My daughter has guardianship/POA of her grandmother. my husband died 11/6/2015. the dad died in 2013. his will and grandmas will leaves all to ted my husband and his heirs. Now mother in laws sister is taking my daughter to court to get custody sister is in late 70's. served papers to daughter 2 days before christmas. and they said they don't want the house, excuse me what makes them think they could even get the house, their reason for doing this is they are mad because the nursing home won't tell them anything. good reason to do this right?? grand daughter is 27 only granddaughter. been on same job 8 yrs being trained to be a manager, has no bills, pays her own house bills, 2 trucks paid for, been with same person 9 yrs, married 2, just got a divorce, he wanted it so he could move girlfriend, daughters friend into the house. so divorced 9/2015. really been hard on her plus having to take money she cant really spare to hire lawyer. any help would be most appreciated. thank you.
Sister: The NH told us they can't discuss Gramma with us.
Granddaughter: As guardian I will put you on the list for basic information
Sister: Thank you
How did this ever wind up going to court?? It just seems so crazy for that to be the reason.
They can't get information from the nursing home so they want custody of her? That is just crazy. Either they simply are crazy, or there is some story behind this (that perhaps you don't know.)
I am extremely sorry for your daughter's stress and the expense of an attorney. Surely her attorney can make it all go away promptly.
Grandma is in a nursing home. Where does Sister intend to have her?
Why isn't your daughter allowing the nursing home to communicate with Sister?
What does who inherits what have to do with anything?
There must be a complicated back story to this.
Also what is the backstory on the estate grandpa left when he died in 2013?
Whatever the case, if daughter has been served paperwork to appear in court, then she realistically NEEDS to get & have an atty at the scheduled court hearing.
What your daughters atty will likely do is request the hearing to be set to later date. Which the court will grant. You & daughter kinda need to get on this ASAP as the atty can probably put in a request to change the hearing before the actual hearing (so no go to court costs) and all this is filed on line by the atty with the courthouse. It's not a DIY project really truly.
I'd look carefully at the paperwork to see just what the complaint is about....is Sissy filing for guardianship? Does the complaint read any malfeasance or lack of fiduciary duty by the POA? If this is the case then the complaint is being heard in probate court as its a probate judge who deals with guardianships in most states. It's a speciality area and you all need an atty with experience and know how the judge runs his or her court.
How to find one.. Since your hubby has recently died I'd first speak with whomever is the atty that is going to handle the settlement of his estate for you in probate court. If you could get the same firm to do both there could be some savings in costs & could ensure that the paperwork related to both is set up correctly for your daughter to be the guardian for grannie & heir to you & your late husbands estate. You could also contact the atty who did grandfathers probate from when he died in 2013 to see if they do guardianship.
If you don't have a probate guy, I'd go to your counties on-line access to documents & you should be able to go through the recent filings. They will show the name of the law firm who filed guardianships, wills, lineal heirship, etc. There will likely be a small group of names who do the majority of the filings. These are the ones with experience that you want to contact for representation.
Was probate filed in 2013? If no probate was filed for grandpas 2013 death, all this could get complicated. Really you need an atty. Probate attys are pretty inexpensive in cost as most of what is needed is pretty straightforward; they have online accounts with courthouse and publications, etc so a lot they can do simply themselves or have a paralegal do. Btw I've been an executrix twice & currently doing probate for my mom who died this year & really truly not having an atty puts you at a huge disadvantage.
IMHO this is not about HIPPA, that is just a smokescreen. It's about $$ and the whole "mom / dad loved you best" & the filing timed to get at you over Christmas & your family's first Christmas without your husband.
So just what is grannies financial situation? If she's in a NH, how is that getting paid? NH can run 5 -15K a month so there are funds paying this. How are house costs being paid? When grandpa died in 2013 was your MIL's sister expecting $ from his death? There has got to be $$ & resentment out there somewhere to support the idea of taking granddaughter to court.
If daughter is awarded guardianship, the costs to get this done can be paid from grannies funds.
I will say that based on my experience, if there is family infighting the judge can & will appoint an outside guardian. Judges don't want family dramarama & doing an outside guardian provides that. The hearings are pretty much an order done based on a checkoff of items by the courts staff attorney of items submitted in advance by your atty. (for the court I'm in currently any litigation or cross complaints have to go through a different in chambers docket schedule) If judge does outside guardian, family gets cut out of any decision making anymore....if probate hasn't been done for grandpa the new guardian will be able to be involved in that as well. All this could get complex. Comprende?
Really you need an experienced with guardianship & probate atty ASAP.
The daughter is Guardian-- this was an appointment by a judge, correct? And the sister was notified of the hearing, correct? As long as there is a court order signed by the surrogate's court, your daughter will continue to be Guardian.
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