Colorado § 15-14-425 - Powers of conservator in administration.

§ 15-14-425. Powers of conservator in administration.

(1) Except as otherwise qualified or limited by the court in its order of appointment and endorsed on the letters, a conservator has all of the powers granted in this section and any additional powers granted by law to a trustee in this state.

(2) A conservator, acting reasonably and in an effort to accomplish the purpose of the appointment, and without further court authorization or confirmation, may:

(a) Collect, hold, and retain assets of the estate, including assets in which the conservator has a personal interest and real property in another state, until the conservator considers that disposition of an asset should be made;

(b) Receive additions to the estate;

(c) Continue or participate in the operation of any business or other enterprise;

(d) Acquire an undivided interest in an asset of the estate in which the conservator, in any fiduciary capacity, holds an undivided interest;

(e) Invest assets of the estate as though the conservator were a trustee;

(f) Deposit money of the estate in a financial institution, including one operated by the conservator;

(g) Acquire or dispose of an asset of the estate, including real property in another state, for cash or on credit, at public or private sale, and manage, develop, improve, exchange, partition, change the character of, or abandon an asset of the estate;

(h) Make ordinary or extraordinary repairs or alterations in buildings or other structures, demolish any improvements, and raze existing or erect new party walls or buildings;

(i) Subdivide, develop, or dedicate land to public use, make or obtain the vacation of plats and adjust boundaries, adjust differences in valuation or exchange or partition by giving or receiving considerations, and dedicate easements to public use without consideration;

(j) Enter for any purpose into a lease as lessor or lessee, with or without option to purchase or renew, for a term within or extending beyond the term of the conservatorship;

(k) Enter into a lease or arrangement for exploration and removal of minerals or other natural resources or enter into a pooling or unitization agreement;

(l) Grant an option involving disposition of an asset of the estate and take an option for the acquisition of any asset;

(m) Vote a security, in person or by general or limited proxy;

(n) Pay calls, assessments, and any other sums chargeable or accruing against or on account of securities;

(o) Sell or exercise stock subscription or conversion rights;

(p) Consent, directly or through a committee or other agent, to the reorganization, consolidation, merger, dissolution, or liquidation of a corporation or other business enterprise;

(q) Hold a security in the name of a nominee or in other form without disclosure of the conservatorship so that title to the security may pass by delivery;

(r) Insure the assets of the estate against damage or loss and the conservator against liability with respect to a third person;

(s) Borrow money, with or without security, to be repaid from the estate or otherwise and advance money for the protection of the estate or the protected person and for all expenses, losses, and liability sustained in the administration of the estate or because of the holding or ownership of any assets, for which the conservator has a lien on the estate as against the protected person for advances so made;

(t) Pay or contest any claim, settle a claim by or against the estate or the protected person by compromise, arbitration, or otherwise, and release, in whole or in part, any claim belonging to the estate to the extent the claim is uncollectible;

(u) Pay taxes, assessments, compensation of the conservator and any guardian, and other expenses incurred in the collection, care, administration, and protection of the estate;

(v) Allocate items of income or expense to income or principal of the estate, as provided by other law, including creation of reserves out of income for depreciation, obsolescence, or amortization or for depletion of minerals or other natural resources;

(w) Pay any sum distributable to a protected person or individual who is in fact dependent on the protected person by paying the sum to the distributee or by paying the sum for the use of the distributee:

(I) To the guardian of the distributee;

(II) To a distributee's custodian under the "Colorado Uniform Transfers to Minors Act", article 50 of title 11, C.R.S., or custodial trustee under the "Colorado Uniform Custodial Trust Act", article 1.5 of this title; or

(III) If there is no guardian, custodian, or custodial trustee, to a relative or other person having physical custody of the distributee;

(x) Prosecute or defend actions, claims, or proceedings in any jurisdiction for the protection of assets of the estate and of the conservator in the performance of fiduciary duties; and

(y) Execute and deliver all instruments that will accomplish or facilitate the exercise of the powers vested in the conservator.

(3) Except as otherwise qualified or limited by the court in its order of appointment and endorsed on the letters, a conservator may exercise any of the powers enumerated in the "Colorado Fiduciaries' Powers Act", part 8 of article 1 of this title.

(4) The court may confer on a conservator at the time of appointment or later, in addition to the powers conferred by sections 15-14-425, 15-14-426, and 15-14-427, any power that the court itself could exercise under section 15-14-410. The court may, at the time of appointment or later, limit the powers of a conservator otherwise conferred by sections 15-14-425, 15-14-426, and 15-14-427, or previously conferred by the court, and may at any time relieve the conservator of any limitation. If the court limits any power conferred on the conservator by section 15-14-425, 15-14-426, or 15-14-427 or specifies, as provided in section 15-14-421 (1) that title to some but not all assets of the protected person vest in the conservator, the limitation shall be endorsed upon the conservator's letters of appointment.

(5) In investing the estate, and in selecting assets of the estate for distribution under section 15-14-427, in utilizing powers of revocation or withdrawal available for the support of the protected person and exercisable by the conservator or the court, and in exercising any other powers vested in them, the conservator and the court should take into account any known estate plan of the protected person, including his or her will, any revocable trust of which he or she is settlor, and any contract, transfer, or joint ownership arrangement with provisions for payment or transfer of benefits or interests at his or her death to another or others which he or she may have originated. The conservator may examine the will of the protected person.

Source: L. 2000: Entire part R&RE, p. 1823, § 1, effective January 1, 2001 (see § 15-17-103).

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 15-14-424 as it existed prior to 2001.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Conservator-Created Wills: Issues in Litigation", see 44 Colo. Law. 53 (Aug. 2015).

Annotator's note. The following annotations include cases decided under former provisions similar to this section.

One of the prime purposes of an action for annulment is the protection of the property of the ward. Cox v. Armstrong, 122 Colo. 227, 221 P.2d 371 (1950); Young v. Brofman, 139 Colo. 296, 338 P.2d 286 (1959).

An annulment suit may be instituted by a conservator on behalf of a ward. Young v. Brofman, 139 Colo. 296, 338 P.2d 286 (1959).

A nonlawyer conservator or guardian in this state is a statutory legal representative only and is therefore prohibited from practicing law and serving as legal counsel in court. The powers granted to conservators under this section and to guardians under §§ 15-14-315 and 15-14-315.5 do not establish an exception to § 12-5-101 regarding the practice of law. In re Kanefsky, 260 P.3d 327 (Colo. App. 2010) (decided prior to 2017 amendments relocating article 5 of title 12 to article 93 of title 13).

Applied in Vallentine v. Taylor Inv. Co., 305 F. Supp. 1104 (D. Colo. 1969).