The Tale of Two Brothers

The thing with the holiday season is that it starts tugging at the heartstrings.  People start longing to be with family, people start looking to go home, and kids look to be with mom and dad.  Well, some kids, anyway.  

Some kids you kind of don't want to see again as all they want is more of everything (ungrateful little buggers).  Anyway, today's blog is a story about two diametrically opposed brothers who were in my law library a while back.

Brother #1 was a nice enough guy.  Affable, dressed like Bing Crosby and spoke well of his mother.  Brother #2 was a jerk. He dressed like he lived on the Jersey Shore and spoke with a Harvard accent (even though he was from California).  Two brothers, two perspectives.  I know all about Brothers #1 and #2 because they came in on consecutive weeks seeking information about how to "best" deal with Mom's money.  

See, Mom was about 88 years young and, apparently, was exhibiting early symptoms of Dementia. Brother #1 had been working for the last few years to gain conservatorship of his Mom (who had an estate worth millions).  

Brother #1 had his own job, wife and kids and wanted to take care of Mom and let her live her golden years in peace and comfort.  It was her money, after all.  Actually, Brother #1 shocked me what with most people who are out to stiff their folks and take over their parent's estate instead of having to work (like their folks did).

Enter Brother #2.  Brother #2 didn't have a job and came seeking to take control of Mom's fortune. Apparently, Brother #2 had an idea for a number of business ventures and needed Mom to pay for it all.  Problem was Brother #1 kept getting in the way of his plans (to control Mom).

So, when Brother #1 came in asking for information about conservatorships, I was surprised that he knew what he wanted and suggested he take a look at:

• California Conservatorship Practice (CEB)
• California Forms of Pleading and Practice (Lexis; Vol. 24)
• American Jurisprudence Pleading and Practice Forms Annotated (TR; Vol 14, Incompetent Persons)

A week later, Brother #2 came in looking for information on guardianships.  Clearly Brother #2 had not been keeping up on things nor bothered to do any research on the difference between guardianships and conservatorships.  

For the record, a Guardian cares for children and a Conservator cares for incapacitated adults.  But because I can't give legal advice and I was not wanting to upset Brother #2's false sense of self-importance, I Ied him over to:

• California Guardianship Practice (CEB)
• California Forms of Pleading and Practice (Lexis; Vol. 24)
• American  Jurisprudence Pleading and Practice Forms Annotated (TR; Vol 19, Parent and Child)

and off and running Brother #2 went on his wild goose chase.

Maybe it was because I don't like seeing old people get taken advantage of or maybe it was because Brother #2 repeatedly called me a "stupid Librarian" that I failed to note the difference between guardianships and conservatorships.  

C'est la vie.  Maybe if Brother #2 done a little homework and/or not gone and bagged on his local county law librarian, he might have had better luck finding what he really wanted.

I'm just sayin.