Oregon Guardianship and Conservatorship

An Oregon guardianship is one possible ending to a case the statute calls a protective proceeding. ORS chapter 125 lets a single petition produce a guardian for personal decisions, a conservator for money and property, a temporary fiduciary for an emergency, or a court order that authorizes one transaction and puts nobody in charge of anything. The court has to find the grounds by clear and convincing evidence, and the petition itself has to say which smaller options were considered and why they fell short.

This page walks the chapter in the order a family meets it: the two roles and the two condition words, who may file and which court hears it, the visitor and the 15-day objection window, the 60-day ceiling on an emergency appointment, what the filing costs, and the documents that keep the case from being needed at all. Oregon law changes and every case turns on its own facts, so confirm anything time sensitive with the court handling the matter or a licensed Oregon attorney.

Oregon Files One Case, And It Can End Four Ways

ORS 125.010(1) lets any person who is interested in the affairs or welfare of a respondent file a petition for the appointment of a fiduciary or for entry of another protective order. Subsection (3) lists what the court may appoint out of that one filing: a guardian, a conservator, a temporary fiduciary, or another fiduciary needed to carry out a protective order under ORS 125.650. Subsection (4) supplies the fourth ending. The court may enter a protective order in addition to appointing someone, or in place of appointing anyone.

The vocabulary follows from that structure. A guardian and a conservator are both fiduciaries. The person a case is about before any order exists is the respondent, and once an order is entered that same person is the protected person. The case as a whole is a protective proceeding. A page written for a state that runs a stand-alone guardianship docket uses none of those words, which is the quickest way to tell whether the advice in front of you was written for Oregon.

A Guardian Decides Care, And A Conservator Decides Money

ORS 125.315(1) sets out what a guardian does. Absent a limit in the appointment order, the guardian has custody of the protected person and may establish where that person lives inside or outside Oregon, provides for care, comfort and maintenance, arranges training and education where appropriate, may consent to or refuse health care subject to ORS 127.505 to 127.660, may receive money and personal property deliverable to the person and apply it to their support, and may make advance funeral and burial arrangements.

ORS 125.420 sets out what a conservator does. The conservator takes possession of the protected person's property of substantial value and the rents, income and profits from it, and may let the protected person keep possession and control of property and funds for living requirements as their needs and capacities allow. The section closes on the line families most often get wrong: title to all property of the protected person is in the protected person and not in the conservator.

Two condition words decide which appointment the court can make, and swapping them asks the judge for the wrong finding. ORS 125.005(5) defines incapacitated as a condition in which the ability to receive and evaluate information effectively or to communicate decisions is impaired to such an extent that the person presently lacks the capacity to meet the essential requirements for their own physical health or safety, which the same subsection describes as the actions needed to provide health care, food, shelter, clothing, personal hygiene and other care without which serious physical injury or illness is likely. ORS 125.005(3) defines financially incapable as a condition in which a person is unable to manage financial resources effectively, and it lists causes that run from mental illness and physical illness or disability through chronic use of drugs or controlled substances, chronic intoxication, confinement, detention by a foreign power and disappearance. That list opens with the words including, but not limited to, so it does not close the door on another cause. A person can be one and not the other.

Limited authority is not a separate case type in Oregon. ORS 125.055(2)(m) makes the petition state whether it asks for plenary authority or for specified limited authority, and the statutory letters of conservatorship at ORS 125.405 print a LIMITATIONS line for the judge to fill in.

Any Interested Person May File, And Six Counties Use A Different Court

ORS 125.015(1) gives the probate courts and commissioners provided for in ORS chapter 111 exclusive jurisdiction of protective proceedings, and ORS 111.085(1)(g) names guardianships and conservatorships inside that jurisdiction, from appointment through closing. Oregon then splits probate jurisdiction geographically. ORS 111.075 vests it in the county courts of Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler Counties, and in the circuit court for every other county.

Read that twice before filing. A protective proceeding is a circuit court case in 30 Oregon counties and a county court case in the other six, and those six also have a circuit court that appears in the state judicial directory. The fee statutes confirm the split from the other side: ORS 21.175(2) and ORS 21.180(5) both say their fees apply to county courts exercising probate jurisdiction. Start at the Oregon probate court directory to find the right counter.

The Oregon guardianship overview gathers the same chapter 125 filing steps, the two-fiduciary split and the per-county contacts on one page, so use it to work out which counter your case belongs at before reading the rest of this.

Venue sits in ORS 125.020. The case is commenced in the county where the respondent resides or is present. If the respondent lives in an institution by order of a court, it may be commenced where that court sits. If the respondent neither resides nor is present in Oregon, a conservatorship may be commenced in any county where their property is located, and the court may transfer the case at any time when transfer serves the protected person's best interests.

Once a case is open the judge keeps hold of it. ORS 125.025(1) gives the court continuing authority to act on anyone's petition or motion, or on its own, and subsection (3) lets it compel attendance and documents, appoint counsel, investigators, visitors and experts, order a physical or mental examination under ORCP 44, surcharge a fiduciary for a loss, and remove a fiduciary whenever removal serves the protected person.

The Petition Has To Rule Out The Smaller Options In Writing

Oregon puts the less restrictive alternatives question in the pleading rather than in a separate finding. ORS 125.055(2)(i)(A) requires the petition to set out the factual information supporting the request, the less restrictive alternatives to appointing a fiduciary that have been considered and why those alternatives are inadequate, and the names and addresses of everyone with information supporting a finding that an adult respondent is incapacitated or financially incapable. ORS 125.055(7) gives that requirement teeth for guardianship filings: the court shall review a petition seeking appointment of a guardian and shall dismiss the proceeding without prejudice, or require an amended petition, if the petition does not meet the section.

The rest of ORS 125.055(2) is a long content list, and most of it is about the person being nominated rather than the person being protected. The petition names the respondent, their age, residence and current location, the petitioner's interest, and the nominee's identity and relationship. It discloses whether the nominee has a criminal conviction, a bankruptcy filing, a fiduciary surcharge, a removal under ORS 125.225 or a revoked professional license, plus the circumstances of any of those. It names every existing fiduciary, trustee, health care representative and attorney-in-fact, the treating physician and other caregivers, and whether the nominee intends to place the respondent in a facility. A conservatorship petition adds the petitioner's estimate of the value of the estate under ORS 125.055(4), which is what sets the filing fee band.

Notice, And The Warning Oregon Prints Inside The Statute

ORS 125.060(2) lists who gets notice of the petition: the respondent if they are 14 or older, the spouse, parents and adult children, the closest relatives if there are none of those, anyone cohabiting with the respondent who is interested in their welfare, and every existing fiduciary, trustee, health care representative and attorney-in-fact. For a minor it adds whoever had principal responsibility for care and custody during the 60 days before filing, and, where the minor has no living parents, anyone nominated as fiduciary in a will or other written instrument a parent prepared. Notice also runs to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs regional office when the respondent receives money through that agency.

ORS 125.070 then dictates what the notice says. Every notice carries the petitioner's contact details, a copy of the petition, where and by when objections may be filed, and the hearing date if one is set. A notice to a respondent alleged to be financially incapable, or to a minor respondent, adds an explanation of the purpose and consequences, a statement that the respondent's own financial resources may pay court-approved expenses, information on free or low cost legal services in the area, information on the visitor's role, and a list of six rights: counsel, a written or oral objection, a hearing, presenting evidence and cross-examining witnesses, asking at any time that the fiduciary's power be limited, and asking at any time for removal of the fiduciary or modification of the order.

Where a guardian is sought for someone alleged to be incapacitated, ORS 125.070(3) prints the notice itself, in 14-point type, in substantially the form the statute sets out. That is a document the code writes rather than a form the court designs, so its content does not vary by county.

A Court Visitor Is Mandatory, And A Physician's Report Is Not

ORS 125.150(1)(a) says the court shall appoint a visitor when a petition seeks a guardian for an adult respondent, a guardian for a minor over 16 in cases where an adult guardianship petition looks likely before the minor turns 18, or a temporary fiduciary who will exercise the powers of a guardian for an adult. The one carve-out sits in subsection (1)(b): where the guardianship is sought because the respondent is a vulnerable youth, appointment of a visitor is discretionary. Subsection (1)(c) lets the court appoint a visitor in any other protective proceeding.

The visitor has no personal interest in the case, must have training or expertise adequate to evaluate the respondent's functional capacity and needs, interviews the person nominated as fiduciary, and interviews the respondent personally wherever the respondent is located. ORS 125.155(1) gives the visitor 15 days from appointment to file a written report, extendable on a showing of necessity and good cause. That report states whether the petition's allegations are correct, whether a fiduciary is needed at all and whether the nominee is qualified and willing; names every person interviewed with the date and relationship; recommends on suitability, on limits, and on whether more evaluation is needed; and records anything the respondent said about wanting a lawyer, attending a hearing, contesting the appointment or preferring someone else.

Nothing in ORS chapter 125 orders a medical evaluation. ORS 125.305(2) tells the court to weigh the report of any physician, naturopathic physician or psychologist who examined the respondent only if there was an examination. Oregon's mandatory investigator is the visitor.

Fifteen Days To Object, And An Objection Buys A Lawyer

ORS 125.075(1) opens objections to any person interested in the respondent's affairs or welfare, including anyone entitled to notice and any stepparent or stepchild. Subsection (2) sets the deadline at 15 days after notice of the petition or motion is served or mailed, allows an objection to a petition to be written or oral, and requires the court to designate a way for a protected person to object orally, with the clerk reducing it to a signed writing for filing.

An objection changes the shape of the case. ORS 125.080(2) makes a hearing mandatory when the respondent or protected person objects and does not withdraw before the scheduled time. ORS 125.075(3) requires the petitioner to give everyone entitled to notice at least 15 days notice of the hearing date. ORS 125.080(6)(a) then requires the court to appoint counsel for the respondent or protected person when they ask for counsel, when any person objects, when an appointed visitor recommends counsel, or when the court decides they need it, unless they already have a lawyer or refuse the appointment. Under ORS 125.080(7) those fees come from the guardianship or conservatorship estate when it holds enough to pay all or part, and the Oregon Public Defense Commission pays when the court finds the respondent financially eligible.

Objecting costs nothing. ORS 125.075(4) bars any fee for an objection or motion filed by the respondent, the protected person, the Office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman or the disability rights system described in ORS 192.517(1).

What The Judge Has To Find

ORS 125.305(1) lets the court appoint a guardian only on clear and convincing evidence of three things: that the respondent is a minor in need of a guardian, is incapacitated, or is a vulnerable youth; that the appointment is necessary as a means of providing continuing care and supervision; and that the nominated person is qualified, suitable and willing to serve. Subsection (2) then constrains the order. It must be no more restrictive on the protected person's liberty than is reasonably necessary to protect them, and the court weighs the petition, the visitor's report, any physician or psychologist report where an examination happened, and the evidence at any hearing.

ORS 125.400 sets the conservator standard. The court may appoint on clear and convincing evidence that the respondent is a minor or financially incapable and has money or property that requires management or protection.

ORS 125.300 says what the order does not do. Subsection (1)(a) allows an adult guardianship only as necessary to promote and protect the person's well-being, requires it to be designed to encourage the development of maximum self-reliance and independence, and permits it only to the extent the person's actual mental and physical limitations require. Subsection (2) states plainly that an adult protected person for whom a guardian has been appointed is not presumed to be incompetent. Subsection (3) keeps every legal and civil right that the order has not expressly limited or expressly handed to the guardian, and names two that survive by default: the right to contact and retain counsel, and the right to have access to personal records.

The money side keeps its own reservation. ORS 125.455(1) says a mentally competent protected person may still make wills, change beneficiaries of life insurance and annuity policies, and exercise any power of appointment or elective right to share in a deceased spouse's estate. ORS 125.460 makes the conservator and the court take a known estate plan into account, and lets the conservator examine the protected person's will.

An Emergency Gets A Temporary Fiduciary, Capped At Sixty Days

Oregon has no emergency guardian. ORS 125.600(1) lets the court appoint a temporary fiduciary who will exercise the powers of a guardian on a specific finding, by clear and convincing evidence, of three things at once: that the respondent is incapacitated or a minor, that an immediate and serious danger threatens their life or health, and that their welfare requires immediate action. Subsection (2) shifts the same three findings to the money side for the powers of a conservator, with the danger running to the estate.

Subsection (3) is the clock. The appointment is made only for a specific purpose and a specific period, that period may not exceed 30 days, one extension of not more than 30 additional days may be granted on motion and good cause shown, and the court may end the authority at any time. Sixty days is the outside limit, so this is a bridge to a decision rather than the decision.

Every other clock in the case speeds up to match. ORS 125.605(2) requires notice at least two days before the appointment, lets the court waive advance notice entirely when the immediate and serious danger demands it, and forbids giving the ORS 125.060 notice more than two days after the appointment is made. Subsection (3) applies the same two days to a motion for an extension. Subsection (4) requires a visitor for a temporary guardian, allows one for a temporary conservator, and gives that visitor three days to interview the respondent and five days to report, on the emergency conditions and nothing wider. Subsection (5) makes the court hear any objection within two judicial days of filing, with no fee. ORS 125.610 then requires a report of everything the temporary fiduciary did, filed when the duties are complete, when the appointment expires or when the court terminates it, and it may be folded into the first annual report or accounting if the same person is later appointed permanently.

One neighboring appointment is easy to mistake for this. ORS 125.225(4) lets the court appoint an interim fiduciary for up to 60 days when a serving fiduciary's authority ends, and it may do that without a visitor, without extra notices and without any other added procedure unless it decides otherwise. That fills a vacancy. It does not answer an emergency.

Minor Guardianship, And The Four Routes That Skip It

A minor is anyone under 18 under ORS 125.005(6), and no finding of incapacity is needed. The court appoints on clear and convincing evidence that the minor needs a guardian, that the appointment is necessary to provide continuing care and supervision, and that the nominee is qualified, suitable and willing, per ORS 125.305(1). ORS 125.025(2) requires the court to consider and apply the Indian Child Welfare Act in any protective proceeding about a minor.

ORS 125.315(1)(e) gives a guardian of a minor the powers and responsibilities of a parent with legal custody, with two written carve-outs: no obligation to support the minor beyond what the minor's own estate can provide, and no liability for the minor's torts. The same paragraph lets the guardian consent to the minor's adoption. ORS 125.230(1) ends the authority automatically when a protected person who has a guardian solely because of minority turns 18, and ORS 125.055(6)(a) lets a parent or guardian petition for an adult guardianship effective on the date of majority, filed within 90 days before that date or at another time the court finds necessary and appropriate.

Four routes reach the same practical result with no case at all.

• A parental delegation. ORS 109.056(1) lets a parent or guardian delegate any power over the care, custody or property of a minor child or ward by a properly executed power of attorney for up to six months, with the power to consent to adoption excluded. Subsection (2) raises the limit to 12 months for a delegation to a school administrator, and subsection (3) lets a servicemember parent called to active duty delegate for the term of active service plus 30 days.
• Paying a minor directly. ORS 126.700(1) lets a person who owes money or personal property to a minor pay up to $10,000 per year to someone with the care and custody of the minor with whom the minor lives, to a guardian of the minor, or into a federally insured savings account in the minor's sole name. Subsection (2) closes the route if the payer actually knows a conservator has been appointed or a petition is pending.
• Settling a minor's claim. ORS 126.725(1) lets a person with legal custody settle a claim of $25,000 or less, not counting reimbursement of medical expenses, liens, reasonable attorney fees and costs of suit, when no conservator has been appointed, the money is routed the way subsections (3) and (4) require, and the person signs an affidavit that the minor will be fully compensated or that no practical way exists to obtain more.
• A custodianship. The Oregon Uniform Transfers to Minors Act at ORS 126.805 to 126.886 puts a custodian in charge with no court case, no bond and no annual accounting to a judge, and ORS 126.836(2) allows a transfer for a beneficiary at any time before that beneficiary turns 25.

Who May Serve, And Who May Not

Oregon uses no fixed priority ladder. ORS 125.200 tells the court to appoint the most suitable person who is willing to serve after weighing the specific circumstances of the respondent, any stated desire of the respondent, the nominee's relationship by blood or marriage, any preference a parent expressed, the estate, and any impact on ease of administration.

ORS 125.205(1) disqualifies three groups: a person who is themselves incapacitated, financially incapable or a minor; a person acting as a health care provider for the protected person; and a parent or former guardian where a juvenile court both took the protected person into protective custody or committed them to the Department of Human Services and later ordered permanent removal from that home or terminated parental rights. Subsection (2) lets a protected person who is not incapacitated petition to lift that third bar.

Disclosure is a duty, not a question on a form. ORS 125.210(1)(a) makes a nominee tell the court, before appointment, about any criminal conviction, bankruptcy filing or protection, fiduciary surcharge, removal under ORS 125.225 or revoked or cancelled professional license.

Paid outsiders face a longer list. ORS 125.240(1) makes a petition seeking a professional fiduciary prove certification by the Center for Guardianship Certification as a National Certified Guardian or National Master Guardian, describe the events that led to their involvement, set out credentials and licensing, disclose the fee structure and any revenue sharing arrangement, name the service providers they repeatedly contract with, and state how many protected persons they already serve.

Two public offices sit behind the private ones. ORS 125.687(1) forbids a court from appointing the Oregon Public Guardian and Conservator unless that office petitioned for or consented to the appointment, and subsection (3) forbids charging it a filing fee, while subsection (4) makes the court order the client or the client's estate to pay reasonable expenses and compensation. ORS 125.700 lets a county court or board of county commissioners create an optional county public guardian and conservator, so whether one exists near you is a local question.

What It Costs To File

Oregon sets protective proceeding fees by statute, so they read the same in all 36 counties.

Two lines in that table do more work than the rest. Guardianship is flat and conservatorship is graduated, so any Oregon page quoting one conservatorship number is quoting a number that is wrong for three of the four bands. And ORS 125.055(1)(b) collects a single filing fee for the whole petition no matter how many fiduciaries or protective orders it asks for, set at the highest applicable fee under ORS 21.135, ORS 21.145(3), ORS 21.175 or ORS 21.180. A petition asking for both a guardian and a conservator pays the conservatorship band, not the band plus $124.

The recurring cost families miss is the accounting fee. ORS 21.180(2) charges it on every annual or final accounting a conservator files, for as long as the conservatorship stays open.

Two figures nobody can publish statewide. ORS 125.170(2) makes each presiding judge set visitor fees by court order, so the visitor's charge is a county-level number, and subsection (1) lets the court charge a respondent or protected person for visitor services no more than once each calendar year and bars the charge where it would impose a hardship, with a rebuttable presumption of hardship for someone receiving public assistance or medical assistance. Attorney fees are unpublished as well. ORS 125.095(2) requires prior court approval before the protected person's funds pay an appointed fiduciary or any attorney who provided services relating to the proceeding, including services in anticipation of filing, and ORS 125.098(1) makes the benefit to the person the case is about carry the greatest weight when the court rules on fees.

If money is the barrier, ORS 21.682(1) lets a judge waive or defer all or part of the fees and court costs on a finding that a party cannot pay, subsection (3) forbids the court from delaying or refusing a judgment because deferred fees are unpaid, and ORS 21.685 requires the court administrator to hand out the application on request and charges nothing for providing or filing it.

After The Appointment: Notice, Inventory, Reports And Moving Day

The guardian's first duty is telling the protected person what happened. ORS 125.082(1) requires written notice of the appointment order to everyone entitled to notice of motions, delivered to the protected person in person in a manner reasonably calculated to be understood, with an offer to read it aloud and reasonable accommodations for effective communication. Paragraph (1)(c) allows first class plus certified, registered or express mail where personal delivery is unduly burdensome, and paragraph (2)(g) then makes the notice explain why. Subsection (2) requires the notice to describe the authority granted, any limits on it, and the protected person's right to seek removal of the guardian or termination of the guardianship, and subsection (3) gives the guardian 30 days from appointment to file proof that all of this happened.

A conservator inventories. ORS 125.470(1) gives 90 days from appointment, unless the court grants longer, to file an inventory of all estate property that has come into the conservator's possession or knowledge, with the conservator's estimates of true cash value as of the date of the protective order, served on a protected person aged 14 or older. Subsection (2) requires a supplemental inventory within 30 days of receiving or learning of anything left out. Subsection (3) requires recording, in the deed records of the county where the land sits, a certified copy of the inventory or the abstract the statute prints, when the estate includes real property.

Then both roles report on a yearly cycle. ORS 125.325(1) requires a guardian for an adult to file a written report within 30 days after each anniversary of appointment, in substantially the form the statute prints, under penalty of perjury, with copies to everyone entitled to notice of motions. Subsection (6) lets the court vary the frequency or the form for a vulnerable youth guardianship, and that is the only exception the section carries. ORS 125.475(1) requires a conservator to account to the court within 60 days after each anniversary, within 60 days after the protected person dies, a minor reaches majority or an adult regains the ability to manage their finances, and within 30 days after removal, resignation or a lapse in the bond.

That annual report is a live review rather than a filing formality. ORS 125.325(2) tells the court, where the report says the guardianship should not continue or fails to give adequate information supporting the continuing need for it, to order the guardian to supplement the report or to move to terminate the proceeding under ORS 125.090. Subsection (3) makes failure to comply within 30 days of that order a ground for removal under ORS 125.225(1), and subsection (4) lets the court order the guardian to appear and show cause on its own motion or on anyone's petition. Subsection (5) sends copies of the order and the report to everyone entitled to notice of motions.

Moving day has its own notice. ORS 125.320(3) requires the guardian to file with the court and serve a statement of intent at least 15 days before each change of an adult protected person's abode or placement in a mental health treatment facility, nursing home or other residential facility. Where the move has to happen in under 15 days to protect immediate health, welfare or safety, the statement must say so and be filed and served with as much advance notice as possible and no later than two judicial days after the move. The notice to the protected person has to state clearly how to object, and the court schedules a hearing on any objection.

Visits and phone calls are protected by name. ORS 125.323(2) forbids a guardian from limiting a protected person's preferred associations, meaning communication, visitation or other social interaction with third parties, except as the court specifically allows or to the extent the guardian determines is necessary to avoid unreasonable harm to health, safety or well-being. Subsection (3) presumes the preferred association from the prior relationship when the person cannot communicate. Subsection (4) gives the protected person, the excluded person, any fiduciary and anyone who filed a request for notice a motion to modify the guardian's power, allows the protected person to make it orally, and requires the hearing within 60 days of filing.

Underneath all of it sits a decision rule. ORS 125.315(1)(g) makes the guardian promote self-determination, stay personally acquainted through regular visits, identify the protected person's values and preferences, involve them in decisions about care, dwelling, activities and social interactions, and make reasonable efforts to identify and facilitate supportive relationships and services. Paragraph (1)(h) then requires substituted judgment: the guardian makes the decision they reasonably believe the protected person would make if able, drawing on that person's previous or current instructions, preferences, opinions, values and actions, unless doing so would unreasonably harm or endanger them. Best interests under paragraph (1)(i) is the fallback, not the starting point.

What A Conservator Cannot Do Alone

ORS 125.425 lets a conservator spend or distribute income or principal for the support, education, care or benefit of the protected person and their dependents without prior court authorization, after considering any recommendation from a parent or guardian about the appropriate standard, and with regard to the size of the estate, the probable duration of the conservatorship, the likelihood the person will manage their own affairs again, their accustomed standard of living, and other funds available.

Several acts need the judge first. ORS 125.430(1) requires prior court approval to sell the protected person's principal residence, and subsection (2) defines that as a residence the person owns and resides in or last resided in, whether or not they live there when approval is sought. ORS 125.435 allows gifts only where the estate has adequate funds for the ORS 125.425 purposes and only for the purposes the protected person might have been expected to make, then caps the no-approval version at $250 to one person in a calendar year and $1,000 in the aggregate for the year. Every other gift needs the court first. ORS 125.440 lists the rest: conveying or releasing contingent or expectant interests including survivorship rights, creating a revocable or irrevocable trust from estate property, changing insurance or annuity beneficiaries or surrendering a policy for cash value, disclaiming an interest passing by will, intestacy, inter vivos transfer or transfer on death deed, authorizing an annuity or life care contract, and revoking a transfer on death deed. Subsection (2) adds that a trust which would end the conservatorship may be approved only to establish or maintain needs-based benefit eligibility, where the estate including the transfer does not exceed $50,000, where creating the trust was the purpose of the conservatorship, or on other good cause.

Bond runs the same way. ORS 125.410(1) requires a conservator's bond conditioned on faithful discharge of all duties, in the amount of the aggregate capital value of the property the conservator controls plus one year of estimated income, less restricted deposits and less real property the conservator cannot sell without court authorization. Subsection (2)(a) lets the court waive it for good cause, subsection (4) blocks letters until the bond is approved, and subsection (7) voids the conservator's letters from the cancellation date if a surety cancels and no new bond is filed. For a guardian, ORS 125.305(3) is permissive: the court may require a bond.

Documents Signed In Advance Outrank A Later Court Appointment

Oregon has no statutory pre-need form that binds a future judge, and it does not need one to make planning worth doing.

The health care side is where Oregon writes that precedence most explicitly. ORS 127.545(5)(b)(A) provides that unless the appointment form says otherwise, a valid appointment of a health care representative under ORS 127.510 supersedes any power of a guardian or other court-appointed person to make health care decisions for the protected person. ORS 125.315(1)(c) already subjects a guardian's health care consent to ORS 127.505 to 127.660, and ORS 127.535(1) gives a health care representative known to the provider priority over everyone except the principal. So an Oregon advance directive executed while capacity holds generally places the representative the principal named ahead of a person a court later appoints, unless the appointment form says otherwise.

Money works the same way through a different document. ORS 127.005(1) makes an Oregon power of attorney durable the day it is signed: where the writing contains no words delaying or limiting how long it stays effective, the power takes effect on execution, the agent's powers are unaffected by the passage of time, and the agent keeps acting after the principal becomes financially incapable. A conservatorship is what replaces that document when nobody signed one.

Three more levers are worth naming.

• A preference stated in writing. ORS 125.200 makes any stated desire of the respondent one of the factors the court weighs, and ORS 125.055(2)(g) and ORS 125.060(2)(e) require the petitioner to name and notify anyone already nominated as fiduciary, any trustee of a trust the respondent created, the respondent's health care representative and their attorney-in-fact. A preference recorded in writing, with copies held by the people most likely to file, is how a named nominee reaches the judge.
• A declaration for mental health treatment under ORS 127.700 to 127.737, where mental health treatment is the concern. ORS 127.705 lets a person name an attorney-in-fact for those decisions, ORS 127.707(1) validates it on two competent adult witnesses or a notary, and ORS 127.545(6)(b) makes the declaration govern where it conflicts with an advance directive.
• A funded revocable trust. ORS 130.505(1) lets a settlor revoke or amend unless the terms expressly say the trust is irrevocable, and subsection (6) is the reason to build it early: once a conservatorship exists, the conservator, or the guardian where no conservator was appointed, may exercise the settlor's revocation, amendment and distribution powers only with the approval of the supervising court.

For a minor with no living parents, a nomination in a parent's will still matters. ORS 125.060(2)(g) entitles anyone nominated as fiduciary in a will or other written instrument a parent prepared to notice of the petition, and ORS 125.200 makes a parent's expressed preference a factor. Oregon writes no statute making that nomination binding.

The Court Can Also Order One Thing And Stop

ORS 125.650 is the alternative that lives inside the chapter. The court may enter protective orders without appointing any fiduciary, and a petition seeking only a protective order is subject to every requirement that applies to a petition for appointment. Subsection (5) lists what such an order can reach: any transaction needed to achieve a security, service or care arrangement meeting the person's foreseeable needs, including payment, delivery, deposit or retention of funds or property, a sale, mortgage, lease or other transfer, an annuity contract, a life care contract, a deposit contract, a contract for training and education, and an addition to or establishment of a suitable trust.

Two guardrails come with it. Subsection (1) lets the court enter the order only after determining that grounds exist for appointing a fiduciary, and subsection (3) makes the court consider the interests of creditors and dependents and whether the person needs the continuing protection of a fiduciary at all. Subsection (4) allows a fiduciary whose authority is limited to a stated time and to the specific acts needed to carry the order out.

Oregon Has No Supported Decision-Making Statute In This Chapter

The phrase supported decision making does not appear anywhere in the 2025 Edition text of ORS chapter 125, and it does not appear in ORS chapter 127 or ORS chapter 109 either, read on 2026-08-25. That is a chapter-scoped observation rather than a statement about every Oregon statute, and other chapters and agency rules were not swept for this page.

What that means in a filing is narrow. No Oregon section tells a bank, a school or a clinic that it must honor a supported decision-making agreement the way ORS 127.535 tells a health care provider to honor a health care representative. A family can still write one and put it in front of the court as an alternative the petition considered, and ORS 125.315(1)(g)(C) makes an appointed guardian identify and facilitate supportive relationships and services. That is a duty owed after appointment rather than a substitute for it.

Ending It, Narrowing It, Or Closing A Small Estate

ORS 125.090(2) lets the court terminate a protective proceeding on motion after finding that a minor protected person has reached majority, that the person is no longer incapacitated, that the person is no longer financially incapable or the conditions of ORS 125.535 have been met, that the person has died, or that termination would serve their best interests. A vulnerable youth guardianship carries three more grounds under subsection (2)(f): the protected person has turned 21, the protected person moved to terminate, or someone else moved with a declaration establishing a substantial change in that person's circumstances or the guardian's, and termination would serve the protected person's best interests. Subsection (3) requires a general judgment.

The burden flips on the way out. ORS 125.090(1) gives the protected person the same rights and procedures on a termination motion that they had in the original proceedings, requires a visitor when objections are filed to a guardianship termination motion, and puts the burden on a fiduciary who opposes termination to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the person continues to be incapacitated or financially incapable.

Removal is separate and broader. ORS 125.225(1) requires the court to remove a fiduciary whenever removal is in the protected person's best interests. Subsection (3) adds three guardian-specific grounds: unreasonably limiting associations under ORS 125.323, failing the self-determination and substituted-judgment duties in ORS 125.315(1)(g) to (i), and changing an adult's abode or placing them in a facility without having disclosed that intention in the petition or without following the 15-day notice rule.

Small conservatorships have a shortcut. ORS 125.535 lets a conservator, with a prior accounting and a court order, pay the expenses of administration and claims and deliver the remaining personal property to a person the court designates, when the estate consists of personal property worth no more than $10,000 above those unpaid expenses and claims. On receipts or other satisfactory evidence of delivery, the court enters an order terminating the proceeding. ORS 125.525 governs the ordinary wind-up, directing the conservator to deliver assets to the protected person immediately except what is needed for administration expenses and conservator-incurred debts, with the balance released on approval of the final accounting.

Two Things This Page Deliberately Does Not Name

Oregon puts five protective-proceeding documents in the statute itself, so their content is fixed no matter which court hears the case: the 14-point notice to a respondent at ORS 125.070(3), the letters of guardianship at ORS 125.310, the letters of conservatorship at ORS 125.405, the guardian's annual report at ORS 125.325(1), and the abstract a conservator records at ORS 125.470(3).

The Oregon Judicial Department also runs a statewide Forms Center with a guardianship and conservatorship section. Its list of individual forms is built by script in the browser, so a plain read of the page returns the category and no form names or numbers at all. Rather than print a form number nobody here read, this page links the official page and leaves the numbers to the court. The same restraint applies to the visitor fee: ORS 125.170(2) makes it a per-county order, so no statewide figure exists to publish.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a guardian and a conservator in Oregon?

The subject matter. Under ORS 125.315(1) a guardian handles the person: custody, where the protected person lives, care and maintenance, training and education where appropriate, and consent to or refusal of health care subject to ORS 127.505 to 127.660. Under ORS 125.420 a conservator handles the estate, taking possession of property of substantial value and the income from it, while title to that property stays in the protected person and never passes to the conservator. Two different findings support them. A guardian needs a finding that the person is incapacitated under ORS 125.005(5), and a conservator needs a finding that the person is financially incapable under ORS 125.005(3). One person can hold both appointments, and one petition can ask for both.

Which Oregon court hears a guardianship case?

The court that holds probate jurisdiction where the respondent lives or is present. ORS 125.015(1) gives the probate courts provided for in ORS chapter 111 exclusive jurisdiction of protective proceedings, and ORS 111.085(1)(g) names guardianships and conservatorships inside that jurisdiction. Oregon then splits it. ORS 111.075 vests probate jurisdiction in the county courts of Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler Counties, and in the circuit court for every other county. So a protective proceeding is a circuit court case in 30 counties and a county court case in six. ORS 125.020 sets venue in the county where the respondent resides or is present.

How long does an emergency guardianship last in Oregon?

Thirty days, extendable once by up to 30 more, and Oregon does not call it an emergency guardian. The statutory route is a temporary fiduciary under ORS 125.600. Subsection (3) says the appointment may be made only for a specific purpose and a specific period that may not exceed 30 days, allows one extension of not more than 30 additional days on motion and good cause shown, and lets the court end the authority at any time. Sixty days total is the ceiling. Do not confuse it with the interim fiduciary of ORS 125.225(4), which fills a vacancy after a serving fiduciary's authority ends and runs up to 60 days.

Does an Oregon guardianship need a doctor's report?

No. Oregon requires a court visitor rather than a physician. ORS 125.150(1)(a) says the court shall appoint a visitor when a petition seeks a guardian for an adult respondent, and ORS 125.155(1) gives that visitor 15 days to file a written report. ORS 125.305(2) tells the court to consider the report of any physician, naturopathic physician or psychologist who examined the respondent only if there was an examination. Copy borrowed from a state that mandates a capacity evaluation is describing a requirement Oregon never wrote.

What does it cost to file for guardianship in Oregon?

A guardianship petition is a flat $124 under ORS 21.145(3) and ORS 21.175(1). A conservatorship petition is graduated on the petitioner's estimate of the estate value under ORS 21.180(1): $278 below $50,000, $591 from $50,000 to under $1 million, $882 from $1 million to under $10 million, and $1,176 at $10 million or more. ORS 125.055(1)(b) collects one fee for the whole petition regardless of how many fiduciaries or protective orders it asks for, and that fee is the highest applicable under ORS 21.135, ORS 21.145(3), ORS 21.175 or ORS 21.180. So a combined guardian and conservator petition pays the conservatorship band rather than the band plus $124. ORS 21.175(2) and ORS 21.180(5) apply the same fees in the six county courts.

Can an Oregon guardian override my health care representative?

Not by default. ORS 127.545(5)(b)(A) provides that unless the form appointing a health care representative says otherwise, a valid appointment under ORS 127.510 supersedes any power of a guardian or other court-appointed person to make health care decisions for the protected person. ORS 125.315(1)(c) already makes a guardian's health care consent subject to ORS 127.505 to 127.660, so the two sections point the same way. An advance directive executed while the principal has capacity generally takes precedence over the authority of a guardian appointed later.

Can a parent avoid a guardianship for a child in Oregon?

Often, and Oregon supplies four routes with no court case. ORS 109.056(1) lets a parent or guardian delegate any power over the care, custody or property of a minor child or ward by a properly executed power of attorney for up to six months, rising to 12 months for a delegation to a school administrator, with the power to consent to adoption excluded. ORS 126.700(1) lets someone who owes money or personal property to a minor pay up to $10,000 per year to a caregiver the minor lives with, to a guardian, or into a federally insured savings account in the minor's sole name. ORS 126.725(1) lets a person with legal custody settle a minor's claim of $25,000 or less without a conservator when the money is routed the way the section directs. And the Oregon Uniform Transfers to Minors Act at ORS 126.805 to 126.886 allows a custodianship, with ORS 126.836(2) permitting a transfer at any time before the beneficiary turns 25.

How long do I have to object to an Oregon guardianship petition?

Fifteen days. ORS 125.075(2) requires objections to a petition or motion to be made or filed within 15 days after notice is served or mailed, and it lets a protected person object orally by a means the court designates, with the clerk reducing that to a signed writing. An objection changes the case. ORS 125.080(2) requires a hearing when the respondent or protected person objects and does not withdraw, ORS 125.075(3) gives at least 15 days notice of that hearing, and ORS 125.080(6)(a) requires the court to appoint counsel when anyone objects. ORS 125.075(4) charges no fee for an objection or motion filed by the respondent, the protected person, the Office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman or the system described in ORS 192.517(1).

Sources:

• Title: Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 125 (2025 Edition), Protective Proceedings. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors125.html
• Title: Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 111 (2025 Edition), General Provisions. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors111.html
• Title: Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 21 (2025 Edition), State Court Fees. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors021.html
• Title: Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 127 (2025 Edition), Powers of Attorney; Advance Directives for Health Care. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors127.html
• Title: Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 126 (2025 Edition), Property Held for the Benefit of Minors; Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors126.html
• Title: Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 109 (2025 Edition), Parent and Child Rights and Relationships. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors109.html
• Title: Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 130 (2025 Edition), Uniform Trust Code. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors130.html
• Title: ORS Sections Amended, Repealed or Added To, Oregon Laws 2026 Regular Session. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2026OrLawAR.pdf
• Title: Oregon Laws 2021, Chapter 399 (Senate Bill 572), relating to guardianship. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2021orLaw0399.pdf
• Title: Oregon Laws 2019, Chapter 198 (House Bill 2601), relating to protected persons. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2019orLaw0198.pdf
• Title: Guardianship and Conservatorship Forms. Publisher: Oregon Judicial Department. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.courts.oregon.gov/forms/Pages/guardian-conservatorship.aspx
• Title: Court Fees. Publisher: Oregon Judicial Department. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.courts.oregon.gov/Pages/fees.aspx

It is not legal advice.