(a) Upon petition of the conservator, the conservatee, the spouse or domestic partner of the conservatee, or a relative within the second degree of the conservatee, the court may by order authorize or direct the conservator to pay and distribute surplus income of the estate or any part of the surplus income (not used for the support, maintenance, and education of the conservatee and of those legally entitled to support, maintenance, or education from the conservatee) to the spouse or domestic partner of the conservatee and to relatives within the second degree of the conservatee whom the conservatee would, in the judgment of the court, have aided but for the existence of the conservatorship. The court in ordering payments under this section may impose conditions if the court determines that the conservatee would have imposed the conditions if the conservatee had the capacity to act.
(b) The granting of the order and the amounts and proportions of the payments are discretionary with the court, but the court shall consider all of the following:
(1) The amount of surplus income available after adequate provision has been made for the comfortable and suitable support, maintenance, and education of the conservatee and of those legally entitled to support, maintenance, or education from the conservatee.
(2) The circumstances and condition of life to which the conservatee and the spouse or domestic partner and relatives have been accustomed.
(3) The amount that the conservatee would in the judgment of the court have allowed the spouse or domestic partner and relatives but for the existence of the conservatorship.
(c) Notice of the hearing on the petition shall be given for the period and in the manner provided in Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1460) of Part 1.
(Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 893, Sec. 34. Effective January 1, 2002.)