Amends TCA Title 34.

This bill revises provisions governing guardianships and conservatorships, as follows: (1) Under present law: (A) A petition for the appointment of a fiduciary must be served in accordance with the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. The guardian ad litem appointed may serve the petition on the respondent; and (B) Notice by certified mail with return receipt requested must be given by the clerk of the court to the closest relative or relatives of the respondent required to be named in the petition and to the person, if any, having care or custody of the respondent, institution, or residential provider with whom the respondent is living. This bill rewrites the provisions described above in (B) to require the petitioner, instead of the court clerk, give such notice and to require that the notice be given by certified mail or personal service in accordance with the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. This bill also adds that if, after reasonable effort, a postal address cannot be ascertained, a notification may be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the petition is filed, or if there is no newspaper of general circulation published in the county, notice may be posted at the county courthouse, except where such petitions are filed by or on behalf of a regional mental health institute owned and operated by the department of mental health and substance abuse services or by or on behalf of the department of intellectual and developmental disabilities pertaining to an individual receiving home and community based waiver services or intermediate care facility/intellectual disability (ICF/ID) services; (2) Present law requires that notice of a hearing on a petition be served upon the closest relative or relatives of the respondent and upon the person or institution, if any, having care and custody of the respondent or with whom the respondent is living. Service by mail, sent to the last known address of such persons or institution, is deemed sufficient for purposes of this notice requirement. This bill adds the same provision for publication or posting when no address can be ascertained, as described above; (3) Under present law, if the respondent undergoes a physical, psychological, or other examination, reports relating to the examination are made part of the court record. Also under present law, a respondent may request a protective order placing under seal the respondent's health and financial information, including the reports for such examinations. This bill removes the requirement that the respondent request an order of protection in regard to the examination reports and instead specifies that such reports are confidential and not open to public inspection. For other health and financial information to be sealed, a request for an order of protection will still have to be made; and (4) Present law authorizes the court to charge the costs of the proceedings against the property of the respondent to the extent the respondent's property exceeds the supplemental security income eligibility limit, or to the petitioner or any other party, or partially to any one or more of them as determined in the court's discretion. Also, present law provides that if the principal purpose for bringing the petition is to benefit the petitioner and there would otherwise be little, if any, need for the appointment of a fiduciary, the costs of the proceedings may be assessed against the petitioner, in the discretion of the court. This bill adds that, notwithstanding the present law provisions described in this item (4), the petitioner will be responsible for the court costs necessary for initiating proceedings, including filing fees and costs associated with required notices and publication. This bill further provides that at any point in the proceedings, in the court's discretion, such costs may be charged according to present law and the petitioner may be reimbursed. ON APRIL 19, 2021, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1440, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 adds that this bill's classification of examination reports as confidential, as described in (3) of the Bill Summary, does not: (1) Limit the respondent or the respondent's agent or attorney from having access to any such reports or documents about the respondent; or (2) Prohibit an investigative body from accessing any such reports or documents as authorized or required by law.