For more than two years, I have been representing an elderly man in a contested guardianship action. My client’s son claimed that my client was incapacitated, and instituted a guardianship action in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Union County in November of 2007. I opposed that guardianship action on behalf of my client, maintaining that my client was competent and that the son was pursuing the action because he wanted control over his father’s assets.
After more than two years of litigation, and eight days of trial that spanned from March to December of 2009, Union County Superior Court Judge John F. Malone, P.J.Ch., issued his opinion on May 11, 2010, ruling in favor of my client and dismissing the son’s guardianship complaint.
Judge Malone found that my client’s son had failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that my client was incapacitated; instead, Judge Malone declared that my client was “logical, coherent and has good clarity of thought. [He] functions cognitively; he is lucid, alert, he can understand, communicate and remember information.”
Full Article and Source: Complaint Dismissed in Contested Guardianship Lawsuit, Dismissing Complaint Filed By Adult Child
7 comments:
Another Pilfer the alleged ward story in Judge Malone's courtroon with Mr. Vanarelli in tow.
If the man is competent why did it take almost three years to determine that ......... and the winner is transferring the gentleman's assets to the atttorneys........ and his son's inheritance if the gentleman decides to still leave him anything.
The Judge split the fees 50/50 so when the father dies if the attorney's fees are not all paid up Mr. Vanarelli will have a lien on his assets and the other side will have a lien on the son's .......
Who won here the attorneys
The problem with state-run guardianships is lack of uniformity AND CLARITY of law.
TN says if the petition is dismissed, the petitioni filer pays. What do NJ statutes say?
Malone and Vanarelli no angels .......
Judge John Malone brought down a Guardianship on my husband after he fired all the attorneys on the case.
He let Anthony P. Kearns III represent my mother-in-law and my husband at the same time the problem was it was a big conflict of interest. Mr. Kearns and my mother in law filed for his Guardianship because he did not want to take a harmful drug and did not want a divorce. Mr. Kearns filed divorce papers when my husband was in a confused state due to Sloan Kettering administering illegal medication without the approval of the FDA.
Then Judge Malone was made aware that there were perjury charge after perjury charge no problem he just ignored it, then my husband asked for Donald Vanarelli to be fired after he was fabricating information to the courts no problem ........ then we got a voice tape where Dan Jurkovic stated if we do not pay Mr. Vanarelli's unmerited bills the Judge will take my husband away.
We report it to Attorney Ethics it disappears we report to the Union County Prosecutor's office nothing happens, we report it to Judicial Misconduct no finding and when we ask why it's confidential.
The Guardianship sham of the century.
Judge Malone and Donald Vanarelli brought down default judgements to pay Mr. Vanarelli's bills after we refused to pay. In New Jersey it is illegal to bring down a default judgement without a Guardian or attorney present in the courtroom.
Mr. Vanarelli had been dismissed and Mr. Jurkovic became my husband's counsel and then Mr. Jurkovic stated he could not defend my husband from paying
legal fees that were not merited because there was not basis for them not being merited. Let's see the guy did not represent my husband's wishes, he got fired,
double billed and brought down illegal default judgments.
Today we are trying to sue Pro Se
in Union County and Judge Chrystal
keeps questioning if I can represent my husband even though I am his Guardian. She has been harping on this since April and will not make a decision but she is already dismissing charges against defendants.
We would hope the FBI, the Federal Prosecutor and the Attorney General will knock on the Union County courts doors soon.
It sure looks like the attorneys won again. Yes, the AIP escaped guardianship, but at what cost? Did it cost him as much as it would have if he'd been under guardianship and they'd continued to bleed his estate dry?
I am happy to see this victory and I don't mean to spoil it by looking at it with cynacism, but I do agree with all of you that this appears to be a victory for the lawyers on the case as well.
Did the judge protect the AIP by having the AIP pay any of the fees or did he feed the lawyers?
Greg,
The Judge made the alleged ward pay 50% and his son pay the other 50%. The attorneys are the real winners. Why would it take years to determine capacity?
Great post! Been reading a lot about guardianship law. Thanks for the info here!
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