I Got COA – L for Christmas
By Doug Chalgian on December 25, 2022
So, I took this case just to handle the appeal. I wasn’t involved in the lower court actions, and they were a mess. What attracted me was...
COA Contorts Itself to Hold that a Conservator and Next Friend can Coexist
By Doug Chalgian on January 18, 2022
In this recently released unpublished opinion, Spouse A is conservator over Spouse B. Niece has herself appointed next friend for Spouse B and initiates a divorce proceeding against...
Published Case Addresses Terminating an Adult Guardian
By Doug Chalgian on May 17, 2021
The case of In Re Guardianship of Roderick Gordon is about an effort to terminate an adult guardianship established under EPIC. The ward petitioned to have the...
Another Stop at the Last Resort
By Doug Chalgian on May 18, 2020
Suitability to serve as guardian and conservator of an impaired adult is the topic of this unpublished Court of Appeals decision. To read In Re Guardianship and Conservatorship...
Capacity to Nominate
By Doug Chalgian on December 16, 2018
The question is this: When a person who is the subject of a petition for guardianship or conservatorship nominates an individual they want to serve in those capacities,...
Medicaid Planners Get Rare Win from COA
By Doug Chalgian on May 23, 2018
The Michigan Court of Appeals has issued an opinion regarding the appropriateness of using probate court protective orders to obtain spousal support orders in situations where such orders...
Seeing Redd
By Doug Chalgian on September 21, 2017
Here’s another important published opinion on the topic of adult guardianships. The case is about the removal of a guardian of an adult ward appointed under EPIC. The case...
Civil Actions versus Proceedings in Probate Court
By Doug Chalgian on August 10, 2017
When starting a new litigation matter in probate court, a threshold issue is to determine whether the matter should be characterized as a probate “proceeding” or a “civil...
Attorney-Fiduciary Relationships
By Doug Chalgian on January 27, 2017
A new published circuit court case addresses the often confused issue of who an attorney hired by a fiduciary represents and is accountable to. This is technical stuff,...
Medical Experts Carry Conservatorship Case
By Doug Chalgian on December 2, 2016
Nice analysis in this recent unpublished COA opinion. Click here to read In Re Conservatorship of Stephen Michalak. Congrats to my colleague Valerie Kutz-Otway for her successful advocacy...
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