(a) The proposed conservatee shall be produced at the hearing except in the following cases:
(1) Where the proposed conservatee is out of the state when served and is not the petitioner.
(2) Where the proposed conservatee is unable to attend the hearing by reason of medical inability.
(3) Where the court investigator has reported to the court that the proposed conservatee has expressly communicated that the proposed conservatee (i) is not willing to attend the hearing, (ii) does not wish to contest the establishment of the conservatorship, and (iii) does not object to the proposed conservator or prefer that another person act as conservator, and the court makes an order that the proposed conservatee need not attend the hearing.
(b) If the proposed conservatee is unable to attend the hearing because of medical inability, such inability shall be established (1) by the affidavit or certificate of a licensed medical practitioner or (2) if the proposed conservatee is an adherent of a religion whose tenets and practices call for reliance on prayer alone for healing and is under treatment by an accredited practitioner of that religion, by the affidavit of the practitioner. The affidavit or certificate is evidence only of the proposed conservatee’s inability to attend the hearing and shall not be considered in determining the issue of need for the establishment of a conservatorship.
(c) Emotional or psychological instability is not good cause for the absence of the proposed conservatee from the hearing unless, by reason of such instability, attendance at the hearing is likely to cause serious and immediate physiological damage to the proposed conservatee.
(Enacted by Stats. 1990, Ch. 79.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018