The Fourth District Court of Appeal revived a divorce petition by an elderly Alzheimer’s patient adjudged to be incompetent.
Div. One explained that the trial court had erred in dismissing the petition sua sponte without providing the parties with adequate notice and without first determining whether Evelyn Straczynski was capable expressing an intent to obtain a dissolution of her marriage on account of irreconcilable differences.
Straczynski began divorce proceedings in August 2005, but her husband, Charles Straczynski, alleged in his response that she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and was “not truly aware of what she is doing at this time.”
Evelyn Straczynski was placed in an assisted living program that November, but when San Diego Superior Court Judge David B. Oberholtzer interviewed her, he found she had “sufficient capacity to determine she wanted a divorce.”
Over the course of the next two years, Oberholtzer ruled on a number of motions, finding, among other things, that a 1986 prenuptial agreement was enforceable and that Straczynski’s husband was obligated to pay her half of the proceeds of the sale from the family home plus an additional $265,000. Oberholtzer also ordered the husband to pay all expenses associated with Straczynski’s care and medications.
Proceeding concurrently with this dissolution action was a conservatorship case in the probate court regarding Straczynski. The probate court found Straczynski was not competent to be in an attorney-client relationship and appointed a guardian ad litem and conservator for her estate. The probate judge also specified that the conservator “shall have standing to litigate the Family Court matters on behalf of the conservatee.”
Full Article and Source:
Alzheimer's Patient May Sue for Divorce, Court of Appeals Say
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Milking the helpless!
(part 2) Other facts never disclosed throughout the multiple web articles relating to Charles and Evelyn's divorce is that Evelyn's neurologist, who had been treating her dementia and Alzheimer's disease since July 2004, had clearly stated within a medical report and capacity declaration that Evelyn no longer had sufficient mental capacity and was not competent to handle her own affairs. It had also been the doctor's opinion that Evelyn was not able to make informed decisions regarding financial or healthcare matters. The capacity declaration prepared by Evelyn's neurologist gives even more insight into how diminished Evelyn's mental capacity had been 6 months prior to the dissolution petition being filed. As stated within the capacity declaration prepared by Evelyn's treating neurologist, Evelyn suffered multiple impairments to her thought process. One of the impairments in which Evelyn's neurologist classified as being a major impairment had been with Evelyn's orientation to places and situations. Also shown within the same orientation category of the capacity declaration is that Evelyn also suffered moderate impairment with her orientation with time. Evelyn's short- and long-term memory was also found to be moderately impaired.
My Comment (Part 2)Other facts never disclosed throughout the multiple web articles relating to Charles and Evelyn's divorce is that Evelyn's neurologist, who had been treating her dementia and Alzheimer's disease since July 2004, had clearly stated within a medical report and capacity declaration that Evelyn no longer had sufficient mental capacity and was not competent to handle her own affairs. It had also been the doctor's opinion that Evelyn was not able to make informed decisions regarding financial or healthcare matters. The capacity declaration prepared by Evelyn's neurologist gives even more insight into how diminished Evelyn's mental capacity had been 6 months prior to the dissolution petition being filed. As stated within the capacity declaration prepared by Evelyn's treating neurologist, Evelyn suffered multiple impairments to her thought process. One of the impairments in which Evelyn's neurologist classified as being a major impairment had been with Evelyn's orientation to places and situations. Also shown within the same orientation category of the capacity declaration is that Evelyn also suffered moderate impairment with her orientation with time. Evelyn's short- and long-term memory was also found to be moderately impaired.
My Comment (Part 3)Evelyn's neurologist states within his reports that Evelyn suffered MAJOR IMPAIRMENTS with her ability to:
1. Understand and communicate either verbally or otherwise.
(These deficits reflect Evelyn's inability to comprehend questions, follow instructions, use words correctly, or name objects and the use of nonsense words).
2. Understand and appreciate quantities.
3. Reason using abstract concepts,
(These deficits reflect Evelyn's inability to grasp abstract aspects of her situation or to interpret idiomatic expressions or proverbs).
4. Plan, organize, and carry out actions in her own rational self-interest.
5. Reason logically.
Even prior to Evelyn being inflicted with dementia, she had a prior history of psychiatric problems; severe depression and multiple suicide attempts. Other circumstances in which should have been looked at within Evelyn and Charles' divorce other than the fact that Evelyn suffered a majorly diminish mental capacity years prior to the filing of the divorce petition was the fact that Evelyn was highly susceptible to fraud and undue influence, so when Evelyn's oldest daughter who had been estranged and removed from the Straczynski Family Trust, manipulated the physical custody of Evelyn at the time of a hospital discharge on June 26, 2005 and kept Evelyn isolated within her undisclosed apartment for two months prior to the dissolution petition being filed should all have been considered when deciding on the question as to whether or not Evelyn's guardian ad litem, should be able to pursue the divorce between Charles and Evelyn.
My Comment (Part 4)SIDE NOTE: Evelyn's guardian ad litem pursing the divorce litigation against Charles, who the guardian ad litem believed had a 6 million dollar estate had initially been brought into Evelyn's Conservatorship proceedings after being retained by Evelyn's oldest daughter, who hired attorney BORIS SIEGEL, from the Law Office of Siegel & Wolensky to come into the Probate case and replace the attorney appointed by the court to represent Evelyn.
And just in case anyone is wondering as to how I obtained such insight into the divorce matter of Charles and Evelyn Straczynski, I will enlighten you. My name is Evelyn Lorraine Straczynski and I am the youngest of Charles and Evelyn's three children affording me that insight.
So in conclusion, here is my question to all you legal beagles out there:
With evidence readily available to support the fact I have stated above, is there anything that can be done to stop Evelyn and Charles' divorce case from being used and cited for the most dreaded predictable purpose of affording probate attorneys, guardian ad litems and conservators more power than the already have to destroy an entire family and steal their assets?
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions as it relates to the Conservatorship of Evelyn Delores Straczynski; or In Re: To The Marriage of Charles and Evelyn Straczynski regarding:
Attorney Boris Siegel and Attorney Lewis Wolensky, legal partners of Siegel & Wolensky, LLP;
Julie A Lubitz, PPF;
Attorney Linda M. Grunow;
Teresa Castiglione, PPF and owner and operator of the business known as "The Organizer" a representative payee service for beneficiaries of Social Security benefits;
Attorney Brad Lovelace.
My Comment (Conclusion) After all, it might be too late to save my parents since they both passed away a year apart from each other, and I will probably never find an attorney who would help me retrieve the 2 million dollars that had been stolen from my parents by the above named individuals, BUT after 7 years of research and investigating into the probate issues and discovering the pattern of fraud that the above individuals conspire together to commit, hopefully gave me enough knowledge and insight to save someone else's family from suffering the way my parents suffered.
lorrainestraczynski@hotmail.com
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