A probate judge in Denton County has ruled that a mentally ill woman, whose trust has dwindled from half a million dollars to about $50,000, should handle her own affairs.Judge Don Windle announced his decision Tuesday after a daylong hearing to determine whether Michelle Cohen required a guardian for herself and her finances.
American National Bank, which oversees the Henrietta Neufeld Cohen Trust on behalf of Cohen, filed for a limited permanent guardianship of Cohen and the estate last June. The bank took on the role of trustee in 2008 from Wachovia. At the transfer, there was about $135,000 left in the trust.
After this week's hearing, there is unlikely to be much left in the trust.
Probate attorney Jack Wilburn testified that he expects the trust to be "zero or close to zero when everything is said and done."
In dismissing the case, Judge Windle said that there was little point in ordering restrictions when there was little of Cohen's money left to restrict.
He said he would leave it to Cohen to pursue attorneys to investigate whether any of the prior trustees breached their fiduciary duty during their oversight of the trust.
Full Article and Source:
Dallas Woman Left in Control of Trust After Bank Sought Guardianship
See Also:
Bank Files Guardianship
10 comments:
I am glad she was able to fight them off.
But, underlying this "victory" is Windle's comment that there is no estate left to protect.
And what that really means is Michelle Cohen isn't worth "protecting".
If there was still hundreds of thousands of dollars in the trust, she'd be a guardianship ward.
Did the judge order the bank to repay the funds they've spent trying to gain control over Cohen?
Doesn't look like it.
And why not?
It would be interesting to know just how much of Michelle Cohen's money the bank spent trying to make her a ward of the state.
Isn't that the same bum - Windle -
who got caught putting himself and friends and fiduciaries into a ward's Last Will & Testament?
I hope Cohen is able to find a lawyer who will see the need to get to the truth, a lawyer who will get a full accounting from the bank to show where the money went, when and who is responsible for spending it.
The judge dropped the guardianship issue due to the fact there is no money left. Isn't that interesting?
In addition, the court is aware there are a lot of areas of inquiry, a lot of missing money, yet he doesn't refer this case to law enforcement for investigation, he leaves Cohen out in the cold.
Cohen is on her own with a very low probability to get justice or her money back. What a SICK system more like a racket.
Just look at who gained and who lost and why.
It's a victory with an underlying current. If there had been a lot of money left in the estate, then for sure the title would have been something like, "Bank appointed guardian to protect mentally ill woman."
People with Schitzoeffective (pardon the spelling) disorder can be treated. Yes, they're mentally ill but with treatment, they function normally.
They don't need to have a guardian just because they are mentally ill.
I have to "ditto" on helensniece comment wondering why the judge and/or any of the attorneys involved would not refer the case to the local prosecutor's office with a request that they look into the matter....rather than place the ball back into the court of a disabled person to pursue the matter herself.
hey joecitizen i'm with you on this why???? is everyone turning their backs on this woman could it be no one wants to irritate the american national bank? could it be they are worried about the consequences? could it be they are more concerned about their re-election campaign contributors their bulging war chests? this smells really bad
Perhaps the judge put it "back into the disabled woman's court" because there are no grounds for such actions. It sounds like the judge would have ordered a limited guardianship of the estate (which appears to be a similar effect to what the grandmother intended when she set up the trust) had there been any estate left to protect. As the article and related articles state, Ms. Cohen herself spent much of the money in shopping for an attorney who would go against what appears to be an accurate assessment - she is not capable of handling her money. She may be capable of driving, graduating high school, caring for her cat, but handling money?
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