Thursday, November 26, 2009

Judge Sides With Daughter

An Indiana woman has been granted guardianship of her father after waging a two-month court battle against Manatee County’s public guardian. She hopes to have him home for Thanksgiving.

Manatee County Circuit Judge Paul E. Logan appointed Beverly R. Newman guardian of her father, 89-year-old Al Katz, in a ruling Monday.

Newman and her husband, Lawrence T. Newman, had petitioned the court for control of Katz’s health care decision-making since Sept. 18, when Bradenton’s Aging Safely was awarded emergency temporary guardianship after Katz was taken to the hospital with “confusion, agitation and bronchitis,” according to court documents.

The Newmans objected to Aging Safely’s emergency guardianship, saying the elder advocate failed to list Beverly Newman as Katz’s next of kin in court papers. They said they were Katz’s primary caretakers intermittently from 2002 to 2008.

An often contentious court battle ensued during which the Newmans accused Aging Safely and Katz’s court-appointed health care representative, Jackie Steuerwald of Indiana, of failing to provide adequate care. Aging Safely in turn testified that Katz did not want to see his daughter.

Logan awarded Beverly Newman the right to visit her father for three hours per day over objections from Aging Safely in an Oct. 16 ruling.

“As a guardian, we really had no choice but to do what Mr. Katz said he wanted,” Aging Safely representative Ashley Butler said Tuesday. “Everybody stepped up and did what they thought was best for Mr. Katz.”

Beverly Newman said she and her father get along well and that it was the influence of his girlfriend and caretakers that briefly strained their relationship.

While Logan appointed Beverly Newman guardian of Katz, he awarded control of Katz’s property to Herbert G. Schimmel, a Sarasota family counselor chosen by the Newmans. That’s because the Newmans sued Katz in 2008 over belongings that were locked in his home in Indianapolis.

Full Article and Source:
Judge Sides With Daughter in Guardianship Battle

See Also:
Judge Grants Visitation to Daughter

7 comments:

Thelma said...

Sounds like typical family problem, but hopefully, it's correcred.

Anonymous said...

What a terrific Thangsgiving Day gift! Judge Paul Logan got this one right.

It is highly probable that Aging Safely misprepresented (LIED) Al Katz's wishes.

You can bet on that IF the AIP / the ward has property or assets that can be converted into CASH.

Applause to Beverly R. Newman for waging this court case for the right reasons.

Anonymous said...

Good going!

StandUp said...

Just one thing that troubles me. I believe the daughter had DPoA and if so, then there would be no need for a guardianship at all.

She is guardian of the person - not his estate.

We who have suffered through guardianship know all to well that the estate guardian is the guardian in control.

Betty said...

Hang your heads in shame, Aging Safely!

Max said...

Yes, well donejudge.

I hope you order Aging Safely to pay back Mr. Katz all the money cost him by this takeover.

Melissa said...

I'm pleased that Aging Safely (what an oxymoron) didn't get by with poisoning the judge against the daughter.

Exposed - Aging Safely - you've been exposed!