Section 12.2 History of Development

• Library: Trusts and Powers 2013 Supp

B. (§12.2) History of Development

Over the years, the need for a simple statutory trust to administer specific property for adults has been suggested and discussed. In 1970, an independent guardian law was circulated for discussion in Texas. In 1980, the Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Committee of the American Bar Association recommended a limited extension of the use of the minors’ custodianship concept for adults. Massachusetts actually adopted a form of an adult custodianship law in 1981, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 201C (Loislaw through 2006 legislation). While the proposal was not new in 1981 and various arrangements had been proposed over the years, there had not been much work on it until that time.

At public hearings during 1981 on the proposed Missouri guardianship law changes, older citizens and their attorneys voiced the need for some mechanism for older citizens to initiate voluntary conservatorship arrangements before the onset of disability. No consensus was reached as to the manner in which a voluntary conservatorship should be created and administered, and the proposal was dropped from the final revisions to that law, which was enacted in 1983.

Section 475.062.1, RSMo 2000, of the Probate Code—Guardianship contemplates that a petition for the appointment of a conservator of the estate of an alleged disabled person may be filed by the disabled person, in...