[Draft 2] - Mental Illness Conservatorship

[Simone]

The World Assembly (WA),

Affirming the WA’s efforts to protect those needing mental and health support,

Noting that a temporary guardian ("conservator") may sometimes be imposed on an individual battling severe mental illness to manage the affairs of that individual;

Believing that imposing a conservator is intrusive and should only be done if strictly necessary;

The WA hereby enacts as follows:

1. Definitions.
   1. "Authority" means one or more judicial authorities in charge of conservatorship matters in a WA state and to enforce this resolution.
   2. "Conservatorship" means a mandate imposed on an individual suffering from mental illness (“conservatee”) by the said authority, in order to allow another individual (“conservator”) to manage the affairs of the conservatee on a temporary basis.
   3. "MHS" means a mental health specialist qualified according to the laws of that WA state.
2. Scope.
   1. This resolution governs only conservatorships imposed on a conservatee under the explicit direction of the judicial authority, and only when it is expressly against the will of the conservatee or with the views of the conservatee disregarded, due to the conservatee being deemed by at least two MHSs to be temporarily mentally incompetent due to mental illness or mental disorder.
   2. This excludes any conservatorship imposed where the individual:
      1. has affirmatively consented to the conservatorship;
      2. has not yet reached the age of majority in that WA state;
      3. suffers from irreversible cases of dementia, major cognitive impairment, intellectual disability at birth, or acquired brain damage due to accident or illness.
3. Duty of care.
   1. A conservator has a fiduciary duty and a non-delegable duty of care to a conservatee.
   2. A conservator commits an offence if they are found to have been derelict in their duties as defined in sub-clause (3)(a) and clause (5)(a).
   3. A conservator can be a family member of the conservatee, or a professional guardian.
   4. A conservator can only be appointed by the authority.
   5. Fees for the conservator shall be paid for by the authority and not by the conservatee.
4. Qualifications. Anyone who acts as a conservator shall:
   1. Be at or above the age of majority in that WA state;
   2. Be capable of taking care of the conservatee;
   3. Be capable of actively promoting and protecting the interests of the welfare of the conservatee, in areas such as housing, food supply, medical care as well as in education, employment or in general care;
   4. Be free of any undue conflicts of interests with the conservatee, especially of a financial nature;
   5. Be willing and able to promote the conservatee’s interests ahead of the conservator’s own interests.
5. Finances.
   1. The authority shall determine if a conservator shall manage the finances of a conservatee as a trustee directly, or if a separate trustee is required, depending on the wealth of the conservatee.
   2. Any trustee managing a conservatee’s finances shall aim for full preservation of capital, subject to supervision by the judicial authority.
6. Conservator. A conservator can only be imposed by an authority on an individual as conservatee, subject to due process, if it deems that the individual:
   1. has a fully diagnosed temporary mental illness (as testified by two MHSs) of sufficient degree to warrant imposing conservatorship;
   2. is incapable of making reasonable decisions on their own circumstances, and
   3. the affairs of the individual can only be managed by a conservator and that no other less restrictive means are available.
7. Regular review.
   1. Each authority must regularly review the need for conservatorship, based on the latest evaluation of the conditions of the conservatee as determined by at least two MHS.
   2. Each authority must also consider any review requests or appeals from a conservatee. No conservator may impede the ability of a conservatee to request for a review.
   3. The MHS appointed by an authority for each review shall be different from the MHS appointed at the time conservatorship is imposed, and different MHS shall be used for each subsequent review.
8. Recognition and appeals.
   1. No one who is (or was) employed by the WA or any of the committees or as a representative of a WA state to the WA may be placed under conservatorship, regardless of their sanity (or lack thereof).
   2. No WA state may grant recognition of a conservatorship from another WA state without a separate judicial process.
   3. All appeals against the decisions of the authority shall follow the judicial process of that WA state.
   4. If a conservatee exhausts the appeals processes of that WA state, the conservatee may directly appeal to the WA Judiciary Committee on a de novo basis.