Conservatorship in Florida vs. Guardianship: Types, Duties, and Costs

Florida does not use “conservatorship” as its primary legal term. What other states call conservatorship in Florida is handled through guardianship under Chapter 744 of the Florida Statutes. A Florida court can appoint a guardian to make personal decisions, financial decisions, or both for an adult who can no longer make those decisions safely, but only after a formal petition, a medical evaluation by a court-appointed committee, and a hearing where incapacity is proven by clear and convincing evidence.

If you searched for conservatorship expecting to find a Florida statute by that name, you won’t. The word “conservator” appears in scattered Florida legal contexts, but the framework you need is guardianship. The rest of this article uses the terms Florida courts actually use.

Two Kinds of Guardian

Florida splits the role that other states lump into “conservator” into two jobs. A guardian of the person handles healthcare, living arrangements, and day-to-day care. A guardian of the property manages money, assets, and financial obligations. One person can hold both roles, or the court can appoint different people to each. That split matters because a family member might be well suited to make care decisions for a loved one but a poor fit to manage a complex investment portfolio, or vice versa.

How Someone Is Placed Under Guardianship

Any adult can start the process by filing a verified petition in the circuit court of the county where the alleged incapacitated person lives. The petition has to name the person, state the factual basis for believing they are incapacitated, and identify which specific rights from the statutory list the petitioner believes the person can no longer exercise. It also has to state whether the person already uses any form of assistance, such as supported decision-making, and explain why that assistance is no longer enough.¹

Within five days of the filing, the court appoints a three-member examining committee. At least one member must be a psychiatrist or other physician. The others can be psychologists, social workers, gerontologists, advanced practice registered nurses, or other qualified professionals, and at least one member must have expertise related to the type of incapacity alleged. Committee members cannot be connected to the petitioner, the proposed guardian, or their attorneys, and the person’s own treating physician is generally excluded from the committee itself.²

The court also appoints an attorney to represent the alleged incapacitated person. At the hearing, incapacity must be proven by clear and convincing evidence, a higher standard than the “more likely than not” used in most civil cases. The judge weighs all the evidence and independently decides whether guardianship is warranted, rather than rubber-stamping the committee’s recommendation.²

The Court Has to Consider Alternatives First

Before appointing a guardian, the court must decide whether some less restrictive arrangement would work. If one would, the court cannot appoint a guardian at all. Florida’s legislative intent explicitly directs courts to explore alternatives before resorting to a full guardian.³

Alternatives that often satisfy the court include a durable power of attorney executed while the person still had capacity, a health care surrogate designation, supported decision-making arrangements where the person keeps authority but leans on trusted advisors, and trusts that already have a trustee managing assets. There is one important exception: if someone files a verified statement with a good-faith belief that an existing trust, trust amendment, or power of attorney is invalid, the court will not treat those documents as an alternative to guardianship.² That prevents a potentially fraudulent power of attorney from blocking a needed guardianship.

Voluntary Guardianship for Adults Who Still Have Capacity

Not every guardianship involves a contested finding of incapacity. If you are mentally competent but physically unable to manage your own property, you can petition the court yourself to have a guardian appointed. No incapacity finding is required.⁴

The petition must include a licensed physician’s certificate confirming that you understand what the guardianship means and are voluntarily delegating authority. The court can limit the arrangement to specific property. Every year the guardian files an annual report that includes a fresh physician’s certificate confirming continuing consent. You can terminate the arrangement at any time by filing a notice with the court.⁴

Limited Guardianship vs. Plenary Guardianship

Florida law strongly favors taking only the rights a person genuinely cannot exercise and leaving everything else alone. The court’s order has to specify the exact nature and scope of the person’s incapacities and which rights are being removed. A person found incapacitated retains every right not explicitly taken away.²

A limited guardian can exercise only the specific rights the court has transferred. Someone might need help managing investments but remain fully capable of choosing where to live or what medical care to accept. In that situation, the court appoints a limited guardian of the property and leaves personal decisions with the individual. A plenary guardian has authority over all delegable rights. Even a plenary guardianship, though, cannot strip rights that are not delegable in the first place, such as the right to counsel or the right to be treated with dignity.

Who Can Serve as a Guardian

Any Florida resident who is at least 18 and legally competent can serve. Nonresidents can serve only if they are related to the ward by blood, adoption, or marriage, or related to someone in those categories.⁵

Several categories are disqualified:

Convicted felons and anyone found to have committed abuse, abandonment, or neglect of a child
Creditors of the ward, and anyone providing professional or business services to the ward, unless they are a close family member or the court finds the conflict insubstantial
Healthcare providers who treat the ward, unless the court specifically finds no conflict of interest
Judges, unless they are related to the ward and serve without pay

The restriction on paid service providers catches some families off guard. A home health aide who has cared for a person for years generally cannot also serve as guardian because of the built-in conflict between billing for services and overseeing the person’s money.⁵

When no suitable family member is available, the court can appoint a professional guardian. Professional guardians must register with the Office of Public and Professional Guardians, complete initial and continuing education, undergo background screening, and post a blanket fiduciary bond of at least $50,000 that cannot be paid from the ward’s assets.⁶

What the Guardian Has to Do

A guardian is a fiduciary. They can exercise only the rights the court has removed from the ward and delegated to them, they must act in good faith, and they cannot act contrary to the ward’s best interests.⁷

A guardian of the property must protect, preserve, and prudently invest the ward’s assets, keep clear and accurate records of every transaction, pay the ward’s debts and taxes, and turn assets over to the right person when the guardianship ends. The standard is the care a prudent person would use handling another person’s property.⁷

A guardian of the person has to consider the ward’s own expressed wishes, allow the ward to maintain contact with family and friends unless there is a genuine risk of harm, and avoid restricting the ward’s physical freedom more than reasonably necessary. Preferences about living arrangements should be honored to the extent they are reasonable, whether the ward expressed them before or after being found incapacitated.⁷

Reporting and Accounting

The guardian files an initial guardianship report and then annual reports. A guardian of the property must file an annual accounting within 90 days of each anniversary of the guardianship, listing every dollar received and spent, the ward’s assets at the start and end of the period, and a statement of the ward’s residence and health. Copies go to the ward (unless the ward is a minor or totally incapacitated), the ward’s attorney, and anyone else the court directs. When assets sit at a single designated financial institution, the court may allow a simplified annual report using the institution’s own statement.⁸ Late or incomplete filings can trigger penalties or removal. The accounting is the court’s primary tool for catching financial abuse.

Conflicts of Interest

Without prior court approval, a guardian cannot have a financial interest in a business transaction with the ward, acquire any ownership interest adverse to the ward, be named as a beneficiary on the ward’s life insurance or pension (unless the ward set that up before being found incapacitated), or buy, rent, or sell property from businesses owned by the guardian or the guardian’s close relatives. Professional guardians face a flat ban: they cannot buy property from the ward or lend money to the ward under any circumstances. Violations are voidable, and the guardian can be removed and surcharged for losses. Kickbacks, commissions, and referral fees tied to goods or services provided to the ward are also prohibited.⁹

What Rights the Ward Keeps

A finding of incapacity does not erase a person’s legal existence. Florida law preserves specific rights for every ward regardless of the scope of the guardianship:¹⁰

To be treated with dignity and respect and be protected against abuse, neglect, and exploitation
To have an annual review of the guardianship plan
To have continuing review of whether the restrictions on their rights are still necessary
To be restored to capacity at the earliest possible time
To remain as independent as possible, with living-arrangement preferences honored when reasonable
To be informed about how their property is being managed
To access the courts and have legal counsel
To receive visitors and communicate with others
To receive notice of all proceedings related to their capacity and guardianship
To privacy

The right to counsel matters most at the front end. The court appoints an attorney for the alleged incapacitated person during the initial proceedings, and the ward can retain or be appointed counsel later to challenge the guardianship, ask for a different guardian, or petition for restoration of rights.

What It Costs

Guardianship is expensive, and the money comes primarily out of the ward’s own estate. Both the guardian and any attorney rendering services on the ward’s behalf are entitled to reasonable compensation and reimbursement of expenses.¹¹

When reviewing fee petitions, the court weighs the time and labor involved, the complexity of the issues, customary local rates, the size and income of the estate, and the results obtained. Every fee petition must itemize the services performed, and when a guardian is also an attorney, the court has to separately identify what counts as legal work versus guardian work and confirm no conflict of interest exists.¹¹

Families should plan for attorney fees on both sides (the petitioner’s attorney and the court-appointed attorney for the ward), examining committee costs, court filing fees, the guardian’s ongoing compensation, and bond costs when a professional guardian is used. For modest estates, these expenses can consume a meaningful share of the ward’s assets over time.

Emergency Temporary Guardianship

When someone faces immediate danger, the court can appoint an emergency temporary guardian before the full incapacity case is decided. The court has to find imminent danger, meaning the person’s physical or mental health is at serious risk or their property is in danger of being wasted or stolen. The alleged incapacitated person and their attorney must get at least 24 hours’ notice before the emergency hearing, unless the petitioner shows even that delay would cause substantial harm. The court appoints counsel during the emergency proceedings. Authority lasts up to 90 days, extendable once for another 90 days if emergency conditions persist, or ends earlier if a permanent guardian is appointed.¹²

Ending or Reducing the Guardianship

A Florida guardianship is not necessarily permanent. Any interested person, including the ward, can file a “suggestion of capacity” asking the court to restore some or all of the rights that were removed. Once the suggestion is filed, the court immediately appoints a physician to examine the ward, and the physician has 20 days to report back.¹³

If no one objects and the medical evidence supports restoration, the court can enter an order without a full hearing on a preponderance of the evidence, a lower bar than the clear and convincing standard used to establish the guardianship. If there are objections or the medical evidence points to only partial improvement, the court holds a hearing where the ward bears the burden of showing restoration is warranted. Partial restoration is common: rights can be returned in the areas where the ward has recovered while leaving the guardian in place for the rest. When rights are partially restored, the guardian has to file a new guardianship report within 60 days reflecting the reduced scope of authority.¹³

1
FindLaw. Florida Statutes 744.3201 – Petition to Determine Incapacity
2
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 744.331 – Procedures to Determine Incapacity
3
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 744.1012 – Legislative Intent
4
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 744.341 – Voluntary Guardianship
5
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 744.309 – Who May Be Appointed Guardian of a Resident Ward
6
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 744.2003 – Professional Guardian Registration and Education
7
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 744.361 – Powers and Duties of Guardian
8
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 744.3678 – Annual Accounting
9
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 744.446 – Conflicts of Interest, Prohibited Activities
10
Florida eLaws. Florida Statutes 744.3215 – Rights of Persons Determined Incapacitated
11
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 744.108 – Guardian and Attorney Fees and Expenses
12
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 744.3031 – Emergency Temporary Guardianship
13
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 744.464 – Restoration to Capacity