In re Guardianship of Pates

823 N.W.2d 881, 2012 Minn. App. LEXIS 128, 2012 WL 5476152
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 13, 2012
DocketNo. A12-0660
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 823 N.W.2d 881 (In re Guardianship of Pates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Guardianship of Pates, 823 N.W.2d 881, 2012 Minn. App. LEXIS 128, 2012 WL 5476152 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

CHUTICH, Judge.

Appellant-siblings challenge an order appointing their brother, respondent David Younkin, as conservator for their mother and granting him limited protective powers over her person. Appellants assert that their mother does not need a conservator or, alternatively, that appellant Abraham Younkin had priority and should have been appointed conservator. In addition, they claim that the district court erred by granting respondent limited protective powers and failing to require a cost bond. We affirm the district court’s appointment of respondent as conservator. Because the district court erred by granting respondent limited protective powers over his mother and not requiring him to post a bond, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

FACTS

Respondent Jeraldine Pates is 85 years old and the mother of six adult children. Pates currently lives in a senior facility in Cambridge. The facts underlying this appeal are largely the result of animosity and discord among three of her children, appellants Abraham Younkin and Linda Towler and respondent David Younkin.

Beginning in April 2010, Pates executed a series of estate-planning documents in a relatively short period of time, raising concerns that she was being manipulated by members of her family. Pates first executed her last will and testament on April 13, 2010. The will nominated Abraham Younkin and Linda Towler as co-trustees of a residuary trust and excluded David Younkin as a beneficiary of Pates’s estate. At the same time that Pates executed the will, she executed a health-care directive and power of attorney naming Abraham [884]*884Younkin and Linda Towler as her healthcare agents and attorneys in fact.

In February 2011, Pates visited her physician because of issues with headaches and memory loss. The doctor conducted tests that indicated problems with “verbal memory, working memory, and calculations,” and diagnosed Pates with Alzheimer’s disease.

Shortly after her diagnosis, Pates, along with David Younkin and Dale Younkin, another son, visited her attorney, and Pates executed several estate-planning documents. Pates amended her will, naming David Younkin and Dale Younkin as co-trustees and including David Younkin as a beneficiary. Pates revoked her power of attorney dated April 13, 2010, and executed a new short-form power of attorney, naming David Younkin as first attorney in fact and Dale Younkin as successor attorney in fact. She also amended her healthcare directive to appoint David Younkin and Dale Younkin as her health-care agents.

On July 18, 2011, Abraham Younkin took Pates to a different attorney, and she executed another series of estate-planning documents. Pates revoked her previous power of attorney, and executed a new form naming Abraham Younkin and Linda Towler as co-attorneys in fact. At the same time, Pates signed a new health-care directive, appointing Abraham and Linda as her health-care agents. In September 2011, Pates modified her will again, excluding David Younkin as a beneficiary and naming Abraham Younkin to serve as trustee of the residuary trust. The modified will also excluded Dale Younkin as a beneficiary.

In October 2011, David Younkin filed a petition in district court seeking to be appointed as a guardian and conservator for his mother. Pates, Abraham Younkin, and Linda Towler opposed the petition. The district court appointed a visitor for the matter.

At the court trial, Pates testified that she did not need a guardian, but if the court found that one was necessary, she would prefer to have Abraham Younkin appointed. She further testified that she believed all of her children were beneficiaries to her current will. The district court received excerpts from Pates’s medical record, which included her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and her physician’s recommendation that someone else supervise her finances, and the court visitor’s report, which recommended appointment of a guardian and conservator.

After the trial, the district court denied David Younkin’s petition for guardianship but appointed him as conservator for Pates. The court also granted David Youn-kin limited protective powers to select Pates’s medical professionals, arrange her medical appointments, and determine her place of residence, powers not typically granted to a conservator.

Abraham Younkin and Linda Towler now appeal David Younkin’s appointment as conservator. They argue that the district court erred by appointing a conservator, but that if one is necessary, the district court should have appointed Abraham Younkin. Appellants also argue that the district court erred in granting David Younkin protective powers under Minn. Stat. § 524.5-310(b) and by not requiring him to post a bond.

Pates filed a brief requesting the appointment of “an independent fiduciary.” 1 Pates, however, did not file a notice [885]*885of related appeal pursuant to Minn. R. Civ.App. P. 103.02, subd. 2 (“After one party timely files a notice of appeal, any other party may seek review of a judgment or order in the same action by serving and filing a notice of related appeal.”); therefore, she is not entitled to affirmative relief from this court. See 301 Clifton Place L.L.C. v. 301 Clifton Place Condo. Ass’n, 783 N.W.2d 551, 561 n. 2 (Minn.App.2010) (stating that the respondent’s claim was not properly before this court because the respondent had not filed a notice of related appeal, and refusing to address the claim).

ISSUES
I. Did the district court err in appointing a conservator for Jeral-dine Pates?
II. Did the district court err by appointing David Younkin as conservator instead of Abraham Youn-kin?
III. Did the district court err by granting David Younkin limited protective powers over Jeraldine Pates under Minn.Stat. § 524.5-310(b)?
IV. Did the district court err by not ordering the conservator to post a cost bond?

ANALYSIS

I. Appointment of a Conservator

“The appointment of a conservator is a matter within the district court’s discretion and will not be disturbed absent a clear abuse of that discretion.” In re Conservatorship of Geldert, 621 N.W.2d 285, 287 (Minn.App.2001), review denied (Minn. Mar. 27, 2001); see also In re Conservatorship of Koeemba, 429 N.W.2d 302, 306 (Minn.App.1988).

The district court may appoint a conservator if it finds:

(1) by clear and convincing evidence, the individual is unable to manage property and business affairs because of an impairment in the ability to receive and evaluate information or make decisions
(2) by a preponderance of evidence, the individual has property that will be wasted or dissipated unless management is provided ...; and
(3) the [] identified needs cannot be met by less restrictive means....

Minn.Stat. § 524.5-409, subd. 1(a) (2010).

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