Georgia Conservatorship: Filing, Duties, and Annual Returns

A Georgia conservatorship is a probate court arrangement in which a judge appoints someone to manage the money and property of an adult who can no longer handle those decisions. To create one, you file a petition in the probate court of the county where the proposed ward lives, back it with either a professional affidavit or a second petitioner’s oath, and go through a court-supervised process of notice, evaluation, and a hearing before the judge decides whether to appoint you. The rules sit in Title 29, Chapter 5 of the Georgia Code, and the court stays involved for as long as the conservatorship lasts.

Conservatorship Is About Money, Not Care

Before filing, get the terminology right. In Georgia, a guardian handles personal and healthcare decisions. A conservator handles finances: bank accounts, bills, investments, real estate. The two are separate appointments, established through separate (though sometimes simultaneous) petitions. If your relative is physically capable but can no longer track bills or protect assets, a standalone conservatorship is the right tool. If both personal care and finances are at issue, you would file a combined petition asking to be appointed to both roles.

One more threshold point. If the proposed ward already signed a durable power of attorney, funded a trust, or put similar planning documents in place that cover property management, the court may decide a conservatorship is unnecessary. The petition has to disclose those documents, and the judge will weigh whether the existing tools already solve the problem.¹

Filing the Petition

You file in the probate court of the county where the proposed ward lives or is physically located.¹ The petition itself is detailed. It must include:

The proposed ward’s name and address
Why a conservatorship is needed
A list of all known assets and liabilities
The names and addresses of close family members
The person being nominated as conservator
Any existing power of attorney, trust, or similar instrument covering the ward’s property

Think carefully about the powers you request. If you want authority to sell real estate, lease property, or take other significant action without coming back to court each time, you have to ask for those specific “continuing powers” in the petition itself and explain why they are justified. A conservator who does not request the power to sell a house up front will need a separate court order later, which costs time and money.¹

Two Petitioners or an Expert Affidavit

Georgia gives you a choice on how to support the petition. Either two or more petitioners swear to it, or a single petitioner files it along with an affidavit from a licensed physician, psychologist, or clinical social worker. The professional must have personally examined the proposed ward within 15 days before filing and must state that the ward lacks capacity to make significant decisions about managing property. Most families use the affidavit route because it carries more weight with the court, but the two-petitioner option is legally sufficient.¹

What It Costs

Filing fees are set county by county, so call the probate court where you plan to file. Fulton County, for example, charges $659 for an initial conservatorship petition.² On top of the filing fee, expect costs for the professional evaluation, attorney fees, a guardian ad litem if one is appointed, and the annual bond premium once you are serving. Those expenses generally come out of the ward’s estate after appointment.

What Happens After You File

Notice

The proposed ward has to be served personally with the petition documents. Mail is not enough. The notice tells the ward that a petition has been filed, that they can attend the hearing, that a conservator could take control of their property, and that they have the right to hire an attorney. If they have not retained counsel, the court appoints one within two days of service. The court also sends first-class mail notice to the spouse, adult children, and other close relatives listed in the petition.³

Evaluation

The court orders an independent evaluation of the proposed ward. It cannot happen sooner than five days after the ward is served, giving them time to talk to their lawyer. The evaluator files a written report with the court within seven days of the exam, and copies go to the ward and their attorney.³

The Hearing

At the hearing the judge considers the evaluation, the petition, and any testimony. A guardian ad litem may be appointed to represent the ward’s interests independently. The court looks at the proposed conservator’s relationship to the ward, their financial competence, and their fitness to act in the ward’s best interest. The final order spells out exactly which powers the conservator receives, and those powers can be tailored to what the ward actually cannot do rather than automatically stripping every financial right.⁴

When Property Is at Immediate Risk

If someone is being financially exploited or an incapacitated adult’s bills are going unpaid, Georgia has an expedited track. An emergency petition has to describe the specific emergency, the powers requested, and how long the appointment should last. If the court finds probable cause that an emergency exists, it appoints an attorney for the proposed ward and schedules a hearing within 10 days, with at least 72 hours’ notice to the ward and counsel. At that hearing the court applies a clear and convincing evidence standard, higher than the standard for a regular conservatorship. An emergency appointment is capped at 45 days and carries only the powers needed to address the immediate crisis.⁵

What the Conservator Can Do Without Going Back to Court

Once appointed, a conservator can make reasonable payments for the ward’s support, enter into service contracts, borrow money for up to one year (limited to paying debts, repairing the ward’s home, or covering care costs), collect debts owed to the ward, invest funds within the statutory categories, and bring or defend lawsuits on the ward’s behalf. Bigger transactions, such as selling real estate or leasing property, typically need advance court approval unless the initial order granted a continuing power to do them.⁶

Investments Are Restricted

Georgia does not apply a general prudent-investor rule to conservators. Instead the statute lists approved categories, including Georgia state and municipal bonds, U.S. government obligations, federally insured bank deposits, and certain housing authority and highway authority bonds. A conservator who stays inside those categories is shielded from liability except for gross neglect.⁷ The design favors preserving capital over growing it.

What the Ward Keeps and What They Lose

A conservatorship does not erase a person’s rights across the board. By statute, every ward retains the right to a qualified and accessible conservator, free and private communication with anyone other than the conservator (unless a court orders otherwise), adequate support from their own property, the least restrictive conservatorship possible, the right to petition the court about the conservatorship itself, and restoration to full capacity at the earliest possible time.⁸ The conservator also has a statutory duty to encourage the ward to participate in decisions and to work toward regaining independent capacity.⁴

Unless the court order specifies otherwise, appointment of a conservator removes the ward’s power to make, change, or cancel contracts (marriage excepted); buy, sell, or place liens on property; conduct business or commercial transactions; revoke a trust the ward previously created; or file or defend lawsuits outside the conservatorship itself. The court can restore any of these individually if the ward retains capacity for some financial decisions but not others.⁹

Existing healthcare documents are not automatically affected. A durable power of attorney for health care, an advance directive, or a psychiatric advance directive stays in place unless the court addresses it separately.⁹

Bond, Inventory, and Annual Returns

Before touching any of the ward’s assets, an individual conservator must post a surety bond. The bond is essentially insurance for the ward’s estate: if the conservator mismanages funds, the surety company pays. The court sets the bond amount based on the size of the estate, and the annual premium is paid from the ward’s assets.¹⁰

Within two months of appointment, the conservator files a sworn inventory of all the ward’s assets and liabilities, plus a management plan projecting expenses, estimating how long the conservatorship will last, and describing any proposed changes to how property is titled. If the plan expects to spend more than the ward’s income, the court has to approve the budget.¹¹

After that, annual returns are due every year, each with an updated management plan. Skipping a return has teeth: a conservator who fails to file forfeits all commission for that period unless the court excuses the failure.¹²

How Conservators Are Paid

Georgia sets compensation by statute rather than leaving it entirely to the judge. The default structure is 2.5% commission on money received on behalf of the estate and 2.5% on money paid out; 0.5% annually on the market value of the estate, calculated as of the last day of the reporting period and prorated for shorter periods; 10% commission on interest earned; up to 3% of appraised value for delivering property in kind, as set by the court; and up to 10% of annual income from managed land, at the court’s discretion. A conservator can renounce all or part of the compensation, which family members sometimes do.¹²

Notify the IRS

A conservator steps into the ward’s place for tax purposes. File IRS Form 56 as soon as you are appointed to notify the IRS of the fiduciary relationship, so tax correspondence is directed to you. File Form 56 again to terminate the relationship when the conservatorship ends.¹³ Income tax returns, estimated payments, and any estate-related tax questions become your responsibility while you serve.

Changing or Ending the Conservatorship

Any interested person, including the ward, can petition to modify a conservatorship. The court can adjust the conservator’s powers, restore rights to the ward, or make other changes based on current capacity. If a modification would expand the conservator’s authority or further restrict the ward, the court must appoint counsel for the ward; in other modifications the court has discretion whether to appoint counsel or a guardian ad litem.¹⁴

A conservatorship ends when the ward regains capacity, when the ward dies, or when the court decides it is no longer needed. Death ends the conservatorship automatically, though the conservator still owes a final accounting before being discharged. To terminate on the basis of restored capacity, the petitioner files supporting affidavits, either from two people with knowledge of the ward (one of whom can be the petitioner) or from a licensed physician, psychologist, or clinical social worker. If the court finds probable cause, it orders a formal evaluation and, if warranted, sets a hearing. The petitioner has the burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the conservatorship is no longer needed, and the court appoints counsel for the ward.¹⁵

One consequence of losing a termination fight: if the petition is denied or dismissed on the merits, no new termination petition can be filed for two years unless the petitioner shows a significant change in the ward’s condition or circumstances.¹⁵ Build the strongest record you can before you file.

1
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-10 – Petition for Appointment of Conservator; Requirements of Petition
2
Fulton County Probate Court. Fee Schedule
3
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-11 – Prerequisite Finding Prior to Appointment of Conservator
4
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-22 – Obligations and Liabilities of Conservator
5
Justia Law. Georgia Code Title 29 Chapter 5 Article 2 – Appointment
6
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-23 – Authority of Conservator; Cooperation With Guardian or Other Interested Parties
7
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-32 – Investment of Estate Funds by Conservator
8
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-20 – Rights of Adult Ward; Impact on Other Rights
9
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-21 – Rights and Powers Removed From Ward
10
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-40 – Bond Requirement
11
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-30 – Inventory and Plan for Handling Ward’s Property
12
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-50 – Determining Compensation of Conservator
13
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 56, Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship
14
Justia Law. Georgia Code 29-5-71 – Modification of Conservatorship; Contents of Petition for Modification; Burden of Proof
15
FindLaw. Georgia Code 29-5-72 – Termination of Conservatorship