My dad needs your help.

What do you mean?

I mean he has this girlfriend and she’s cut him off from us.

Who’s us?

My sister. My wife. My kids. Me. 

Why didn’t you see him when he was in the hospital?

The hospital?

A couple of weeks ago. He collapsed at home. Went in an ambulance. Something to do with his heart. They said you never saw him there.

Who told you that?

Dawn Simpson.

You’ve met her? 

I was there last week.

She told us he had Covid and to stay away. She didn’t say anything about a hospital.

Why do you take direction from her?

Holly went over there a couple of months ago to visit and she met her out front told her not to come in because dad was too tired to visit. Holly pushed by her and she called the cops. They were screaming at each other in the front yard. Holly hasn’t been back.

Doesn’t he have his own phone?

He never answers it. Everything goes to voice mail and the voice mailbox Is full.

When is the last time you saw him?

He was supposed to come up for Fourth of July but she canceled that last minute. 

When is the last time you saw him?

Been months probably. I can’t stand being around her.

He’s your dad.

And he does nothing for himself. Everything goes through her. He just lets it happen.

He’s not as strong as he used to be.

It has nothing to do with him getting old. He did the same thing with mom. She took care of everything. He just went along. I couldn’t stand it then and that was my mom. 

Why are you calling me, Josh?

I got a letter from a guy who said he’s dad’s lawyer. I thought you were dad’s lawyer.

What did the letter say?

It said that dad revoked the power of attorney that he signed a long time ago. It said that I was no longer his health care representative.

What do you think of that?

I think she’s behind it.

Is there any chance this is what your dad wanted?

I doubt my dad even knows what is happening.

Why do you say that?

He was forgetting things back when mom was alive. She was constantly cornering us and saying how worried she was. After she died, we had him live with us for a while. We saw it. It was bad.

Why didn’t he stay with you?

He said it was too noisy with the kids. 

So you just took him back home?

Holly was there. She lives close. But he met Dawn not long after he moved back and Holly couldn’t look after him.

Do you think she’s stealing from him.

I don’t know. I can’t get records from anyone.

Any idea if he’s missing medical appointments, screwing up his meds, not eating, wandering, anything.

We don’t know. We can’t talk to him or see him. 

Well what are you going to do?

You tell me.

I can’t tell you.

Why?

Because I’m your dad’s lawyer, at least I was last week. I’m not your lawyer. 

He needs help, though. 

If you think he needs help, and if you think that he can’t help himself because he has dementia or something else, then you’ll have to hire a lawyer and talk to that lawyer about guardianship.

What is that?
It’s when the court takes away from your dad the right to make decisions for himself like where to live and how to manage his health and gives it to someone else.

So I need to get guardianship for my dad? . . . Hello?

I’m still here.

Do I need to be my dad’s guardian?

I’m not your lawyer.

But you were his lawyer. And you were mom’s lawyer, too. And I bet he trusts you. You’re saying you can’t do anything to help him?

I’m saying I can’t represent you in your effort to take away your dad’s rights. I’m telling you that whatever I tell him and whatever he tells me she will change his mind and he will call me and tell me to forget it and then I’ll be out on a thin limb representing a client who says he didn’t ask me to do anything.

How do you know?

Because I know.
It must be great to be able to predict the future.

Look. This might surprise you, but the facts you’re describing to me – mom dies, dad meets someone else, someone else isolates dad from kids or vice versa – they’ve happened before.

But this is my Dad.

Yes. I saw him last week.

Let me ask you something. Why did you get into elder law?

Long story but I loved my grandmother and wanted to help old people.

So why don’t you find a way to help my dad? He hung up.