to be filed within 60 days of the first-year anniversary of appointment of conservator of the estate; and every other year thereafter, unless otherwise ordered by the Court. If the Inventory and Appraisal and Accounting is not filed as required, the matter will be placed on the court’s calendar for you to address with the Court the reasons why the Accounting was not filed. Please see the Handbook of Conservators for sample forms for completion of the mandatory forms. The Handbook does not have the most current Judicial Council forms, so it is important to look up the referenced forms here (Find Your Court Forms - forms_and_rules) to ensure you are using the latest versions of the forms. Reviews of Conservatorship: In Tulare County, and pursuant to Probate Code section 1850, the Court Investigator will make an unannounced visit to the conservatee one year after the initial appointment of the conservator, and biennially (every other year) thereafter, unless otherwise ordered by the Court. The purpose of this review is to report to the court the appropriateness of the conservatorship and whether the conservator is acting in the best interest of the conservatee regarding the conservatee’ s placement, quality of care, including physical and mental health treatment, and finances. In addition, the Court Investigator shall inquire with the conservator or conservatee whether they wish to modify or terminate the conservatorship, and whether less restrictive alternatives could be tried. The Court Investigator will review the mandatory Confidential Conservatorship Care Plan and will contact the conservator with any updates regarding the conservatorship. If there are concerns during the investigation, and/or the Care Plan, Accounting or other documents have not been filed by the Conservator, the Court Investigator will recommend to the Court that the matter be placed on the court’s calendar for an order to show cause as to why the Conservator has failed to perform the Duties of a Conservator. It is important these documents are filed timely to avoid any unnecessary court hearings. FAQs When is the court investigator conducting interviews? The investigator will contact you as soon as they are able to based on their workload. The Investigators receive 90 days to conduct the investigation. This includes the time that is needed to obtain records back from background checks, physicians and adult protective services inquiry, and to conduct the interviews with the petitioners and proposed conservatee How do I find out who my court investigator is? The investigator should reach out to you within the first few weeks of being appointed by the Court. If you have not received a call within 30 days of the court referring the matter to FCS for investigation, you may contact FCS at 559-730-5000, Option 6 and request the name and telephone number of the assigned investigator. Court Investigators are off site conducting investigations and therefore will return your call within 48 hours of receipt, unless they are out of the office. Where do I take the mandatory online Orientation and Declaration form to file with the Court? Conservatorship Orientation | Superior Court of California | County of Tulare Where do I get the Live Scan forms to submit for the proposed conservators? You may contact the Self-Help Resource Center located in both Visalia and at the South County Justic Center to obtain the Live Scan background fingerprint forms. Where do I take the completed Live Scan form? To Family Court Services in Visalia (Room 204) or to the front counter at the clerk’s office at SCJC, which will be routed to FCS for tracking the results. What if I decide I do not want to continue to pursue conservatorship during this process? You may file a dismissal with the Court. Please contact the Self-Help Resource Center or your attorney for direction. Please be sure to serve these documents on Family Court Services. What if I want to Terminate the Conservatorship? Insert New Link What do I do if the Conservatee passes away during the conservatorship? The conservator or the attorney of record shall file a Judicial Council form GC-399 - Notice of the Conservatee’s Death and serve on the necessary parties and attach a copy of the death certificate. Family Court Services should be provided a copy of the Notice of Death with the attached death certificate so that we can update our records and close out the conservatorship if it is a conservatorship of the person. If it is a conservatorship of the estate, the conservator or the attorney of record shall file the necessary final accountings in order for the conservatorship to be terminated, and for the conservator to be discharged. Related Links Probate Conservatorships in California Read About Probate Conservatorships in California Local Self-Help Resource Center Local Self-Help Resource Center Local Forms and Packets Local Forms and Packets
For general conservatorship information, see www.tulare.courts.ca.gov/divisions/probate. Once your petition for PROBATE guardianship and related conservatorship documents are filed with the Court, you or your attorney will provide a copy of your filed documents to Family Court Services, Room 204, at the Visalia Courthouse; or provide a set to the counter clerks at the South County Justice Center,
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-10-14 (California T4 Tulare build 2026-10-14) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-tulare/pages/probate-conservatorship-investigations.html (the page as fetched 2026-10-14; 636377 bytes, sha256 dc766d7e95e559ca6aee51e858aa63c174e1ed53d475b4c105a080849b0a4a7e) with the Orange HTML composer (compose-site.py, the Judicial Council theme's area): the article's content sections (section.jcc-section), news bodies (div.jcc-news-full) and title banners (div.jcc-hero; the first banner's heading, the page title, is chrome) - the site header, menus, breadcrumb and footer lie outside them; each block starts a line and each table cell is set on its own line; chrome removed: 1 item (the page title, “Probate Conservatorship Investigations”); proof (the multiset of non-space characters equals the containers' text less chrome and scripts) passes. Review note: The page has the Live Scan forms obtained from the Self-Help Resource Center; the Mandatory Background Check page (carded) says from Family Court Services - the review task on that card asks which office issues them.
6 verbatim requirements on divisional requirements in GIUSEPPINA MIRANDA's division.
4 verbatim requirements on divisional requirements in HILARY CREARY's division.