We have good news. After several months of waiting to hear the end result of our legal case, we received the court order yesterday which is returning all my husband's assets. Now they will soon be available for his support and care. This is a big burden off my shoulders.

The petition was to revoke an irrevocable trust,will, powers of attorney, and new deed transferring my husband's property to his daughter. The signing of these documents happened almost a year ago when my husband was abducted by his brother and the x-wife and daughter had documents drawn up transferring the assets.

They contested the petition. It became necessary to negotiate with the opposing side in order to stay out of court and avoid loosing any more money that is desparely needed for current and future care. The end result is that the trust and will are now revoked by a judge. The conditions we had to compromise on is that we had to agree to pay all his daughter's legal and other expenses associated with creating the documents and defending her position to be paid out of my husband's assets.

The down part is that my husband Ed has lost a little more than 1/3 of his financial assets as a result of: legal fees to recover the property, legal fees and transportation costs paid to his daughter and her attorney, substantial rental income loss and bank problems (due to foreclosure proceedings) because his daughter the trustee let the property stay unrented for 7 months, and a huge amount that went to real estate attorney and real estate sales cost when she sold the property (my husband has a real estate friend that would have sold it without charging).

There has been no acknowledgment on their part that my husband was not capable of understanding what they were doing or what he was signing, even after they received all the medical documentation. His daughter and brother will not receive any consequences for their actions, not financial (civil court) or criminal charges for having made financial decisions for my husband or having financially exploited him.

Since we filed the petition in Oct. I have been determined to give up focusing on the past but it was hard because the case was still unsettled. Now my husband and I can really put this all behind us. I can focus on making arrangements with his financial conservator (that I nominated and was appointed by the court) to have what I need for my husband's care.

I hope and pray that my husband will have desires to seek out his daughter and brothers who were involved and be able to forgive them. They know nothing about his true feelings, and claimed that they were just doing what he wanted. My husband has not made any financial decisions or actions associated with his property since 1997. He has been severely impaired since the beginning in the areas of judgement, reasoning, decision-making, planning, initiating and following through will goals for his own interests. I have been struggling for the last 5 years to get his needs met (such as dental work and hearing aids) without direct access to his financial resources (they are premarital and his paranoia didn't allow for even a joint account).

I haven't decided if I will take any responsibility to contact them since my husband has not expressed any interest in talking to them. All I know for sure is that I no longer have to expend any time or energy that is needed to care for my husband and myself, worrying about legal business and protecting his finances.

I feel so grateful to God that this has turned out alright.

Thanks for "listening"

Hope your family relationships are well and you have support. And I hope that any who read this have already made or are currently making financial planning for incapacity, your own as well as your loved one you care for.

I hope you can all avoid having to take the actions we have in order to undue a problem that could have most likely been avoided to begin with.

Take care,

Cher

[ January 31, 2002: Message edited by: Cher50 ]

Cher,

I'm so happy for you and your husband. I knowthis has been going on for a long time. You must be so happy that this is finally behind you.

Vicki