Financial Advisor Services

The intent of this informal solicitation is to solicit proposals from service providers for financial advisor services for clients of the Public Guardian/Conservatorship Program and the estates of the Public Administrator Program. The Public Guardian and Public Administrator maintain a strong fiscal responsibility for their client assets and promotes the need for financial advisor services to assist with the following goals:

• Professional Management – A financial manager account ensures that funds are handled by professionals who specialize in investment strategies, risk management, and financial planning.
• Asset Protection – The Public Guardian and Public Administrator are responsible for safeguarding the client’s assets, ensuring they are invested wisely and protected from mismanagement or fraud.
• Growth & Stability – Investments made through a financial manager account can help grow the client’s wealth while maintaining financial stability, ensuring long-term security.
• Legal & Fiduciary Compliance – The Public Guardian and Public Administrator has a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the client, ensuring that investments align with legal requirements and financial goals.
• Accountability & Oversight – Courts often require conservators to provide regular financial reports, ensuring transparency and accountability in managing the client’s funds.

Historically, the Financial Manager is paid a monthly fee based on an annual percentage rate of 1% of the value of the assets under management.

Contractor shall comply with the Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act (UFIPA) spelled out in the California Probate Code.

Contractor obligations:

•Consider general economic conditions that may impact performance of clients’ portfolios.

• Identify the role of the investments in context of the overall portfolio of San Mateo County clients' accounts.

• Understand the need for liquidity and determine the objective of preserving vs appreciating capital.

• Maintain a duty to diversify the investments of the clients' accounts.

• Consider the effects of inflation or deflation over the long term.

• Manage assets in sole interest of the clients of San Mateo County.

• Only incur costs appropriate and reasonable in relation to the accounts' needs.

• Consider the tax consequences of investment decisions or strategies and inform County of such consequences ahead of time.

Aging and Disability Services (ADS): San Mateo County ADS is a division of San Mateo County Health . The Division provides a wide range of services to assist seniors, people with disabilities and dependent adults to live safely and independently in the community, as well as services associated with administering the estates of deceased persons for whom there is no one able or willing to serve as administrator. With regard to services to seniors, ADS’s overall goal is to develop an integrated long-term supportive services system for older adults and adults with disabilities that is person-centered and responsive to the individual needs of older adults and adults with disabilities, focused on coordinated home and community-based services to maintain individuals in community settings, and flexible in its use of resources while reducing administrative duplication, complexity and fragmentation. The Division provides direct services which include centralized intake and referral; assessment and consultation; protective and supportive services and case management.

San Mateo County Public Guardian/Conservatorship Program: Deputy Public Guardians/Conservators (DPGs) coordinate the care, including the arrangement of placement and treatment, and manage the income and assets of frail elderly and gravely disabled persons under the jurisdiction of the Public Guardian as appointed by the Superior Court. The DPG arranges for the person’s care and protection and coordinates services to meet ongoing needs such as health care, meals, personal care and housekeeping.

San Mateo County Public Administrator Program: Deputy Public Administrators (DPAs) serve the public by investigating and administering the estates of persons who die with no will or without an appropriate person willing or able to act as administrator. The Public Administrator’s primary duties are to protect the decedent’s property from waste, loss or theft; make appropriate burial arrangements; conduct thorough investigations to discover all assets; liquidate assets at public sale or distribute assets to heirs; pay the decedent’s bills and taxes and locate persons entitled to inherit from the estate and ensure that these individuals receive their inheritance. The Public Administrator acts under the authority of the Superior Court.