Number of conservatorships in US is not tracked

The Britney Spears case has brought new attention to conservatories – a legal arrangement that affects many people but is not pursued nationally.

The ongoing legal drama surrounding Britney Spears and her conservatory has introduced many people to the concept of a conservatory.

The definition of a conservatory, which can also be referred to as guardianship, differs from state to state. In general, a restoration is a legal arrangement where a judge determines that a person is unable to take care of their health or finances and a third party, often a family member or friend called a restorer, appoints them To take on tasks.

In response to stories about the conservatories Britney Spears was involved in, people on social media have asked how many people are in conservatories.

THE QUESTION

Is the number of conservatories in the US being recorded?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

No, it does not track the number of conservatories in the United States. Experts and groups working on conservatories say that some states can provide reliable data on conservatories while others cannot.

WHAT WE FOUND

Diane Robinson, senior court research associate at the National Center for State Courts, said one of the most common situations for a conservatory is when an older adult has memory problems like dementia. She also said younger adults can undergo restoration.

“They are usually due to either a serious mental illness, and sometimes a serious addiction. It can also be for someone with an intellectual disability, ”explained Robinson. “And the other thing that happens is sometimes the result of a traumatic brain injury. So when younger people are in conservatories or guardianships, it is usually for one of those reasons. “

Conservatories can be permanent or temporary, depending on the situation. And they can be limited, which means that the conservatory focuses on specific areas where a person may have difficulty making decisions. A person who is the subject of a restoration can request termination of the agreement and take their case to a judge.

There is no national database that tracks the number of conservatories and guardianships in the United States. Naomi Cahn, a law professor at the University of Virginia, said the federal government does not require states to report how many conservatories there are.

“Some states may have this information, not all states,” Cahn said. “And there are very different estimates of how many conservatories there are, how much money is administered by conservatories, and how often they are not only received but also terminated. We just don’t have the data. “

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC), a nonprofit focused on improving the administration of justice, said there were approximately 1.3 million guardianship or conservatory cases in the U.S. in 2016, with total assets of at least $ 50 billion. Dollars gave. The group said the estimate was a projection based on data from nearly a third of the US states.

“Sixteen states provided reliable data on guardianship or conservatory cases that were used to produce national estimates,” the NCSC said.

Robinson said that many states do not have a nationwide system for conservatories and that some of the data lives at the county level, adding another challenge to tracking the number of conservatories.

In a 2018 report, the NCSC said that “data standards for what must be collected and reported often do not exist in a state”.

That same year, the US Senate Special Committee on Aging concluded in a report that “Few states are able to report accurate or detailed guardianship data, and numbers are on the number of people under guardianship largely not available “. One of the committee’s recommendations was that all states establish state-wide data registers.

The lack of information on the total number of conservatories has been documented for more than a decade. A 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an impartial oversight agency of Congress, found that there is no group tracking how many conservatories there are in the United States

“Our research has not identified any public, private or nongovernmental organization that is systematically tracking the total number of guardians or allegations of abuse, neglect and exploitation by guardians,” the report said. “GAO previously noted that many of the courts we interviewed did not track the number of guardians they were responsible for.”

Cahn said that the surveillance requirements for conservatories vary by state. In California, an investigator reviews a conservatory a year after it started. Thereafter, an investigator visits the person at the conservatory at least every two years.

While the total number of conservatories in the United States is still based only on estimates, Robinson said states are improving the collection of information about conservatories. For example, she said Pennsylanvia had a guardianship tracking system in place.

“In this area, a lot of states are doing a really good job of better recording and maintaining this information,” she said.

More from VERIFY: Yes, family members can have full legal guardianship even for adults. It’s a process called a conservatory

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