Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Tennessee

Traumatic Brain Injury Patient Rights

My sibling is 58 yrs old injured in a motorcycle wreck while on duty as a policman. He suffered traumatic brain injury. He was in a coma for 2 months then slowly recovered. During a setback he was admitted to an intensive rehab center in Arkansas. During that time his wife gained conservatorship, without letting any of us know. Since they were married 37 yrs, the bonds were waived and she does not have to ekkp track of expenses. She told the court she had to quit her job to care for him. After his discharge he went home for less than a month. She put him in a retirement home & he lives alone while the City of Memphis picks up the tab due to being injured while on duty. She only stops in to deliver toiletries & takes him to the doctor. Other than that, he is on his own. We (6 siblings) feel that she and their only son MAY be going through his retirement & income he is still drawing. We all live payday to payday & cannot afford to go to court. He is fully aware and cares for himself, though his short term memory is bad. He cannot handle money without supervision. We would prefer a conservator outside of the family to oversee his affairs. Help!


Asked on 11/17/05, 8:35 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alan Crone Crone & McEvoy, PLC

Re: Traumatic Brain Injury Patient Rights

It is not going to happen for many reasons. A few of the most important are:

1. You said he is able to make his own decisions. If he is dissatisfied he can divorce his wife or take more charge of his own financial matters.

2. You have NO PROOF the wife is wasting any money.

3. You said you have no money to go to court, therefore even if anything was wrong you could not afford to hire an attorney to look into the matter.

4. Outside conservatorships are expensive. It is hard to imagine that the wife could "go through" enough money on a monthly pension to justify the cost of an outside conservator.

If you really want to help your brother I recommend you go to visit him even more often than you are right now. Fellowship with a sibling is worth a lot more than money to him right now.

Read more
Answered on 11/21/05, 10:27 am


Related Questions & Answers

More General Civil Litigation questions and answers in Tennessee