Can Guardianship be Transferred?


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“My brother is 78 years old and is currently in a nursing home because his second wife – his first wife passed away then he remarried and she put him in a nursing home after being in the hospital for his back. This was supposed to be for rehab but ended up him being kept there. My brother was in the Air Force and retired then continued working on a second retirement and ultimately a third. Obviously, she just wants his money. He met her at the second job, I think. Anyway, this was all in 2007 and during 2008 she took him to court and received guardianship over him, he may have been drugged or coerced so that he’d go along with this procedure. She does not visit him and will not allow him to have the money for his hair cuts, he was always well groomed before this happened. He also needs dentures but she will not allow this either. Our sister tried to give him a laptop so that he could continue his online college education because he acquiring more education, however, his wife wouldn’t allow him to have one. Our sister talked to a person that handles situations to make sure that the elderly are not mistreated and an attorney was secured. However, this attorney sent paper work to the wife’s attorney that she wasn’t visiting him in the nursing home and this prompted her to visit till everything was dropped. Now she is back to not visiting and caring for him on a regular basis. The staff at the nursing home have told us that he doesn’t belong in an Alzheimer’s unit but he is in this unit per his wife’s demands so that he would be on lock down.

So I’m inquiring to see if this guardianship can be either reversed completely or can it be transferred to one of his siblings? There are six siblings including me.

Thank you for your time and consideration. My brother is in the nursing home in the state of Indiana.”

Question: It seems as if you already know what you need to do – as you’ve done it once before – you need to retain a good, aggressive elder-law attorney in the state of Indiana – this time one who won’t back down when wifey starts playing the part.