§560:5-427  Principles of distribution by
conservator.  (a)  Unless otherwise specified in the order of appointment
and endorsed on the letters of appointment, a conservator may expend or
distribute income or principal of the estate of the protected person without
further court authorization or confirmation for the support, care, education,
health, and welfare of the protected person and individuals who are in fact
dependent on the protected person, including the payment of child or spousal
support, in accordance with the following rules:



(1)  A conservator shall consider recommendations
relating to the appropriate standard of support, care, education, health, and
welfare for the protected person or an individual who is in fact dependent on
the protected person made by a guardian, if any, and, if the protected person
is a minor, the conservator shall consider recommendations made by a parent;



(2)  A conservator may not be surcharged for money
paid to persons furnishing support, care, education, or benefit to a protected
person, or an individual who is in fact dependent on the protected person, in
accordance with the recommendations of a parent or guardian of the protected
person unless the conservator knows that the parent or guardian derives
personal financial benefit therefrom, including relief from any personal duty
of support, or the recommendations are not in the best interest of the
protected person;



(3)  In making distributions under this subsection,
the conservator shall consider:



(A)  The size of the estate, the estimated
duration of the conservatorship, and the likelihood that the protected person,
at some future time, may be fully self-sufficient and able to manage the
protected person's own business affairs and the estate;



(B)  The accustomed standard of living of the
protected person and individuals who are in fact dependent on the protected
person; and



(C)  Other money or sources used for the
support of the protected person; and



(4)  Money expended under this subsection may be paid
by the conservator to any person, including the protected person, as
reimbursement for expenditures that the conservator may have made, or in
advance for services to be rendered to the protected person if it is reasonable
to expect the services will be performed and advance payments are customary or
reasonably necessary under the circumstances.



(b)  If an estate is ample to provide for the
distributions authorized by subsection (a), a conservator for a protected
person other than a minor may make gifts that the protected person may have
been expected to make, in amounts that do not exceed, in the aggregate, for any
calendar year twenty per cent of the income of the estate in that year. [L
2004, c 161, pt of §1]