Conservators

News Channel 9 reported on a new Tennessee law to protect elderly nursing home residents and other vulnerable populations. The law requires a search of the Department of Health’s abuse registry and sex offender registry for anyone seeking to become a conservator.

A conservatorship is the legal process by which a court appoints someone to make financial and/or medical decisions. The court will only grant a conservatorship for a person the court declares disabled. The person appointed to make these decisions is the “conservator,” and the disabled person is the “ward”. Often applies to the elderly or people with intellectual disabilities.

A conservator is court appointed and allowed to make decisions as a fiduciary on behalf of an incompetent or incapacitated vulnerable adult. Conservators must act in the best interests of the ward

The law will protect those that need it most. A search of persons who have abused, neglected or misappropriated the property of vulnerable persons and the national sex offender registry is reasonable. It should be done before the appointment. This should have been done before but now the law will require it.