The call usually comes from a hospital. A parent has been admitted with a stroke, a fall, a sudden cognitive event, or a psychiatric crisis. The adult child on the line is being asked to make decisions they have no legal authority to make. The social worker mentions conservatorship. A friend of a friend tells them it takes 60 to 90 days. In the meantime, the hospital needs an answer about discharge placement by tomorrow, and the bank just called about a wire that does not look right.
This is exactly the situation California Probate Code 2250 was written for. A temporary, or emergency, conservatorship can be granted in days, not months, and it bridges the gap until a permanent appointment is in place. The procedure is real, the relief is meaningful, and most families have never heard of it until they need it. If you are reading this in the middle of a crisis, here is what you need to understand.
The Moment Everything Changes (Common Scenarios)
Emergency conservatorships are not theoretical. They exist because real families face the same crises over and over. The scenarios we see most often in Los Angeles include the following.
A 79 year old father has a major stroke on a Tuesday evening. By Friday the hospital is asking the family to consent to a feeding tube and to choose between a skilled nursing facility and home with 24 hour care. He cannot speak. He never signed an advance healthcare directive. His wife has been gone for 6 years. His adult children have no legal authority to direct his care.
A mother with moderate Alzheimer's, living independently until last month, calls her son in tears. She has signed something she does not understand. Her bank statement shows three large wire transfers to an unfamiliar account in the past 10 days. A new "friend" she met at her senior center now has her debit card. The bank will not freeze the account without legal authority.
A 24 year old daughter with previously stable schizophrenia stops her medication and is hospitalized after a manic episode in which she gave away her car and several thousand dollars in cash. The hospital will discharge her in 72 hours unless someone has authority to consent to continued treatment. Her parents are not the legal decision makers of a competent adult.
In every one of these scenarios, the standard 60 to 90 day conservatorship process is too slow. The harm will happen in days, not months. That is what emergency conservatorship exists to address.
Why Standard Conservatorship Won't Help in a Crisis (60 to 90 Days Too Slow)
A general conservatorship petition in Los Angeles County typically takes 60 to 90 days from filing to the initial hearing. There is a court investigator visit, statutory notice requirements, and a calendared hearing date set weeks out. That timeline is appropriate for a thoughtful, contested decision about whether to permanently restrict an adult's legal rights. It is wholly inadequate for a parent in the ICU or a bank account being drained in real time.
The standard process also assumes you have time to gather documents, schedule depositions, and respond to objections. In an emergency, the family does not have that time. The harm is happening now. The court system has to be able to intervene now. That is precisely the gap Probate Code 2250 fills.
What an Emergency Conservatorship Grants (And For How Long)
A temporary conservatorship under Probate Code 2250 gives a court appointed temporary conservator immediate authority over specifically enumerated powers. It is not a full conservatorship. It is a targeted, time limited authority designed to address the emergency and nothing more.
The initial order lasts up to 30 days. The court can extend it for additional 30 day periods, generally to a total of 60 days, while the permanent petition is pending. If the permanent hearing cannot be calendared within that window, additional good cause must be shown, and the court will scrutinize the request carefully.
The temporary conservator gets only the powers the court grants in the order. Typical grants include the authority to consent to or refuse medical treatment, to determine where the conservatee lives (within statutory limits), to freeze and manage specific bank accounts, to revoke a recently signed power of attorney that appears to have been procured through undue influence, and to apply for benefits on the conservatee's behalf. The temporary conservator does not automatically inherit every power a permanent conservator might receive. Sale of real estate, change of residence to a more restrictive setting, and other significant decisions usually require either the permanent appointment or a specific further court order.
The Ex Parte Filing Process Under PC 2250
An emergency conservatorship is filed ex parte, which means the petition asks the court to rule quickly, with shortened notice or in some cases without prior notice to the proposed conservatee. California courts do not grant ex parte relief lightly, but Probate Code 2250 specifically contemplates expedited procedure for genuine emergencies.
The mechanics in Los Angeles County look like this. Counsel prepares the petition for temporary conservatorship along with declarations describing the urgency, a proposed order, and the simultaneously filed petition for general conservatorship. The papers are filed with the probate department. Notice is provided to the proposed conservatee and to statutorily required relatives, with shortened time periods where the court permits. An ex parte hearing is calendared, and the court can rule the same day or within a few court days.
The proposed conservatee has the right to appear at the hearing, to be represented by counsel (including court appointed counsel from the Los Angeles County probate volunteer panel), and to oppose the petition. Courts take these rights seriously. A temporary conservatorship is still a restriction of liberty, and the court will demand real evidence before granting one.
What You'll Need to Prove (Urgency, Capacity Loss, Need)
The legal standard under Probate Code 2250 is that there is good cause to believe the proposed conservatee will suffer immediate and substantial harm absent temporary intervention. Three elements must be shown.
Immediate harm. The court reads "immediate" literally. Harm that has been developing slowly for months is not immediate. Harm that is occurring this week, or will occur within days, is. A pending discharge decision, an active wire fraud, an unsigned consent to surgery, or a bank account being drained in real time all qualify.
Substantial harm. The harm must be material, not trivial. Loss of significant assets, denial of necessary medical care, exposure to physical danger, and irreversible legal acts (executing a new will under undue influence, transferring real estate) all qualify. Mild inconvenience does not.
Capacity loss. There must be credible evidence that the conservatee currently lacks the capacity to manage the specific domain (healthcare, finances) in which the emergency is occurring. This is typically established through a physician's declaration, a hospital chart entry, or a Capacity Declaration on Judicial Council form GC-335. The strongest petitions come with a recent, specific declaration from a treating physician or geriatric specialist.
The proposed temporary conservator also submits a declaration describing the urgent risk in dated, specific terms. Generalizations do not work. The declaration should describe what happened, when it happened, what the proposed conservatee did or could not do, what the next 30 days will require, and why no less restrictive alternative is sufficient.
What the Court Investigator Does
Every California conservatorship, even a temporary one, triggers a visit from the court investigator. The investigator is an independent officer of the court whose job is to interview the proposed conservatee, explain the proceedings in plain language, ask whether the conservatee objects, assess whether less restrictive alternatives exist, and report back to the judge.
In a temporary conservatorship, the investigator visit is typically expedited, sometimes occurring within days of filing. The investigator's report carries significant weight with the court, both at the temporary hearing and at the permanent hearing that follows. Families should understand that the investigator is not an advocate for the petitioner. The investigator's role is to give the court an independent view of the conservatee's actual situation.
We prepare clients for what to expect from the visit. The investigator will ask the conservatee about their living situation, their financial life, their understanding of the proceedings, and whether they want a lawyer. The investigator will speak with neighbors, doctors, and family members if necessary. The investigator may also visit the conservatee's home. Cooperation is essential.
Transitioning to Permanent Conservatorship in 30 Days
A temporary conservatorship is not a stopping point. It is a bridge. The order is designed to expire, and unless a permanent appointment is in place when it does, the family is left without authority and the harm the temporary order was meant to prevent can resume.
For this reason, the petition for general conservatorship is filed at the same time as the temporary petition, or immediately after. The general petition runs through its normal calendar (60 to 90 days), with the investigator visit, the noticed hearing, and any contests handled in due course. The temporary order covers the gap. When the permanent hearing is held and Letters of Conservatorship are issued, the temporary authority is replaced by the permanent authority without a break in coverage.
If the permanent hearing cannot be calendared within 60 days, counsel must file a petition to extend the temporary order, with renewed evidence of continued urgency. Courts will grant extensions for genuine reasons (a contested case, a scheduling issue) but will not allow a temporary conservatorship to substitute indefinitely for the permanent process.
When Emergency Isn't the Right Call
Not every difficult conservatorship situation is an emergency. Filing an ex parte petition that the court denies, or that the facts do not really support, can damage the petitioner's credibility on the permanent petition that follows. There are situations where the standard 60 to 90 day process, while frustrating, is the right path.
If the conservatee already has a valid, current durable power of attorney covering finances and an advance healthcare directive covering medical decisions, the documents may be doing the job. Courts will look skeptically at an emergency petition where the existing documents are working. The right move may be to use the existing authority rather than to seek conservatorship at all.
If the cognitive decline has been gradual over months or years and no acute event has occurred, the urgency element is hard to satisfy. The court will read "immediate" as describing the next several days, not the last several months. A standard petition is more appropriate.
If the family disagreement is really about who should be conservator rather than whether a conservatorship is needed, an ex parte petition is the wrong vehicle. Contested petitions need full notice, full hearings, and the deliberation the standard timeline provides. Trying to win a family fight on an emergency motion usually backfires.
For a complete walkthrough of the emergency conservatorship process, the documents required, and the specific filings we handle in Los Angeles County, see our Emergency & Temporary Conservatorship practice page. If you are in the middle of a crisis right now, do not wait. Call us. We will tell you within the hour whether your facts support emergency relief and what we can do today.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Emergency conservatorship law in California is fact specific, and the outcome of any petition depends on the particular evidence and circumstances. Contact MVP Law Group for a consultation about your specific situation.