Conservatorship of the Person and Estate of Parker

A conservatee’s debts — incurred before creation of the conservatorship — must be paid from his estate. (Prob. Code, § 2430, subd. (a)(1).) Here, a creditor seeks to collect an exemplary damages award from a tortfeasor who was placed under a conservatorship after he was sued for his wrongdoing. We conclude that the debt was incurred when the conservatee committed the tort, not when the jury rendered its verdict awarding damages for the wrongful conduct. As a result, the conservator must pay the punitive damages award to the creditor from the conservatee’s estate.

FACTS

Mark Boothby and Frank Parker met in 1990. They decided to start “flipping” homes: Parker would contribute funds to purchase and remodel homes and Boothby would contribute “sweat equity” by doing the necessary work. They agreed to split sale profits equally after reimbursing Parker for his outlays.

In 2002, Boothby found undeveloped land in Lancaster (the Property), which the two men purchased for $495,000. During escrow, they received an offer for the Property that would yield them each a profit of $250,000. They declined the offer and formed a corporation called Fresh Start Developments (Fresh Start)…