(a) If it appears necessary or proper that a guardian or conservator of the estate of a member be appointed, the court, in its discretion, upon application of the administrator, or officer designated by the administrator, may appoint a home as guardian or conservator of the member’s estate and cause letters of guardianship or conservatorship of the estate to be issued to the home.

(b) For the purposes of this chapter, a home is a corporation and, acting through an officer designated by the administrator, may act as guardian or conservator of estates, assignee, receiver, depositary, or trustee under appointment of any court or by authority of any law of this state and may transact business in that capacity in the same manner as an individual, and for this purpose may sue and be sued in any court of this state.

(c) A home shall be appointed as guardian, conservator, assignee, receiver, depositary, or trustee without bond. The home shall receive reasonable fees for its expenses for filing fees and attorneys’ fees. The fees paid to the home may be used as a trust account from which may be drawn expenses for filing fees and attorneys’ fees in all estates it undertakes to administer. Whenever the balance remaining in the trust account exceeds a sum determined to be necessary by the administrator for the payment of the filing fees and attorneys’ fees incurred in the various estates, the excess shall be paid annually into the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Fund.

(d) When acting as guardian or conservator of a member, a home may deposit the funds of the estate in the special deposit fund of the home, and may invest and reinvest the funds in securities which are legal investments for savings banks in this state.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 28, Sec. 83. (SB 96) Effective June 27, 2017.)