1. After notice to interested persons and upon express authorization of the court, a conservator may:

(1) Make gifts that the protectee might have been expected to make including, but not limited to, gifts to qualify for government benefits or to reduce federal estate taxes;

Terms Used In Missouri Laws 475.094

  • conservator: as used in this chapter , includes limited conservator unless otherwise specified or apparent from the context. See Missouri Laws 475.010
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Interested persons: spouses, children, parents, adult members of a ward's or protectee's family, creditors or any others having a property right or claim against the estate of a protectee being administered, trustees of a trust of which the ward or protectee is a beneficiary, agents of a durable power of attorney for a ward or protectee, and children of a protectee who may have a property right or claim against or an interest in the estate of a protectee. See Missouri Laws 475.010
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
  • Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. Source: OCC
  • Property: includes real and personal property. See Missouri Laws 1.020
  • Protectee: a person for whose estate a conservator or limited conservator has been appointed or with respect to whose estate a transaction has been authorized by the court under section 475. See Missouri Laws 475.010
  • Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
  • Testate: To die leaving a will.

(2) Convey, release, or disclaim contingent and expectant interests in property, including marital property rights and any right of survivorship incident to joint tenancy or tenancy by the entireties;

(3) Exercise or release a power of appointment;

(4) Create a revocable or irrevocable trust of property of the estate, whether the trust extends beyond the duration of the conservatorship, or revoke or amend a trust revocable by the protected person;

(5) Exercise rights to elect options and change beneficiaries under insurance policies and annuities or surrender the policies and annuities for cash value;

(6) Exercise any right to an elective share in the estate of the protectee’s deceased spouse and to renounce or disclaim any interest by testate or intestate succession or by transfer during lifetime.

2. The court, in exercising or in approving a conservator’s exercise of the powers listed under subsection 1 of this section, shall consider primarily the decision that the protectee would have made, to the extent that the decision can be ascertained. The court shall also consider:

(1) The financial needs of the protectee and the needs of individuals who are in fact dependent on the protectee for support and the interest of creditors;

(2) Possible reduction of income, estate, inheritance, or other tax liabilities;

(3) Eligibility for government assistance;

(4) The protectee’s previous pattern of giving or level of support;

(5) The existing estate plan;

(6) The protectee’s life expectancy and the probability that the conservatorship will terminate before the protectee’s death; and

(7) Any other factors the court considers relevant.

3. Without authorization of the court, a conservator shall not revoke or amend a durable power of attorney of which the protectee is the principal.

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