Dementia - Guardianship

[Badger1818]

What is the name of your state?Arkansas

My sister n law has guardianship over my older brother. He was in an assisted living facility but he was kicked out for behavior caused by him pretending to take his meds. Now he is in a mental health facility and takes his meds and he sounds fine. His wife is using his retirement to keep him in the facility and pocket the rest, he gets 8k per month. She works and his son, wife and kids (none of them work) are living with the wife.
The wife was recently granted Guardianship over him, he has mild vascular dementia.

The issue is my brother wants to get a divorce and get the guardianship revoked. He was in a mental facility for evaluation when the guardianship was granted and couldn't go to court on his own behalf and was not represented by a lawyer.

The question is, can he get a divorce.? If the judge thinks he is ok can he also get the guardianship revoked?

 

[adjusterjack]

can he get a divorce.?

Yes.

If the judge thinks he is ok can he also get the guardianship revoked?

Yes.

And that (what a judge thinks) applies to both.

If you want that to happen, YOU will have to put up a barrel full of money for an attorney. You understand that, don't you?

And your sister-in-law will use his pension money for a lawyer to fight you on it.

How much money do you have, that you can throw at this issue? $10,000? $20,000? $30,000? More?

Because it's not a question of can it be done. The question you need to answer, before you even get started, is how much it will cost you to get it done?

Ask a lawyer. Without one, nothing changes.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Also, there is a very good chance that she might get as much or more of your brother's pension in a divorce than she is getting now.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state?Arkansas

My sister n law has guardianship over my older brother. He was in an assisted living facility but he was kicked out for behavior caused by him pretending to take his meds. Now he is in a mental health facility and takes his meds and he sounds fine. His wife is using his retirement to keep him in the facility and pocket the rest, he gets 8k per month. She works and his son, wife and kids (none of them work) are living with the wife.
The wife was recently granted Guardianship over him, he has mild vascular dementia.

The issue is my brother wants to get a divorce and get the guardianship revoked. He was in a mental facility for evaluation when the guardianship was granted and couldn't go to court on his own behalf and was not represented by a lawyer.

The question is, can he get a divorce.? If the judge thinks he is ok can he also get the guardianship revoked?

He has dementia, he is not ok. He may do much better on his meds, but he is not going to stop having dementia. It also costs a lot more to be in a mental health facility or assisted living than you think it does.

 

[commentator]

And are you going to take over guardianship and take care of him if he gets a divorce? It sounds as though your sister in law is not grabbing any free rides here, I'm with the above comment, a mental health facility such as your brother is in is costing a whole lot of that pension and retirement each month than you may realize, and you say she's working, not lying about in luxury on the remainder. His condition is due to get a whole lot worse, in time, there's no happy total recovery prognosis here. Why would you want to spend the money and take the time to get involved and stir this pot because a person with mild vascular dementia gets a whim to divorce his caregiver? What if he decides in a few months that it was a mistake and now he wants to get away from who else is caring for him?