Las Cruces educator, civil rights figure Dorris Hamilton under court-ordered guardianship

Dorris T. Hamilton, retired educator and civil rights activist, listens to a blessing given before the 2017 Martin Luther King Day march in downtown Las Cruces. (Photo: Photo by Paul Ratje)

LAS CRUCES - Dorris Hamilton, 91, a longtime educator and the first African-American school principal in Las Cruces, has been placed in the custody of a private corporate guardian, removed from her home and is currently residing at an assisted living facility in Las Cruces, according to her son. 

On Sept. 17 and 19, Bobbi Green, president of the Doña Ana County branch of the NAACP, alerted her membership via email about a custody hearing over Hamilton, a lifetime NAACP member, last week.

The hearing was postponed. Court documents obtained Monday show a guardianship hearing scheduled for Oct. 16 in district court.

Rio Hamilton, her son, grew up in Las Cruces and now lives in New York City.

Hamilton told the Sun-News on Monday that he and his mother consulted with Las Cruces attorney CaraLyn Banks in July about acquiring a power of attorney so he could help her finalize her estate and provide for her care.

Instead of the power of attorney, Hamilton said he received court papers several days later indicating his mother required an emergency medical evaluation following an inspection of her home.

His mother was placed in the temporary custody of Advocate Services of Las Cruces, LLC, a private guardian company founded by Sandy Meyer in 2002.

Hamilton said his mother was taken first to Memorial Medical Center and then to a rehabilitation facility for senior citizens so her home could be cleared of mice and cleaned.

"I basically said that yes, of course they could start to do the cleanup," Hamilton said Monday. "I didn't know that this meant that they were going to have the power of attorney and guardianship over my mother and her bank account. I was thinking we were all working together and they were just going to report to me what they were finding and I could say yea or nay." 

Over the next few weeks, the guardian assumed control of Dorris Hamilton's finances, removed her car and changed the locks on the door of her home. Banks informed her son the house had been broken into twice last week.

"We have no will, we have no power of attorney, and my mother is trapped," he said. When he visited her at the Las Cruces facility last week, he said he was not permitted to take her for a walk outdoors.

He also visited Banks again, he said, this time with another attorney. At this meeting, he said it was clear to him Banks was going to petition the court, against his wishes, for Advocate Services to be appointed his mother's permanent guardian and conservator.

Hamilton said he demanded to see an invoice, which showed a total so far — paid from his mother's assets — of $3,500.

'She obviously needed help'

Banks said Hamilton met with her on his way out of town and that "it was clear that his mother needed to have someone appointed immediately to make sure that she was safe."

She said Rio Hamilton agreed to the appointment of a temporary guardian, with the possibility that he would be appointed her permanent guardian in the future.

"The only option, since his mother was unable to sign a power of attorney and she obviously needed help, was through guardianship," she said, adding that Rio Hamilton appeared to understand and agree to a temporary guardian. 

Banks said her own role was to represent the best interests of Dorris Hamilton, and that the law requires professional medical recommendations and reports by the court-appointed guardian to be filed prior to a hearing when a judge appoints a permanent guardian. 

As the petitioning attorney, Banks said her responsibility included "making sure that information is presented to the court, getting an order so all these folks can do their jobs, making sure contact information is exchanged so they can do the appropriate interviews." 

Banks said Advocate Services is one of three guardian services to whom she refers wards. She described Meyer's company as "one of the few that has the resources and the level of staffing where they can step in and get things done." 

Hamilton broke segregation barriers

Dorris Hamilton, who has lived in Las Cruces since 1961, was the principal of Lynn Middle School for 20 years. She retired from the Las Cruces Public Schools around 1996.

In addition to being the city's first African-American school principal, Hamilton broke a segregation barrier at the University of Arkansas when she enrolled as the school's first African-American female student. She later met civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. early in his activist career.

At the rehabilitation facility, Hamilton seemed "a little confused," Rio Hamilton said. She was categorized as "difficult," he said, because she physically struggled when she was removed from her house to be taken to the hospital.

"She seemed somewhat happy" at the facility, Hamilton said. "This is a woman who's been living alone for 40 years, so I think she's happy to have people around her on a day-to-day basis." 

While the care she received seemed satisfactory, he said, "she's bored out of her mind. ... She was just sitting in the middle of the commons space by herself staring off into space. It was the saddest thing I think I ever saw."

Hamilton also said he saw parallels between this case and a previous one involving Advocate Services that aroused controversy last year.

Advocate Services of Las Cruces

Meyer, owner of Advocate Services, said statute requires her firm, upon appointment, to undertake a "discovery mission" including personal interviews, reviewing medical records to assess their needs, and securing their financial assets.

"We don't change anything except to open a conservator account so we can pay their bills," Meyer said Monday.

Meyer claimed that attempts to reach Rio Hamilton by phone and email were unsuccessful for weeks, and that he did not contact the firm until after his mother was in the hospital.

Hamilton denied he had failed to respond to messages, saying he had retained email and phone records. 

"We try to be very collaborative with the families," Meyer said. "We don't want to interfere with family relationships. We don't want to keep anybody from visiting with family, communicating with family in any way, shape or form."

Past reports questioned guardian

A series of reports on New Mexico's guardianship system by the Albuquerque Journal in 2018 found that Advocate Services was not in compliance on statutorily required annual reports on the wellbeing and finances of adults under its care.

Meyer said Monday that the company is now current on reporting requirements.

"I know there are bad corporate guardians out there," Meyer said. "We are scrupulously honest, and here's why: I don't like jail. We account for every penny."

She said securing homes and vehicles is also part of her firm's legal responsibility as guardians.

The Journal also reported on an 85-year-old La Mesa resident, Kise Davis, who was placed into Advocate Services' custody in 2016 without a hearing or notice to her stepson, who lived out of state. Davis was moved to an assisted living facility and her home was put up for sale. 

Larry Davis struggled in court for 14 months before he was allowed to move his stepmother near him in California. 

Meyer said previous reports on the Kise Davis case omitted information she had provided and misrepresented comments she made.

Asked how often her firm's guardianship met with conflict among family members, she estimated, "40 percent of the time, unfortunately."

Advocate Services does not advertise, Meyers said: "We get called and invited in."

Yet Rio Hamilton said it was Banks who invited Advocate Services in.

"I never signed anything," Hamilton said. "I have no working agreement with CaraLyn Banks. She did all of this on her own without any signature from me."

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Las Cruces educator, civil rights figure Dorris Hamilton under court-ordered guardianship