Arizona § 14-5419 - Accounts; definition

§ 14-5419. Accounts; definition

A. Except as provided pursuant to subsection F of this section, every conservator must account to the court for the administration of the estate annually pursuant to rules adopted by the supreme court and on termination of the protected person's minority or disability, except that for good cause shown on the application of an interested person, the court may relieve the conservator of filing annual or other accounts by an order entered in the minutes.

B. The court may take any appropriate action on filing of annual or other accounts. In connection with any account, the court may require a conservator to submit to a physical check of the estate in the conservator's control, to be made in any manner the court may specify.

C. An adjudication allowing an intermediate or final account can be made only on petition, notice and a hearing. Notice must be given to:

1. The protected person.

2. A guardian of the protected person if one has been appointed, unless the same person is serving as both guardian and conservator.

3. If no guardian has been appointed or the same person is serving as both guardian and conservator, a spouse or, if the spouse is the conservator, there is no spouse or the spouse is incapacitated, a parent or an adult child who is not serving as a conservator.

4. A guardian ad litem appointed for the protected person, if the court determines in accordance with section 14-1408 that representation of the interest of the protected person would otherwise be inadequate.

D. An order, made on notice and a hearing, allowing an intermediate account of a conservator, adjudicates as to the conservator's liabilities concerning the matters considered in connection therewith. An order, made on notice and a hearing, allowing a final account adjudicates as to all previously unsettled liabilities of the conservator to the protected person or the protected person's successors relating to the conservatorship.

E. In any case in which the estate consists, in whole or in part, of benefits paid by the United States department of veterans affairs to the conservator or the conservator's predecessor for the benefit of the protected person, the United States department of veterans affairs office that has jurisdiction over the area is entitled to a copy of any account filed under this article.  Each year in which an account is not filed with the court, the conservator, if requested, shall submit an account to the appropriate United States department of veterans affairs office. If an account is not submitted as requested, or if it is found unsatisfactory by the United States department of veterans affairs, the court on receipt of notice of the deficiency shall require the conservator to immediately file an account with the court promptly.

F. Unless prohibited by order of the court, the conservator may file with the court, in lieu of a final account, a verified statement stating that:

1. The protected person has died.  The conservator shall attach a certified copy of the protected person's death certificate to the statement.

2. The protected person's successors have all waived in writing their right to have the conservator submit to the court a final account of the conservator's administration of the protected person's estate. The conservator shall attach the originals of the written waivers to the statement.

3. The conservator has delivered a copy of a closing statement to the protected person's successors.  The conservator shall attach a copy of the closing statement to the statement.

G. The closing statement that is to be delivered to the protected person's successors shall be a verified statement stating the following:

1. The protected person has died and the date of the person's death.

2. The persons receiving the closing statement have a right to have the conservator submit to the court a final account of the conservator's administration of the protected person's estate.

3. If the person wishes to have the final accounting reviewed by the court, the person should not sign a waiver that waives this right.

4. If all persons receiving the closing statement choose to waive the right to have the conservator submit to the court a final account, the final account will not be reviewed by the court.

5. A list of the property owned by the protected person, as of the date of the protected person's death, is attached to the closing statement and that the list states the fair market value of the property as of the date of the protected person's death.

6. The conservator, by the closing statement, shall inform the protected person's successors that if they waive court review of the conservator's final account, the conservatorship will be terminated, the conservator will be discharged from all liabilities relating to the conservatorship, the bond or other security posted by the conservator will be exonerated and any restrictions previously imposed on the assets of the conservatorship will be lifted.

H. The conservator shall file an affidavit with the court that states that the closing statement was sent or delivered to the protected person's successors on a date before the date that the protected person's successors signed the written waiver.

I. Unless proceedings are pending against the conservator, on the filing of the statement described in subsection F of this section and the affidavit described in subsection H of this section, the court shall enter an order terminating the conservatorship, discharging the conservator from all liabilities relating to the conservatorship, exonerating and releasing any bond or other security posted by the conservator and releasing any restrictions previously imposed on the assets of the conservatorship.

J. For the purposes of this section, "protected person's successors" means:

1. The personal representative of the protected person's estate if the personal representative and the conservator are not the same person.

2. If the conservator and the personal representative of the protected person's estate are the same person and if the protected person died intestate, the protected person's heirs.

3. If the conservator and the personal representative of the protected person's estate are the same person and if the protected person died testate, the devisees under the protected person's will that has been admitted to probate.