Ask the Piggy Bank: What is a Conservator?

Over this weekend I have received a couple of questions prompted by the latest in the Britney Spears drama. After seeing that Britney Spears’ dad has been named her temporary conservator, I received these two questions:

What is a conservator?

and

What does a conservator do?

The answer to these questions are good to know, since they touch on family finances.

A conservator is someone who takes care of another person. It is a essentially a legal guardian. Someone who can’t take care of themselves is called a conservatee. Decisions about the person are made by the conservator, and should be made in the best interest of the person to be protected.

The conservator over a person is in charge of who can visit that person, as well as who can help make health decisions. For our personal finance purposes, someone who is a conservator over an estate is in charge of properly directing the use of assets. Because Britney Spears is no longer considered capable of handling her own affairs, someone else has been assigned to handle them for her.