by James M. Berklan
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| Aubrey B. Preston has been named emergency conservator for his father Forrest Preston, the founder and CEO of Life Care Centers of America. (Photo: Leiper’s Fork Foundation) |
A Tennessee chancery court judge has granted an emergency conservatorship request by Aubrey Preston to oversee the financial affairs of his 91-year-old father, Forrest Preston, the founder and sole owner of the giant Life Care Centers of America nursing home chain.
It marks the first time that control of the 200-plus long-term care chain has resided with anyone but billionaire Forrest Preston since he founded the Cleveland, TN-based company 54 years ago.
An estimated 20,000 residents and families are served each day by LCCA’s approximate 30,000 employees across 28 states.
Wednesday’s decision came during an emergency hearing precipitated by what Aubrey Preston, among others, called the financial and potential physical abuse of Forrest, who has been described as suffering from dementia and is mentally incapacitated.
Forrest’s third wife, Kim Preston, and two of her siblings, have been accused of isolating him from other family members, inappropriately asserting themselves in company business and manipulating the transfer of millions of dollars of real estate and cash to themselves personally in the period since Kim and Forrest were married seven years ago.
Neither Forrest nor Kim Preston were present at the hearing before Bradley County Chancery Court Chancellor Jerri Bryant, who granted each of Aubrey Preston’s emergency requests.
Aubrey now has at least temporary control over Forrest’s personal and business financial matters. A hearing concerning permanent conservatorship is scheduled for Jan. 13-15, 2025.
Until then, the 65-year-old will have all decision-making powers that his father previously had as CEO, lone shareholder and board chairman of LCCA. He has been directed to work in coordination with the company’s CEO and CFO, who have pledged their support.
Aubrey also will have control over personal spending and veto power over anything Kim and Forrest want to spend above $25,000 weekly, explained Aubrey Preston attorney Gary R. Patrick in an interview with McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
“We are very pleased with the outcome. We have a substantial number of witnesses that know and are willing to testify about things that happened in the past,” Patrick said, looking ahead to the full-time conservatorship hearing.
Also as part of Wednesday’s ruling, Aubrey is to be granted daily access to Forrest, outside the presence of Kim Preston and others, as desired; Forrest’s grandchildren will have the same consideration weekly. Patrick said one such meeting between Aubrey and Forrest had already taken place and was amicable.
The only defense against the conservatorship bid Wednesday was an affidavit Forrest Preston’s attorney filed containing a sworn statement from an osteopath who has been Forrest’s personal physician for four years.
“Mr. Preston’s attending physician did say, by affidavit, that he is in good health considering his age,” an attorney William H. Horton, told McKnight’s Wednesday afternoon.
Nearly three weeks ago, a judge ordered Forrest to undergo cognitive and medical tests, which have not been done, Patrick noted.
“This osteopath never said he administered a cognitive test, nor that he was qualified to do so,” Patrick said Wednesday. “We have no idea how he came to the conclusions that he did, saying that Forrest doesn’t need help or assistance. That was the thrust of their argument. There was nothing to support any of their arguments.”
Horton noted that Aubrey’s status is “an interim appointment and is limited in scope at this point.”
“The final hearing is set in mid-January to allow further evaluation of what needs to be done for a reasonable and fair resolution,” he added. “No testimony has been taken at this stage and no court ordered examination has occurred at this point.”
A call to an attorney representing Kim Preston was not immediately returned Wednesday.
‘Always about protecting Dad’
Kim Preston was a hired caregiver for Forrest’s second wife, Kathleen, who suffered a stroke. In 2018, less than two years after Kathleen died, the then-85-year-old Forrest and 49-year-old Kim were married without his family’s knowledge, according to filings seeking the conservatorship.
Forrest Preston is worth an estimated $1.2 billion, according to the most recent Forbes estimate.
“We’re grateful that the court looked at the facts of the situation and determined that an emergency conservatorship is the right course of action,” said Aubrey Preston in a statement emailed to McKnight’s. “First and foremost: This has always been about protecting Dad and helping him age with dignity, without being taken advantage of. Additionally, this is about ensuring that Life Care is stable and able to operate without interference.”
He said that LCCA has an “outstanding” management team remaining in place.
“They’ll have the support they need going forward,” he continued. “Today is an important day. But we know there’s a lot of work to do in the coming weeks and months to fully support Dad and the company.”
LCCA President Todd Fletcher (a nephew of Forrest Preston), the company CFO and other top officers filed sworn affidavits in favor of the conservatorship. They testified that Forrest’s inability to comprehend or conduct business matters had hindered operations and put the chain’s viability at risk.
They also said that his wife had badgered and threatened company leaders, sometimes flashing a gun, and had kept Forrest away from business matters for weeks and months at a time.
Aubrey and those under his direction also will have the power to audit past spending and asset transfers. He and his legal team have alleged that houses and cash have improperly been transferred to Kim and her brother and sister.
Reluctant litigant
Aubrey Preston has owned and operated long-term care facilities for decades, though he has not worked directly for LCCA since serving as his father’s director of acquisitions as a young adult. In the conservatorship filings, he has said he will move temporarily from Colorado to Tennessee to oversee LCCA affairs.
He describes himself as a reluctant participant in the legal action who was compelled to act after hearing disturbing reports from company officers and others.
Aubrey Preston is the founder and chairman of the Leiper’s Fork Foundation, where he is described as an entrepreneur, philanthropist and preservationist. He and his mother, Cora, Forrest’s first wife, were original land donors to conserve acreage in Leiper’s Fork through The Land Trust for Tennessee.
Among those endorsing Aubrey to become conservator via sworn affidavits were two of his three siblings, Forrest’s step-daughter, and a best friend of Forrest who was once named his executor and prospective conservator, a role he now says he does not desire.
McKnight’s attempts to reach Forrest and Kim Preston directly have
been unsuccessful. Media reports about the conservatorship filing have
quoted Forrest as saying the legal challenge is an internal family
matter that could and should be determined without court action, outside
of the public limelight.
Full Article & Source:
UPDATED: Court shifts emergency control of Life Care Centers of America to owner’s son
See Also:
Son seeks conservatorship for Life Care’s Forrest Preston
Life Care Centers CEO Faces Conservatorship Bid, Raising Concerns Over Nursing Home Giant’s Future
Emergency Petition Seeks to Expedite Conservatorship for CEO of Nursing Home Giant Life Care Centers
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