Chapter 44 - § 44.5 • MISCELLANEOUS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 44.5 • MISCELLANEOUS

§ 44.5.1—Compensation Of Guardians, Conservators, And Others

The Code does not set forth any schedule of fees for conservators or guardians, merely providing that the conservator, physicians, visitors, and other professionals shall receive reasonable compensation to be approved by the court.²⁰¹ Under C.R.S. § 15-14-417, the court shall determine a reasonable compensation and the method of payment to any court-appointed visitor, any attorney who is appointed by the court or whose services in the course of representing an interested person resulted in a protective order or were beneficial to an incapacitated person, any guardian ad litem, or any physician. If the court determines that the petitioner or the allegedly incapacitated person can afford to pay such fees or portion thereof, the court may charge all or any portion of any such fees to the petitioner or the allegedly incapacitated person, as it deems just under the circumstances. If the court determines that the petitioner or the allegedly incapacitated person cannot afford to pay any such fees or portion thereof, payment thereof shall be made by the court from state funds appropriated therefor. In the event that any person who is able to afford to pay any such fees fails to do so, the court-appointed visitor, the attorney who is appointed by the court or whose services in the course of representing an interested person resulted in a protective order or were beneficial to an incapacitated person, the guardian ad litem, or the physician, upon application to the court and after hearing and upon such notice as the court shall direct, may obtain judgment for the fee against such person.

This provision was construed and applied in the case of Department of Institutions v. Carothers,²⁰² where fees, including fees on appeal, were assessed against the Department of Institutions as petitioner. See also Romberg v. Slemon (fees of attorney/guardian ad litem for involuntary co-plaintiff, an incapacitated person, assessed against the plaintiff in a civil action).²⁰³

Guardians are not to be compensated from funds coming into their hands except with the approval of the court or the conservator.²⁰⁴

In Estate of Milstein,²⁰⁵ discussed in § 44.3.1, the court of appeals reversed and remanded the trial court's comprehensive protective orders. One of the grounds was that the trial court improperly denied the respondent's right of counsel. In terms of remedy, the court of appeals ruled that all...