Undue Influence: Definitions and Applications - California Courts ...

Case Characteristics
A large majority of petitions (76 percent) were for conservatorship of both the person
and the estate. None of the cases reviewed involved petitions for conservatorship only of the
person. (See Table 2.) In the prior studies of the general conservatorship population, four to five
percent of cases involved petitions for conservatorship of the person only. The general
conservatorship population also seemed somewhat less likely than the undue influence sample to
involve petitions for conservatorship of the estate only (5 to 6 percent versus 24 percent).
Private professional conservators petitioned for conservatorship in almost half (48
percent) of cases, followed by the Public Guardian (32 percent) and family members (24
percent). A small proportion of cases involved multiple petitioners. (See Table 3.) It was
uncommon for the alleged abuser to file a competing petition or contest the conservatorship; that
occurred in only eight percent of cases (see Table 4).
The most common reason for the establishment of the conservatorship —specifically
with respect to undue influence—was to provide court supervision of assets that were in jeopardy
(88 percent). Other common reasons for conservatorship included preventing further loss of
assets (80 percent) and taking control out of the hands of the alleged abuser (24 percent). (See
Table 5.)
The court files reflected that adult protective services (APS) was involved in all but one
case (96 percent; see Table 6). This is a much higher incidence than in prior studies dealing with
the general conservatorship population, in which APS involvement ranged from 33 to 54 percent.
Characteristics of Proposed Conservatees (PCs)
Approximately half of the PCs were female and half were male (see Table 7). PCs in the
two prior studies were somewhat more likely to be female (ranging from 58 to 68 percent of the
sample). Nearly three-quarters of PCs were 80 years of age or older, and more than one-quarter
were 90 or older, with a mean age of around 81. (See Table 8.) There was insufficient
information in the court files to assess the racial/ethnic composition of the sample.
PCs were mostly likely to be widowed (44 percent) or to have never been married (20
percent). Only 5 of the 25 PCs were married. (See Table 9.) All of the PCs lived in a private
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