Lawsuit: A machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage.
Ambrose Bierce
The front page of the Sunday Sarasota Herald-Tribune was filled with an extremely sad story entitled Love & Lawsuits, by Barbara Peters-Smith. (http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140406/ARTICLE/140409778/2416/NEWS?Title=First-came-love-Then-the-litigation-) The subtitle says it is the story of “a Longboat Key couple found true love late in life. But what might have been a happy ending has instead morphed into an epic lawsuit with millions of dollars on the line, and long, bitter legal arguments made mostly by strangers.” The story covers much of the front page and two full interior pages and I highly recommend that it be read in full to have a complete understanding of the facts and issues. For purposes of this brief post, the important facts are that after many happy years of marriage, allegations have been made that the elderly couple suffered from dementia and that relatives began to take advantage of them financially. Both the Husband and Wife had attained some level of wealth, although the Wife was substantially better off than the Husband. The allegations are that the Husband’s family members then began to take advantage of the couple and had transferred millions of dollars from the Wife, through the Husband to the Husband’s relatives.
For purposes of this post, the cautionary tail that I see is how the internal problems of this blended family have turned into a very public and very expensive legal battle, destroying any hope that the couple had to live out their final years in happiness together. The family members have now divided the couple and each lives near relatives but apart from each other.
On one side it is easy to say that this couple had done everything right as befitting their wealth. They had a prenuptial agreement and estate planning documents. They reviewed and updated these documents as needed. However, the allegations are that by 2005 the Wife and perhaps the Husband were suffering from early stages of dementia and some relatives began to take advantage of them. My first concern from this is why did it then take six years for any relative to realize what was going on and intervene. I do not mean this to be as judgmental as this may sound. I realize that every individual and every family is different in how they address financial issues, but in this case perhaps the long costly court battles could have been avoided had there been more direct involvement and conversations when concerns were first noticed of the couple’s failing health.
My second concern is that mediation did not take place in this case until after it had been pending for over two and half years. The mediator in this case is extremely professional and one of the best around. Unfortunately the case did not settle. The timing of a mediation is a careful balancing act. Often if the mediation is set too early the parties may not understand the full ramifications of the case and be unwilling to settle. However, if it is set too late, after each side has become cemented in their positions and invested vast amounts of money in the litigation, they may be too entrenched to consider settlement. However, mediation can begin early and continue throughout litigation. Much of the issues provided to the judge can be resolved through careful mediation. There does not appear to be other forms of alternative dispute resolution services employed in this case. The end result is a legal battle played out in public and the concerns for the elderly couple seems to have been lost in the process.
The law suite was filed in May 2011 and now has 1,675 docket entries (that is documents filed, orders issues, or notices of court hearings, etc.) There are fifteen lawyers involved in representing parties to this case. The case will have taken over three years from start to finish and that does not include possible appeals from the final decision. Two of the defendants have died and one of the previous attorneys is now allegedly suffering from dementia as well. Ours is a wonderful legal system but this case shines a bright light on the deficiencies of the system. I have seen divorces take on a life of their own and spiral out of control. It appears that this very sad guardianship case has done the same.