Privacy Protections on Probate Cases
California law generally provides for the confidentiality of guardianship and conservatorship proceedings.
The California Constitution guarantees a general right of privacy.
The information used to establish the need for a conservatorship, the court investigator’s report, and the report of the court on review of a conservatorship are all confidential, unless the court orders otherwise.
In a guardianship proceeding, reports of a court investigator, probation officer, or domestic relations investigator are confidential, unless the court orders otherwise.
If there is a proceeding to appoint a public guardian, the court’s order in response to the petition shall authorize health care providers to disclose a person’s confidential medical information, direct the public guardian or the adult protective services agency to keep the information acquired under the order confidential, except as disclosed in a judicial proceeding or as required by law enforcement or an authorized regulatory agency, and direct the public guardian or the adult protective services agency to destroy all copies of written information obtained under the order or give them to the person who was the subject of the investigation if a conservatorship proceeding is not commenced within 60 days after the date of the order.
Calif. Const. Art. I § 1
Cal. Prob. Code §§ 1513
1821
1826
1851
2911