Probate and Family Court Standing Order 1-25, adopted December 11, 2024 and effective February 3, 2025, created the Office of Adult Guardianship and Conservatorship Oversight (OAGCO) inside the Administrative Office of the Probate and Family Court. It tracks whether guardians file their annual report on the incapacitated person and whether conservators file their required accounts, it applies only to permanent guardianships and conservatorships in adult cases, and it issues a formal Notice of Noncompliance once a filing is more than 30 days past due.
Being appointed guardian or conservator in Massachusetts has always carried ongoing filing obligations. For years those obligations were loosely enforced in practice, and an overdue report often went unremarked unless a specific complaint brought it to the court's attention. Standing Order 1-25 changes that. It creates a dedicated court program whose job is to watch for overdue filings and follow up on them, which means guardians who have been treating the annual report as optional now have a concrete reason not to.
What Is the OAGCO?
The Office of Adult Guardianship and Conservatorship Oversight is housed within the Administrative Office of the Probate and Family Court. Despite an acronym that sounds like it belongs to a prosecutor's office, it is a court program and not part of the Attorney General's office. This distinction matters: a Notice of Noncompliance is a court administrative communication about a missing filing, not a criminal referral.
Its function is narrow and worth stating plainly. The OAGCO does not create any new filing duty. Every report and account it tracks was already required by the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code. What is new is that somebody is now systematically checking whether those filings actually arrive.
Permanent adult appointments only. The oversight program covers permanent guardianships of incapacitated adults and permanent conservatorships of protected adults. Guardianships of minors fall outside it, as do temporary and emergency appointments. If you serve as guardian for a child, this program does not apply to your case, though your reporting duties to the court are unchanged.
What Has to Be Filed, and When?
Three deadlines do most of the work. They sit in the Massachusetts General Laws chapter 190B, and they have not changed. What follows is the statutory timing as currently enacted.
| Who | What is filed | When it is due |
|---|---|---|
| Guardian | A written report on the condition of the incapacitated person, accounting for any funds and assets in the guardian's control. Commonly called the Guardian's Care Plan Report.G.L. c. 190B, § 5-309(b) | Within 60 days following appointment, at least annually after that, and whenever else the court orders. |
| Conservator | A detailed inventory of the estate subject to the conservatorship, with an oath that it is believed complete and accurate.G.L. c. 190B, § 5-417(a) | Within 90 days after qualification. |
| Conservator | An account to the court for administration of the estate.G.L. c. 190B, § 5-418(a) | Not less than annually, unless the court directs otherwise, and on resignation or removal. |
A person serving as both guardian and conservator for the same individual carries both sets of obligations. They run on separate clocks, because the guardian's 60 days runs from appointment while the conservator's 90 days runs from qualification, and it is common for the two dates to differ.
What Happens If a Filing Is Overdue?
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The filing comes due
The deadline arrives on the schedule set by statute and by any specific order in your case.
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The filing is missed
Under the previous practice this frequently went unaddressed. Under Standing Order 1-25 the case is now being tracked.
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More than 30 days past due
The OAGCO issues a formal Notice of Noncompliance. This is the concrete trigger the standing order introduced, and it is the main practical change for guardians and conservators.
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Continued failure to file
Chronic failure to file has long been an independent ground for removal, even where there is no other misconduct, and the court may begin a show-cause proceeding against a guardian who does not file. Systematic tracking makes that outcome considerably more likely to be reached.
Receiving a notice is not a finding that you have done anything wrong as a guardian. In most cases it reflects an administrative lapse during a genuinely difficult caregiving period. It does need a prompt response, because the risk is not the notice itself but what follows continued silence.
What Should Current Guardians and Conservators Do?
If you are serving as guardian or conservator of an adult, the useful step is to confirm your filing history is current and to calendar the next deadline now, rather than waiting for a notice at the 30-day mark to prompt you. Two questions are worth answering today: when was your last report or account actually allowed by the court, and what date does that make the next one due?
If you are already overdue, filing late is nearly always better than waiting to be asked. If you have received a Notice of Noncompliance, it is worth getting advice before responding, particularly where the delay is tied to a dispute with family members or to difficulty obtaining records from a care facility or a financial institution.
The annual report is the accountability mechanism, and it works in both directions. For a guardian, a current filing history is the clearest evidence of an engaged and careful appointment. For a family worried about how a guardianship is being handled, the first question to ask is whether reports are being filed at all, and what they say. This is also why a missed filing draws attention out of proportion to the paperwork involved.
Contact Brigantine Law if you have received a Notice of Noncompliance, if you are behind on guardianship or conservatorship filings, or if you are concerned about whether another person's guardianship is being properly administered.
Statutory filing deadlines above were verified against the Massachusetts General Laws in August 2026.