2020 California Code
Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC
DIVISION 5 - COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
PART 1 - THE LANTERMAN-PETRIS-SHORT ACT
CHAPTER 5 - Housing Conservatorship for Persons with Serious Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders
Section 5457.
(a) The officer providing conservatorship investigation shall investigate all available alternatives to a conservatorship under this chapter, including a conservatorship under Division 4 (commencing with Section 1400) of the Probate Code or a conservatorship under Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 5350), and shall recommend conservatorship to the court only if no less restrictive alternatives exist and it appears that the person does not qualify for a conservatorship under Division 4 (commencing with Section 1400) of the Probate Code or a conservatorship under Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 5350). This officer shall render to the court a written report of investigation prior to the hearing. The report to the court shall be comprehensive and shall contain, in addition to the elements required under Section 5354, all relevant aspects of the person’s medical, psychological, financial, family, vocational, and social condition, and information obtained from the person’s family members, close friends, social worker, or principal therapist. The report shall also contain all available information concerning the person’s real and personal property. The facilities providing medical treatment, or intensive treatment or comprehensive evaluation, the sheriff, and the director of the county mental health department or the county department of public social services shall disclose any records or information that may facilitate the investigation. If the officer providing conservatorship investigation recommends a conservatorship, the officer shall explain why all less restrictive alternatives are not sufficient, and if the officer recommends against a conservatorship, the officer shall set forth all alternatives available. When confidentiality and client privacy laws permit, a copy of the report shall be transmitted to the individual who originally recommended conservatorship, and the information shared shall be compliant with state and federal laws governing protected health information. The court shall receive the report in evidence and shall read and consider the contents of the report in rendering its judgment.
(b) The report of the officer providing conservatorship investigation shall contain the officer’s recommendations concerning the powers to be granted to, and the duties to be imposed upon, the conservator, the legal disabilities to be imposed upon the conservatee, and the proper placement for the conservatee pursuant to Section 5460, and shall explain why each of these items is the least restrictive alternative. The report to the court shall also contain an agreement signed by the person or agency recommended to serve as conservator certifying that the person or agency is able and willing to serve as conservator.
(Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 845, Sec. 1. (SB 1045) Effective January 1, 2019. Repealed as of January 1, 2024, pursuant to Section 5466.)
