Click buttons for the Answers 4.  From start to finish, how do the involuntary conservatorship and guardianship proceedings work? As we have seen, a conservatorship or guardianship is the legal mechanism by which a state court--one sitting judge--appoints a surrogate to take over all personal and/or financial decision-making for an adult who has been declared incompetent or incapacitated in court.  How does this work? The involuntary petition is first filed in a county district court (which differ from state to state) by any adult who simply alleges that a certain senior citizen is incompetent or incapacitated in some way and is not managing his life or money in a reasonable manner.  The petitioner, as he or she is called, generally works with an attorney to prepare the paperwork and file it in court.  Once it is filed, the proposed ward or conservatee--the respondent to the litigation--is given notice, warned that he or she must appear in court within a stated period of time to defend his/her personal competence or capacity before a judge.  The elderly man or woman (remember: 62 or above) must appear in court--unless the judge agrees with the petitioner that this personal appearance is not necessary.  Most cases are heard by the sitting judge without a jury. The system is completely weighted against the elderly.  Once in court, you must prove you are not incompetent.  You must prove you are capable of providing for your food, clothing and shelter.  You must prove that you are capable of making every financial decision without the undue influence of another human being--surely a very artificial definition of autonomy!  Yet there is no clear way to prove you are NOT incompetent, and there is a presumption of incompetence and incapacity based on age alone. Because the laws assume no one would file these petitions unless the aging person really needed help, the elderly lose in 94% of the time in cases that often take fewer than four minutes to decide.  The decisions are almost never appealed.  It is a nightmare, indeed.