Chicago probate judge considers jail time in estate dispute case

June 1, 2009

Cook County Probate Judge Maureen E. Connors will rule Wednesday on criminal contempt charges against two Phoenix women who initiated civil legal actions against a guardian and other related parties in control of their 93-year-old aunt’s estate.  Mary Lynn Drabik and Mary Sue Richards claim Lydia Tyler “was targeted with an unwarranted guardianship as a tactic for looting assets from her multi-million dollar estate.”  This belief may now land them in jail.  Click here for the full text of their news release.

EstateofDenial.com addresses the growing trend of Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA) cases in which probate venues and/or probate instruments such as wills, trusts, guardianships or powers of attorney are used to loot assets of the dead and disabled/incapacitated.  Stealing from estates is rarely treated as a criminal act and this criminalization of those seeking to expose potential corruption with regard to estate administration is an interesting twist.

Illinois has long been known for hardball politics and public corruption.  The case of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich casts an interesting light on the state’s approach to the political process.  Articles about Drew Peterson regularly imply how any investigation into the death of Kathleen Savio was tempered because “Drew knew a lot of people.“  In a recent post, we called Illinois the “land of looting.”

Mary Lynn Drabik and Mary Sue Richards believe they have stepped squarely into this culture of corruption.  Wednesday’s ruling may indeed give some indication if they are right.

Share
Updates
  • KIM

    Most all of the Elder Guardianships that I have heard of are UNWANTED, and NOT NEEDED. Most of these elderly people have family memebers who are more than willing to care for their loved one for only the small price of LOVE, RESPECT, and LOYALTY.

    When a court or one of its appointed gets involved, the Elderly Person and their estate, and that means everything they worked hard all of their lives to beable to live the way they want to is TOTALLY diminished, the elderly person is put on GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE for the taxpayers to pay for their care. Meanwhile the family is KEPT TOTALLY IN THE DARK. That is until the elderly loved one is about to take their last breath.

    Hey and in my case the guardians were so concerned about PUTTING MONEY IN THEIR OWN POCKETS THEY DID NOT WANT TO TAKE MY IN-LAWS MONEY AND PAY FOR MY FATHER-IN-LAW A PROPER FUNERAL, FROM THE SALE OF HIS HOMESTEAD.