How to Stop a Guardianship

[walla363]

My question involves guardianship in the State of: Ohio
Recently my mother passed away, living with her were my sister and her son. Since the death my brother and I have been working to find housing and financial help for these two. My brother took them to the local Mental Health Center and had them tested where the results showed MRDD. I have been working to get them social security, housing and such. While going through my mothers items I found my brother was taking advantage of my mother for many years in taking thousands of dollars from her and not repaying. Although we agreed to work together for the benefit of my sister and nephew I have found my brother has been keeping important information from me mainly about guardianship. I don't beleive he is best suited due to his poor financial history and the money her took from our mother. I found out Friday he took my sister, his half sister and her son to the lawyer under false pretense and had them sign paper work for guardianship. After speaking with my sister I find she doesn't understand what all was signed, all she was told was this was for her benefit. I feel my brother and his wife are going to take advantage of my sister and nephew. How can this process be stopped or at least have me named as a co guardian? The meeting at the attorneys office took place late Friday so it is possible the papers haven't been filed with the courts yet.

[Mr. Knowitall]

You can ask the court to appoint somebody else as guardian, appoint you as co-guardian, or appoint a public guardian (my preference is a family member, whenever possible). You can check with the court to see if any documents have been filed and, if so, whether they have a form you can use to suggest your preferred outcome or if you should instead just come to the court hearing and state your concerns at that time. They may suggest that you hire a lawyer.

Probate courts can be all over the place in terms of the amount of formality they require in this type of proceeding.