The Court of Appeal agrees with the holding in Conservatorship of T.B. that WIC 5350(d)(2) does not require a court to dismiss an LPS conservatorship petition when the trial has not started by the statutory deadline.  However, the Court reverses the LPS conservatorship in this case, finding the 10-month delay prior to trial violated due process under the Barker v. Wingo test.  Significant to this finding were the facts that A.H. had never before been found gravely disabled and that none of the delay was attributable to him.

The full opinion is available on the court’s website here: https://www4.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/A169588.PDF