Sep. 18—ROSCOMMON — A woman whose family
sought to have her status as a ward-of-the-court terminated, after a
previous court-appointed guardian was investigated by the Michigan State
Police, has prevailed in court.
"She's free as a breeze," Loreli
Haddad said of her sister, Kay McGinnis, 82. "Maybe this will give other
people trying to do the same thing some hope."
McGinnis has
ongoing speech difficulties as the result of a stroke, and deferred
comment to her sisters, Haddad, 83, of Roscommon, and Peggy Olsen, 87,
of Grayling.
Olsen is currently hospitalized, Haddad said, adding
that stress from the ongoing legal case likely exacerbated her older
sister's flu-like symptoms.
"I've got to credit the judge though," Haddad said. "He did the right thing."
Probate
Court Judge Mark D. Jernigan in August ordered a medical evaluation of
McGinnis, in response to a petition filed by Haddad, who'd asked the
court to either terminate McGinnis' guardianship or appoint McGinnis as
her own guardian.
Haddad filed the petition, she said, after she
and her sisters were angered by an accused theft by a previous guardian
and believed McGinnis could make her own life decisions.
If all
court appointments for McGinnis were terminated, no further contact with
the probate court would be required. If McGinnis was allowed to be her
own guardian, annual reports on housing, medical services, income and
expenses would still be required, but McGinnis would submit these
reports herself.
Roscommon County Probate Court Register Debra
Willitt confirmed Monday the guardianship would be terminated, likely as
soon as Friday, with one caveat — McGinnis' attorney first needed to
provide documentation showing an appropriate person had been named her
power of attorney.
Haddad said Kay McGinnis planned to name her
son, Casey McGinnis, of South Carolina, her POA and relocate to that
state to live with him.
The process of moving into, and out of,
guardianship has been a lengthy one for McGinnis and her family, fraught
with losses both personal and financial.
McGinnis has had four court-appointed guardians since suffering a stroke in 2016, court records show.
She
and her family say the initial appointment of McGinnis' longtime
partner, John Kutz, as guardian was perhaps warranted, as McGinnis was
temporarily unable to care for herself or manage her affairs.
Kutz had McGinnis' best interests at heart, her sisters say, but the situation went awry after he died of liver cancer in 2019.
Jessica
Starlin-Ronin, of Cadillac, succeeded Kutz, court records show, but was
permitted to voluntarily resign after a family friend and one of
McGinnis' caregivers, Mary "Minnie" Lovely, filed a petition with the
court, stating a personal TCF Bank savings account wasn't listed in
McGinnis' assets.
Lovely did not accuse Starlin-Ronin of
wrongdoing, and asked the court to appoint her as McGinnis' guardian.
Lovely first became acquainted with McGinnis when she worked as a
caregiver for Olsen, McGinnis' older sister.
A judge agreed to the change, court records show, and Lovely, then of Grayling, succeeded Starlin-Ronin.
That appointment soon became mired in problems.
In
February, Lovely was arraigned in 82nd District Court, on one felony
count of embezzlement of more than $1,000 and less than $20,000 from a
vulnerable adult.
Lovely's arraignment followed a Michigan State
Police investigation into accusations that Lovely spent nearly $9,000 of
McGinnis' money on a Tracfone and lottery tickets, and made large
withdrawals from McGinnis' bank account at an ATM located inside an
unnamed casino.
Calls to a cell phone number listed for Lovely in
court documents were not returned. An 82nd District Court official said
Lovely missed a March 2 court hearing, triggering issuance of a
failure-to-appear bench warrant.
She remains at large, a staff person with the Roscommon Prosecutor's office confirmed Monday.
Lovely
also is accused in court records of not making McGinnis' mortgage
payments, which prompted foreclosure proceedings by TCF Bank, for not
paying premiums on a life insurance policy which TransAmerica Inc. later
canceled, and of not re-securing $900 a month in disability benefits,
which temporarily ceased when McGinnis was undergoing Medicaid-covered
rehab at a nursing home.
McGinnis' family say they continue to have questions about why the financial discrepancies weren't uncovered by the court.
State law shows that's not the probate court's role.
In
Michigan, elected probate court judges appoint guardians and
conservators to handle medical, housing and financial decisions for
people who, a judge has decided, can no longer make these decisions for
themselves.
Judges rely on staff with social service
organizations, such as Adult Protective Services and Community Mental
Health, to make recommendations, both on who needs a guardian or
conservator, and on who should be appointed to the job.
Michigan
probate courts are only responsible for monitoring whether guardians and
conservators file financial and other documents on time and that these
documents are sent to "interested parties" such as McGinnis' sisters.
Family
and friends can serve as guardians and conservators, as can
professionals, although the pay is often negligible for all but those
who serve the wealthy.
It was McGinnis' current guardian, Sheila Englehardt, of St. Helen, who uncovered the unexplained spending.
"I'm
looking through this bank statement and I'm seeing Michigan Lottery dot
com, Michigan Lottery dot com, Michigan Lottery dot com," Englehardt
said. "It was so blatant. It even had Mary Lovely's user name under it."
Englehardt
said when she was appointed, McGinnis was paying for groceries with
change from a change jar, her cable was shut off, her heat and electric
were about to be shut off and her house was in foreclosure.
In
March, Englehardt sought and received court permission to sell McGinnis'
Stuckey Avenue home for $194,900, to end foreclosure proceedings and
protect the equity McGinnis had in the home.
McGinnis' family
complained Englehardt paid more for things like storage units and
monthly rent than they thought appropriate, and didn't return their
phone calls, while Englehardt said she did the best she could for
McGinnis.
There was a fire at the first place Englehardt moved
McGinnis to — the Brook in Houghton Lake — so McGinnis had to move
somewhere else immediately, Englehardt said.
Englehardt said she
believes the turmoil McGinnis experienced over the past several years
might have been avoided if hospital workers, who in 2016 advised Kutz to
seek guardianship, had suggested instead he secure a POA, which is
revokable.
If Kutz had secured a POA, it could have been revoked once McGinnis was well enough to make her own decisions, Englehardt said.
"No
matter what, I'm happy for her," Englehardt said of the outcome of
Monday's hearing. "She has experienced so much. And I was never sure she
required a guardian in the first place, but I'm not the one who makes
that determination. I just accept the appointments."
