Press Inquiries
If you are a member of the media, please feel free to contact the Association’s Executive Director at 916-449-9909. After hours (weekdays from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. PST or weekends), your query will be handled as soon as possible on the next business day.
We have provided some general information on the Association to help you better understand our work as well as the work of the members we serve.
Each county in California has the discretion to organize its’ Public Administrator, Public Guardian and Public Conservator (PA, PG, PC) functions in whatever manner it wishes. However, all three functions act under the authority of the California Superior Court. We have provided a brief outline of each role to better understand what our members do each day when serving California’s most vulnerable dependent adults and decedent estates.
Public Administrator
The Public Administrator function handles the disposition of deceased estates. The Public Administrator serves the public by investigating and administering the estates of persons who die with no will or without an appropriate person willing or able to act as administrator. The Public Administrator’s primary duties are to protect the decedent’s property from waste, loss or theft; make appropriate burial arrangements; conduct thorough investigations to discover all assets; liquidate assets at public sale or distribute assets to heirs; pay the decedent’s bills and taxes; and locate persons entitled to inherit from the estate and ensure that these individuals receive their inheritance.
Public Guardian
The Public Guardian function is carried out via Probate Conservatorships, which assist individuals who are substantially unable to provide for their own basic needs, (food, clothing, and shelter). Probate Conservatorships are primarily established for adults who cannot care for themselves or manage their own finances. This type of conservatorship is often used for older adults with severe limitations and for younger people who have serious cognitive impairments.
Public Conservatorship
The Public Conservatorship function is performed via an LPS Conservatorship. This type of conservatorship is named for the three Assemblymen who sponsored the original bill – Lanterman, Petris and Short Act. LPS conservatorships are established to arrange mental health treatment and placement for people who are unable to provide for their food, clothing, shelter, and treatment needs, as a result of a mental disorder. LPS Conservatorship provides a legal framework for the delivery of services to individuals needing psychiatric treatment, but who are unwilling or unable to accept it.
The Association:
- Provides support and creates interactive opportunities for peer-to-peer collaboration throughout the state
- Develops training programs to establish professional levels of competency for PA|PG|PCs and their staff and provides certification for those individuals who have successfully completed our outlined education and training requirements and
- Engages lawmakers and like-minded partners at the state and county level to help ensure PA|PG|PC concerns are addressed so that our members can best serve their clients
Should you have any questions, please contact Tom Scott, Executive Director, at (916) 382-4757 or tscott@capapgpc.org.