Father is Suing Us

We recently petitioned for and had a guardian of the property put in place for my father as he has been diagnosed with dementia (along with a whole laundry list of other health issues). My fahter was living with my family...he was paying for an addition to our home...when his health took a dramatic turn for the worse. He injured my son and threatened to kill himself (two separate incidents) and as a result, he was removed from our home under a Baker Act and DCFS became involved.

When it was time for his release from the hospital, we made it clear to all involved that the only way he could return to our home was with clearance from DCFS...we could not put our son at risk...and with healthcare workers in place, around the clock, to provide the care and supervision he needs...we could not put him at risk. He chose to go live with my sibling, someone he has been estranged from for years.

At that time, we contacted an attorney to find out about having him deemed incapacitated. My father (with my sister's prodding/assistance) contacted an attorney who basically sent us a threatening letter implying that I was going to be sued for the money he invested in the addition to my household, since our agreement was that he could live in that addition for the rest of his life. We haven't told him that he cannot live here, what we have told him is that it has to be cleared with DCFS and that he will need to have appropriate care and supervision provided...that was even recommended in the 3 part evaluation performed by the experts in determining the need for guardianship. We are worried about being sued as we do not have the means to repay the money. We realize now that my sister and/or my father cannot sue us but that the guardian of the property can.

We truely thought that my father would be spending the rest of his life here with us...with people who care about him...with his grandson who adores him. We never would have built this addition...especially an addition of this size...as it is going to raise both our property taxes and our homeowner's insurance. We were counting on him being here to help defray those costs but now realize we will have to cover them ourselves.

We have no way to contact my father directly, and he has made no attempt to contact us since he left the hospital nearly three months ago. The attorney we retained for the guardianship issue suggested today that I might want to look into getting a different attorney to represent me should we be taken to court over the additions. His words were, "I don't see the guardan being able to prevail, but she may try."

I would appreciate any input you may have. I am both saddened and sickened by the whole situation and am just at a loss as to what I should do next.

Thank You

Unfortunately, you are about to enter the world of abusive guardianships whose motto is Isolate, Medicate, Take the estate. To learn more, go to http://stopguardianabuse.org/inthenews.htm.