Family says special needs man at risk of losing childhood home in guardianship battle

By: Heather Catallo

(WXYZ) — A local family is fighting to keep their special needs brother in the only home he’s ever known.

They say he’s at risk of losing the house because of the actions of someone else’s court-appointed guardian.

Christian Chambers loves golf, football and Clarkston.

The 50-year-old has cerebral palsy, but is more than able to live independently in his childhood home.

And the house is close to Clarkston High School where Christian volunteers as an assistant coach for the football team. But instead of enjoying this year’s football season, Christian is extremely upset.

That’s because someone wants to sell the only home Christian has ever known.

“He's been here 50 years. And this is where he wants to stay,” said John Chambers, one of Christian’s four older brothers who help with Christian’s care.

"It's horrible to do this to anybody, but it's horrible to do it to Christian because of his heart,” said John. “He doesn't have the ability to go just get an apartment.”

Back in 2014, Christian’s mom and dad created a special needs trust for him, leaving Christian the family home. They also made family friend Ron Dunlap a trustee to look out for Christian’s welfare.

“It reads that it's going to be Christian's house forever. That was their full intent,” said Dunlap about the Trust.

In 2016, Christian’s mom started having health issues and his dad later passed away. The Oakland County Probate Court determined Doreen Chambers was legally incapacitated and appointed a professional guardian. The guardian has total say over Doreen’s life, and Doreen was moved to a nursing home.

Attorney Jennifer Carney is Doreen’s guardian. Her Birmingham-based guardianship company is called Advocates for Independence and Self-Reliance.

The Chambers say the family and Carney recently learned the deed for the house was still technically in Doreen’s name, and not in Christian’s trust as it should have been. And that’s when things got messy.

“She wanted to meet us here at the house with her supervisor. And I'm thinking to myself, how does she have a supervisor? I mean -- she owns this law firm,” said Dunlap.

Dunlap says he and Christian watched while Carney brought not a supervisor, but a real estate agent into the home.

“Starts just wandering around the house, taking pictures, measuring, and I'm going, What? What are you doing,” said Dunlap.

The Chambers brothers say they later got an email from Carney that says: “I need to manage the property in [Doreen’s] best interest, not Christian’s…. Christian will need to find other living arrangements.”

“I think it's totally unethical. I think she should be sanctioned,” said Dunlap.

Court records show Carney signed a purchase agreement for the home, even though guardians are not legally allowed to sell a ward’s property.

“That seems like they're putting the cart before the horse because a guardian doesn't have authority to sell that property,” said Nicole Shannon, the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative’s Systemic Litigation and Advocacy Attorney.

Shannon says even though the guardian is now asking the judge to become a conservator so she can sell the Chambers home, the court should take into account Doreen Chambers’ original plan for the home.

“It sounds as if this person took a lot of steps to make clear what it is that they wanted. They wanted to ensure that their son was going to be able to remain in this home long term,” Shannon told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.

The 7 Investigators did contact Jennifer Carney to ask her why she wants to sell the house if Doreen is staying in a nursing home, but she would not agree to an interview and refused to answer questions.

Court records show, Carney already charges Doreen Chambers’ modest estate thousands of dollars. For 2021, even though Doreen only received $10,465.80 in Social Security income, Carney charged her $3064.50 in fiduciary and legal fees.

The Chambers family is now fighting in Oakland County Probate court to stop Carney from selling the family home. They say they’re also hoping Carney can see just how much pain she’s causing Christian.

“He may not be able to speak very well. He may have some disabilities. But I will tell you. His hear has a lot more ability,” said John Chambers. Judge Linda Hallmark set another hearing to determine what will happen with the house , but that won’t be for several weeks.

In the meantime the Chambers family has created this fund to help Christian try to stay in the home.

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Family says special needs man at risk of losing childhood home in guardianship battle