California Elder Law Attorney Blog

An Indiana woman contesting a local elder advocate's guardianship of her father said in court Tuesday she should be permitted to visit him because she is his "solace and comfort."

Beverly R. Newman, of Indianapolis, asked Circuit Judge Paul E. Logan to allow her to care for her father, 89-year-old Al Katz, until an Oct. 26 hearing to determine permanent guardianship. Failing that, she asked for the right to visit him at least three hours per day.

"The state of Florida is supposed to try and keep families together, not split them apart," Newman told the judge.

Newman has been allowed no contact with Katz since Sept. 24, when he was placed in the psychiatric ward at Manatee Memorial Hospital by doctors and Aging Safely, the local public guardian, according to a motion filed by Newman.

Newman and her husband, Lawrence T. Newman, have filed a motion to vacate Aging Safely's emergency guardianship of Katz, awarded Sept. 18 by Judge Janette Dunnigan, because Beverly Newman was not listed as next of kin on court documents nor informed of the emergency guardianship hearing.

Erika Dine, Aging Safely's attorney, told Logan that Katz's health care surrogate, Jackie Steuerwald, of Indiana, is opposed to Newman visiting Katz. And Aging Safely representative Ashley Butler testified that Katz told her he did not want to see his daughter.

Logan continued the hearing until 1:30 p.m. today. After the hearing, the two sides met in hopes of coming to a visitation agreement to submit to the judge. But Newman rejected Dine's proposal of a one-hour, three-day-per-week visitation agreement and insisted on daily access to her father.

Steuerwald, a registered nurse, was given Katz's health care power of attorney after Katz left the Newmans' care in Indiana on Sept. 10, 2008, according to testimony. He eventually moved to Bradenton to live with his girlfriend, Beverly Ervin, court documents show.

Dine also questioned Newman about a lawsuit she filed against her father in 2008 after Katz locked up the Newmans' belongings in his Indianapolis home. Katz then filed a countersuit against Newman.

"Could it be that your father didn't want to speak to you, based on the litigation that was going on?" Dine asked.

Newman said her relationship with her father has been dependent on the attitude of his girlfriends and whether they seek to isolate him from her. Ervin kept Katz from his family, Newman said, but it didn't change her desire to help him.

"The love is still there; the care is still there," Newman said.

Katz, a snowbird who has spent the past 26 winters in Bradenton, spoke to Manatee County schoolchildren as recently as 2006 about surviving the Holocaust and working in slave labor camps.

He was admitted to Blake Medical Center in early September due to "confusion, agitation and bronchitis," according to Aging Safely's guardianship filing. Katz did not appear in court Tuesday. According to Butler, he is under 24-hour care for severe anxiety disorder, heart problems and hallucinations.