[GA, passed] - Preventing Abuses in Conservatorship

---

The World Assembly (WA),

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

Noting that a temporary guardian may be occasionally imposed on an individual with severe temporary mental illness (against the will of the said individual);

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

The WA hereby enacts as follows:

1. Definitions.
   • "Authority" means a competent authority in charge of interpreting and enforcing this resolution in a WA state.
   • "Conservatorship" means a mandate imposed on an individual suffering from severe temporary mental illness (“conservatee”) by the authority, in order to allow another individual (“conservator”) to manage the affairs of the conservatee on a temporary basis.
   • "MHS" means a mental health specialist qualified according to the laws of that WA state.
2. Scope. This resolution governs only conservatorships imposed on a conservatee due to the individual being deemed by at least three MHSs to be:
   • temporarily mentally incompetent due to mental illness or mental disorder, and
   • imposed under the direction of the authority, and
   • only when it is expressly against the will of the conservatee.
3. Exclusions. This resolution does not govern any guardianship imposed where the individual:
   • has explicitly affirmatively consented to the guardianship;
   • has not yet reached the age of majority in that WA state;
   • has been conclusively demonstrated to suffer from irreversible cases of dementia, major cognitive impairment, intellectual disability at birth, or acquired brain damage due to accident or illness.
4. Duty of care.
   • A conservator has a fiduciary duty and a non-delegable duty of care to a conservatee.
   • A conservator commits a criminal offence if they are found to have been derelict in their duties.
   • A conservator can be a family member of the conservatee, or a professional guardian.
   • A conservator can only be appointed by the authority.
   • Fees for the conservator shall be paid for by the authority and not by the conservatee.
5. Qualifications. Anyone who acts as a conservator shall:
   • Be at or above the age of majority in that WA state;
   • Be capable of taking care of the conservatee;
   • 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;
   • Be free of any undue conflicts of interests with the conservatee, especially of a financial nature;
   • Be willing and able to promote the conservatee’s interests ahead of the conservator’s own interests.
6. Finances.
   • 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.
   • Any trustee managing a conservatee’s finances shall aim for full preservation of capital, subject to supervision by the authority.
7. 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:
   • has a fully diagnosed temporary mental illness (as testified by at least two MHSs) of sufficient degree to warrant imposing conservatorship;
   • is incapable of making reasonable decisions on their own circumstances, and
   • the affairs of the individual can only be managed by a conservator and that no other less restrictive means are available.
8. Regular review.
   • 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.
   • 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.
   • 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.
9. Recognition and appeals.
   • 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.
   • No WA state may grant recognition of a conservatorship granted by another WA state without a separate independent process.
   • If a conservatee exhausts the appeals processes of that WA state, they may directly appeal to the Judiciary Committee on a de novo basis.

Click to expand...

Note: Only votes from TNP WA nations, NPA personnel, and those on NPA deployments will be counted. If you do not meet these requirements, please add (non-WA) or something of that effect to your vote. If you are on an NPA deployment without being formally registered as an NPA member, name your deployed nation in your vote.

---

Voting Instructions:

• Vote For if you want the Delegate to vote For the resolution.
• Vote Against if you want the Delegate to vote Against the resolution.
• Vote Abstain if you want the Delegate to abstain from voting on this resolution.
• Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.

Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!

---

Overview
This resolution deals with only a narrow and specific issue: when (otherwise legally competent) adults refuse consent for their affairs to be taken over due to perceived mental illness or disorder may be curable and temporary, but one where a court decides to impose restrictions anyway. The resolution forces conservatorships to act in the interest of those they act on their behalf, and also requires that WA states do not grant mutual recognition on conservatorship rulings.

Recommendation
The Ministry of World Assembly Affairs supports this resolution. Conservatorship in real life is largely restricted to a small number of jurisdictions (such as the United States) and alleged misuse of conservatorship frequently appear in the news in that country. It is an issue that is probably less familiar to those NS voters who do not live in the United States, but nevertheless the issue is significant enough, in the view of the Ministry, to warrant a NS-wide regulation.

For the above reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For the at-vote GA resolution, "Preventing Abuses in Conservatorship".

I am author of the resolution.

I would have called this “Free Britney Act” if I can use real names. But this is, indeed, largely related to all the problems that arose from Britney Spears. I have no opinions on her music (I am not known for my music tastes anyway) but I believe the courts’ treatment of her welfare is shocking and disgusting.

This is an issue that I have wanted to tackle for a long time (since Psychiatric Care Act, so some two years ago) but not had the time to do.

Title has been changed from "Mental Illness Conservatorship" to "Preventing Abuses in Conservatorship"

Important

There are only five likely scenarios where a guardian is required. Namely, if the person:

1. has not yet reached the age of majority in that state;
2. suffers from dementia or major cognitive impairment, usually from old age;
3. suffers from intellectual disability of some kind, usually at birth;
4. suffers from temporary mental illness or disorder;
5. suffers from acquired brain damage due to accident or illness.

This resolution deals only with case (4) on the assumption that the mental illness or disorder may be curable and temporary. Other cases will be dealt with in due course and do not form part of this resolution (some of it is covered by GA299 anyway). Note that in line with the language in GA299, the word "conservator" is used here, whereas in all other cases the word "guardian" is used. I want to make it absolutely clear that I am essentially dealing with the American version here and restraining it across the WA.

Present

For

For.

For

For

Present

Against.

Against

Present

Recent:

Preventing Abuses in Conservatorship was passed 8,669 votes to 1,468.