Section 2620 Of Article 3. Accounts From California Probate Code >> Division 4. >> Part 4. >> Chapter 7. >> Article 3.
2620
. (a) At the expiration of one year from the time of
appointment and thereafter not less frequently than biennially,
unless otherwise ordered by the court to be more frequent, the
guardian or conservator shall present the accounting of the assets of
the estate of the ward or conservatee to the court for settlement
and allowance in the manner provided in Chapter 4 (commencing with
Section 1060) of Part 1 of Division 3. By January 1, 2008, the
Judicial Council, in consultation with the California Judges
Association, the California Association of Superior Court
Investigators, the California State Association of Public
Administrators, Public Guardians, and Public Conservators, the State
Bar of California, and the California Society of Certified Public
Accountants, shall develop a standard accounting form, a simplified
accounting form, and rules for when the simplified accounting form
may be used. After January 1, 2008, all accountings submitted
pursuant to this section shall be submitted on the Judicial Council
form.
(b) The final court accounting of the guardian or conservator
following the death of the ward or conservatee shall include a court
accounting for the period that ended on the date of death and a
separate accounting for the period subsequent to the date of death.
(c) Along with each court accounting, the guardian or conservator
shall file supporting documents, as provided in this section.
(1) For purposes of this subdivision, the term "account statement"
shall include any original account statement from any institution,
as defined in Section 2890, or any financial institution, as defined
in Section 2892, in which money or other assets of the estate are
held or deposited.
(2) The filing shall include all account statements showing the
account balance as of the closing date of the accounting period of
the court accounting. If the court accounting is the first court
accounting of the guardianship or conservatorship, the guardian or
conservator shall provide to the court all account statements showing
the account balance immediately preceding the date the conservator
or guardian was appointed and all account statements showing the
account balance as of the closing date of the first court accounting.
(3) If the guardian or conservator is a private professional or
licensed guardian or conservator, the guardian or conservator shall
also file all original account statements, as described above,
showing the balance as of all periods covered by the accounting.
(4) The filing shall include the original closing escrow statement
received showing the charges and credits for any sale of real
property of the estate.
(5) If the ward or conservatee is in a residential care facility
or a long-term care facility, the filing shall include the original
bill statements for the facility.
(6) This subdivision shall not apply to the public guardian if the
money belonging to the estate is pooled with money belonging to
other estates pursuant to Section 2940 and Article 3 (commencing with
Section 7640) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Division 7. Nothing in this
section shall affect any other duty or responsibility of the public
guardian with regard to managing money belonging to the estate or
filing accountings with the court.
(7) If any document to be filed or lodged with the court under
this section contains the ward's or conservatee's social security
number or any other personal information regarding the ward or
conservatee that would not ordinarily be disclosed in a court
accounting, an inventory and appraisal, or other nonconfidential
pleadings filed in the action, the account statement or other
document shall be attached to a separate affidavit describing the
character of the document, captioned "CONFIDENTIAL FINANCIAL
STATEMENT" in capital letters. Except as otherwise ordered by the
court, the clerk of the court shall keep the document confidential
except to the court and subject to disclosure only upon an order of
the court. The guardian or conservator may redact the ward's or
conservatee's social security number from any document lodged with
the court under this section.
(8) Courts may provide by local rule that the court shall retain
all documents lodged with it under this subdivision until the court's
determination of the guardian's or conservator's account has become
final, at which time the supporting documents shall be returned to
the depositing guardian or conservator or delivered to any successor
appointed by the court.
(d) Each accounting is subject to random or discretionary, full or
partial review by the court. The review may include consideration of
any information necessary to determine the accuracy of the
accounting. If the accounting has any material error, the court shall
make an express finding as to the severity of the error and what
further action is appropriate in response to the error, if any. Among
the actions available to the court is immediate suspension of the
guardian or conservator without further notice or proceedings and
appointment of a temporary guardian or conservator or removal of the
guardian or conservator pursuant to Section 2650 and appointment of a
temporary guardian or conservator.
(e) The guardian or conservator shall make available for
inspection and copying, upon reasonable notice, to any person
designated by the court to verify the accuracy of the accounting, all
books and records, including receipts for any expenditures, of the
guardianship or conservatorship.
(f) A superior court shall not be required to perform any duties
imposed pursuant to the amendments to this section enacted by Chapter
493 of the Statutes 2006 until the Legislature makes an
appropriation identified for this purpose.