How do you find and hire attorneys for conservatorship?

A short note before you start

This guide is general information for the United States, not legal, tax, financial or medical advice. Who needs one attorney or two, and who pays, is set by the state and county where the petition is filed. Confirm current rules with your state court's self-help site or a local attorney.

What does "attorneys for conservatorship" mean?

People search this phrase two ways: looking for attorneys to compare, or trying to understand who the lawyers in a case are. A single case can involve more than one attorney at once, and they are not interchangeable:

• The petitioner's attorney works for the family member asking the court to open the case.
• The attorney for the proposed conservatee works for the adult the case is about, representing that person's own wishes, not what the family or the court thinks is best for them.

For a full breakdown of these roles and general hiring costs, see Conservatorship attorney and Lawyer for conservatorship. For the underlying concept, see Meaning of conservatorship; for opening a case, see How do you get conservatorship; for how the two legal tools differ, see Guardian vs conservatorship.

Step by step: how to find and hire an attorney for a conservatorship case

1. Identify which role you need filled. A petitioning family member needs different help than the adult the case is about; one attorney cannot represent both in a contested case.
2. Ask whether a lawyer is required at all. Some courts let an uncontested petitioner file without one; the proposed conservatee is treated differently, and several states, described below, appoint one automatically.
3. Check free options first. Try a Legal Services Corporation-funded legal aid group via its "I Need Legal Help" tool by ZIP code¹⁰, and the Eldercare Locator, for people 60 and older, at 1-800-677-1116 or eldercare.acl.gov¹¹.
4. Build a short list of two or three attorneys. Search the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys directory by ZIP code⁹, and ask your state bar's certified referral service for names¹².
5. Interview each one with the same questions (see below), including their experience in the exact court and county where the petition will be filed.
6. Get a written fee agreement stating the hourly rate or flat fee, what the retainer covers, and how ongoing accounting work is billed.
7. Confirm how the proposed conservatee's own attorney, if any, is chosen and paid, since that decision belongs to the court or to that person, not the family.
8. Keep every attorney's contact information and the case number where the rest of the family can find them, not only in one inbox.

What do attorneys for conservatorship cost, and who pays?

There is no national fee schedule. Filing fees are set by the state and county court, rates vary by whether the case is contested, and courts usually decide what a court-appointed or petitioner's attorney is paid. Texas illustrates this: state law sets no dollar rate for attorneys or guardians ad litem, leaving the court to set "an amount the court considers equitable and just"⁷.

Where a state requires an attorney for the proposed conservatee, that cost is typically paid from their own estate if they have resources, or by the court or county if they cannot pay. New Jersey lets the court fix the appointed attorney's compensation to be paid from the estate "or in such other manner as the court shall direct"³. Missouri appoints the attorney regardless of ability to pay, then decides later how the fee is covered².

Get a written fee agreement before hiring any private attorney, and ask how ongoing accounting work is billed, since it often exceeds the filing itself.

How do you compare more than one attorney before hiring?

Ask each candidate the same questions before deciding:

• How many cases have you handled in this specific court and county in the last two years?
• Do you represent petitioning families, proposed conservatees, or both, and how do you avoid a conflict if the case becomes contested?
• What is included in your retainer, and what is billed separately?
• How do you bill for the accounting and reporting work required after the hearing?
• Do you hold a Certified Elder Law Attorney credential, granted only after five years in practice, a heavy recent elder law caseload, 36 hours of continuing education, and a full-day exam⁸?
• What happens if the proposed conservatee or another family member contests the petition?
• Can you give a written estimate for an uncontested case, and what would make it contested?

Comparing answers side by side, rather than hiring the first attorney found, most often surfaces a conflict of interest or a fee structure that does not fit the case.

Does the person the case is about automatically get an attorney? How this varies by state

Whether the proposed conservatee gets an attorney automatically, on request, or at the court's discretion is a consequential state-by-state difference, since it decides whether that person's voice is represented in court at all.

These eleven states are a sample, not a complete list, and legislatures are actively changing this rule; Washington's requirement did not exist before mid-2026. Search "[your state] courts self-help guardianship conservatorship attorney," or check the ABA Commission on Law and Aging's state-by-state statutory charts (ABA Commission on Law and Aging, checked 2026-09-27), and see Conservatorship attorney and Lawyer for conservatorship for more states.

Washington also sets a timing floor: the attorney must be provided "as soon as practicable" after filing and with enough time before the hearing to prepare, and a reviewing court presumes less than three weeks is not enough (RCW 11.130.285, checked 2026-09-23). Florida adds a qualification rule: an attorney seeking court appointment in an incapacity or guardianship case must complete at least 8 hours of guardianship-related education, waivable for an attorney with 3 or more years already in the role (Fla. Stat. Section 744.331, checked 2026-09-27).

Timeline: when does each attorney's role start and end?

Attorneys do not all appear at the same moment. The table below shows roughly when each is typically involved, though timing depends on the court calendar and whether the case is contested.

What to record in a family guide

Whether a conservatorship is already open or an attorney has only been retained in case one becomes necessary, this is the kind of information a family guide keeps in one place so it is not lost or repeated to every institution that asks:

• Each attorney's name, firm, phone, email, and which role they fill
• Whether either attorney holds a Certified Elder Law Attorney credential
• The case number, court name and county
• Where the signed fee agreement and any court order approving fees are kept
• The date the next accounting or fee petition is due
• Whether a durable power of attorney or advance health care directive exists from before incapacity; see POA vs conservatorship and living will and advance health care directive

Common mistakes

• Hiring the first attorney found instead of comparing two or three with the same questions.
• Assuming one attorney can represent both the petitioner and the proposed conservatee once the case is contested.
• Not asking whether the proposed conservatee already qualifies for a court-appointed attorney at no cost.
• Treating one state's rule on appointed counsel as universal, when it is mandatory in some states, discretionary in others, and changing.
• Skipping a written fee agreement, then being surprised by ongoing accounting bills.
• Losing track of which attorney represents which side once the initial hearing is over.

When to get professional help

Talk to an attorney before filing any petition, since notice requirements and local practice differ even within a state. Get a litigation-experienced attorney the moment anyone objects to the petition or to who should serve as conservator. If the proposed conservatee cannot afford counsel, ask the court clerk whether the state requires one to be appointed. If cost is the only barrier, contact legal aid first.