A. Subject to the limitations provided in section 14-5425, a conservator has all the powers conferred herein and any additional powers conferred by law on trustees in this state. In addition, a conservator of the estate of an unmarried minor, as to whom no one has parental rights, has the duties and powers of a guardian of a minor described in section 14-5209 until the minor attains the age of majority or marries, but the parental rights so conferred on a conservator do not preclude appointment of a guardian as provided by article 2 of this chapter.

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 14-5424

  • Agent: includes an attorney-in-fact under a durable or nondurable power of attorney, a person who is authorized to make decisions concerning another person's health care and a person who is authorized to make decisions for another person under a natural death act. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Conservator: means a person who is appointed by a court to manage the estate of a protected person. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Court: means the superior court. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Distributee: means any person who has received property of a decedent from that person's personal representative other than as a creditor or purchaser. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Estate: includes the property of the decedent, trust or other person whose affairs are subject to this title as originally constituted and as it exists from time to time during administration. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Fiduciary: includes a personal representative, guardian, conservator and trustee. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Guardian: means a person who has qualified as a guardian of a minor or incapacitated person pursuant to testamentary or court appointment but excludes a person who is merely a guardian ad litem. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Lease: includes any oil, gas or other mineral lease. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Minor: means a person who is under eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Person: means an individual or an organization. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Protected person: means a minor or any other person for whom a conservator has been appointed or any other protective order has been made. See Arizona Laws 14-5101
  • Security: includes any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in an oil, gas or mining title or lease or in payments out of production under that title or lease, collateral trust certificate, transferable share or voting trust certificate and, in general, includes any interest or instrument commonly known as a security, or any certificate of interest or participation, any temporary or interim certificate, receipt or certificate of deposit for, or any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of these securities. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • State: means a state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See Arizona Laws 14-9101
  • subscription: includes a mark, if a person cannot write, with the person's name written near it and witnessed by a person who writes the person's own name as witness. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Trust: includes an express trust, private or charitable, with any additions, wherever and however created. See Arizona Laws 14-1201

B. A conservator, without court authorization or confirmation, may invest and reinvest funds of the estate as would a trustee.

C. A conservator, acting reasonably in efforts to accomplish the purpose of the appointment, may act without court authorization or confirmation to:

1. Collect, hold and retain assets of the estate including land in another state, until, in the conservator’s judgment, disposition of the assets should be made. Assets may be retained even though they include an asset in which the conservator is personally interested.

2. Receive additions to the estate.

3. Continue or participate in the operation of any business or other enterprise.

4. Acquire an undivided interest in an estate asset in which the conservator, in any fiduciary capacity, holds an undivided interest.

5. Invest and reinvest estate assets in accordance with subsection B of this section.

6. Deposit estate funds in a state or federally insured financial institution including one operated by the conservator.

7. Acquire or dispose of an estate asset including land in another state for cash or on credit, at public or private sale, and manage, develop, improve, exchange, partition, change the character of or abandon an estate asset.

8. Make ordinary or extraordinary repairs or alterations in buildings or other structures, demolish any improvements and raze existing or erect new party walls or buildings.

9. Subdivide, develop, or dedicate land to public use, make or obtain the vacation of plats and adjust boundaries, adjust differences in valuation on exchange, partition by giving or receiving considerations and dedicate easements to public use without consideration.

10. Enter for any purpose into a lease as lessor or lessee with or without an option to purchase or renew for a term within or extending beyond the term of the conservatorship.

11. Enter into a lease or arrangement for exploration and removal of minerals or other natural resources or enter into a pooling or unitization agreement.

12. Grant an option involving disposition of an estate asset, or take an option for the acquisition of any asset.

13. Vote a security, in person or by general or limited proxy.

14. Pay calls, assessments and any other sums chargeable or accruing against or on account of securities.

15. Sell or exercise stock subscription or conversion rights and consent, directly or through a committee or other agent, to the reorganization, consolidation, merger, dissolution or liquidation of a corporation or other business enterprise.

16. Hold a security in the name of a nominee or in other form without disclosure of the conservatorship so that title to the security may pass by delivery, but the conservator is liable for any act of the nominee in connection with the stock so held.

17. Insure the assets of the estate against damage or loss, and the conservator against liability with respect to third persons.

18. Borrow money to be repaid from estate assets or otherwise, advance money for the protection of the estate or the protected person, and for all expenses, losses, and liability sustained in the administration of the estate or because of the holding or ownership of any estate assets, and the conservator has a lien on the estate as against the protected person for advances so made.

19. Pay or contest any claim, settle a claim by or against the estate or the protected person by compromise, arbitration, or otherwise and release, in whole or in part, any claim belonging to the estate to the extent that the claim is uncollectible except that personal injury or wrongful death claims shall be compromised pursuant to subsection D of this section.

20. Pay taxes, assessments, compensation of the conservator and other expenses incurred in the collection, care, administration and protection of the estate.

21. Allocate items of income or expense to either estate income or principal, as provided by law, including creation of reserves out of income for depreciation, obsolescence or amortization, or for depletion in mineral or timber properties.

22. Pay any sum distributable to a protected person or dependent of the protected person, without liability to the conservator, by paying the sum to the distributee or by paying the sum for the use of the distributee either to the guardian of the distributee or, if none, to a relative or other person having custody of the person.

23. Employ persons, including attorneys, auditors, investment advisors or agents, even though they are associated with the conservator, to advise or assist the conservator in the performance of administrative duties, act upon their recommendation without independent investigation and, instead of acting personally, employ one or more agents to perform any act of administration, whether or not discretionary.

24. Prosecute or defend actions, claims or proceedings in any jurisdiction for the protection of estate assets and of the conservator in the performance of fiduciary duties.

25. Execute and deliver all instruments which will accomplish or facilitate the exercise of the powers vested in the conservator.

D. A conservator may act with court approval to compromise a personal injury or wrongful death claim for a protected person. The conservator may act with court approval to release an alleged tortfeasor if the release is in the best interest of the protected person. If the conservator obtains an order of approval for compromise from a court of competent jurisdiction, the compromise may be in exchange for a lump sum amount or an arrangement that defers the receipt of part or all of the consideration for the compromise until after the protected person reaches majority and may involve a structured settlement or the creation of a trust on the terms that the court approves for any protected person.