An LPS conservatorship addresses grave disability resulting from a mental health disorder. It is a separate track from probate conservatorship, with stricter standards, and here is the part that stops most families cold: you generally cannot file one yourself.
LPS proceedings are initiated through the county, not by a parent walking into the courthouse with a petition.
The two tracks are not interchangeable
Probate conservatorship is for an adult who cannot manage their own affairs or resist undue influence, and it is the one families file. LPS conservatorship comes out of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act and addresses grave disability from a mental health disorder, with its own standards, its own timelines, and its own path into court.
Parents of adult children with severe mental illness call me for the wrong one constantly, and it is not their fault. Nothing about the system explains itself.
Why you cannot simply file
LPS conservatorship generally originates through the county's designated process, typically following psychiatric holds and evaluation, with the county recommending conservatorship. A family's role is providing information and advocating within that process rather than initiating a petition. That is frustrating, and it is the structure.
Grave disability
The standard turns on whether a mental health disorder leaves the person unable to provide for their basic personal needs. It is a demanding test, applied deliberately narrowly, because what is at stake is involuntary treatment and the loss of liberty.
That narrowness is the source of most families' anguish. A son who is clearly unwell, clearly deteriorating, and clearly refusing help may still not meet the standard on the day someone evaluates him. Being ill is not the test. Being unable to meet basic needs because of the illness is.
“I do not have a good answer for the mother whose adult son is unwell, refusing treatment, and not quite gravely disabled on any given afternoon. The honest answer is that California's system has a gap there and she is standing in it. Pretending otherwise, or selling her a probate petition that will not solve her problem, is worse than saying so.”
Delia Vasquez-HartWhat families can actually do
- Document everything, dated: hospitalizations, incidents, statements, the pattern over time
- Build a relationship with the treatment team and the county mental health system before a crisis
- Understand which holds and evaluations start the process, so you recognize the moments that matter
- Ask specifically whether conservatorship is being considered, and by whom
- Get counsel who works in this area if a proceeding does begin, because the deadlines are short
The documentation point is not busywork. LPS determinations are made in narrow windows by people seeing a snapshot. A dated record of the last eighteen months is sometimes the only thing that shows the pattern.
Where the two tracks overlap
Sometimes a person has both a mental health disorder and assets that need protecting, and the question of which proceeding fits is genuinely difficult. It also matters that LPS conservatorships carry authority over treatment and placement that a probate conservatorship does not. Do not assume the one you can file is the one that solves your problem.
Questions we get asked
Can I file an LPS conservatorship for my son?
Generally not directly. These proceedings originate through the county's process, typically after psychiatric evaluation, with the county in the initiating role. Your influence is exercised through that process.
What is the difference between grave disability and being unable to manage affairs?
They are different legal standards attached to different proceedings. Grave disability under LPS concerns inability to provide for basic personal needs due to a mental health disorder. The probate standard concerns managing financial resources or personal needs and resisting undue influence.
Would a probate conservatorship work instead?
Sometimes for the financial side. It does not carry the treatment and placement authority that makes LPS the tool families are usually actually looking for.
How long does an LPS conservatorship last?
LPS conservatorships are time-limited and subject to renewal through the court, unlike probate conservatorships which continue until terminated. The specifics should be confirmed for the case in front of you.
Start a dated log tonight, one page, every hospitalization and incident you can reconstruct with dates. Bring it to the free consultation and we will tell you which track your situation actually sits on.