(1) Unless otherwise specified in the order of appointment and endorsed on the letters of appointment or contrary to the financial plan filed pursuant to section 15-14-418, a conservator may expend or distribute income or principal of the estate of the protected person without further court authorization or confirmation for the support, care, education, health, and welfare of the protected person and individuals who are in fact dependent on the protected person, including the payment of child support or spousal maintenance, in accordance with the following rules:
A conservator shall consider recommendations relating to the appropriate standard ofsupport, care, education, health, and welfare for the protected person or an individual who is in fact dependent on the protected person made by a guardian, if any, and, if the protected person is a minor, the conservator shall consider recommendations made by a parent.
A conservator may not be surcharged for money paid to persons furnishing support,care, education, or benefit to a protected person, or an individual who is in fact dependent on the protected person, in accordance with the recommendations of a parent or guardian of the protected person unless the conservator knows that the parent or guardian derives personal financial benefit therefrom, including relief from any personal duty of support, or the recommendations are not in the best interest of the protected person.
In making distributions under this paragraph (c), the conservator shall consider:
The size of the estate, the estimated duration of the conservatorship, and the likelihood that the protected person, at some future time, may be fully self-sufficient and able to manage his or her business affairs and the estate;
The accustomed standard of living of the protected person and individuals who arein fact dependent on the protected person; and
Other money or sources used for the support of the protected person.
(d) Money expended under this paragraph (d) may be paid by the conservator to any person, including the protected person, as reimbursement for expenditures that the conservator might have made, or in advance for services to be rendered to the protected person if it is reasonable to expect the services will be performed and advance payments are customary or reasonably necessary under the circumstances.
(2) If an estate is ample to provide for the distributions authorized by subsection (1) of this section, a conservator for a protected person other than a minor may make gifts that the protected person might have been expected to make, in amounts that do not exceed in the aggregate for any calendar year twenty percent of the income of the estate in that year.
Source: L. 2000: Entire part R&RE, p. 1827, § 1, effective January 1, 2001 (see § 15-17103).
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 15-14-425 as it existed prior to 2001.