Chapter 8 - The Guardianship Petition
The petition was ugly.
Not because it called me crazy.
It did not.
Legal language was cleaner.
Emma demonstrates impaired judgment, episodic respiratory and neurological events, resistance to family assistance, and escalating emotional volatility.
Neurological events.
The fainting episodes Ray may have caused.
Family assistance.
The pills.
Emotional volatility.
Me arguing about my own trust.
Every harm turned into evidence against me.
Then one attachment.
A video.
Thanksgiving.
I was crying at the dining table.
Ray filmed.
The clip began after he had spent twenty minutes telling me Dad left nothing because “he knew you’d waste it.”
I shouted:
“Stop talking about him!”
In the video, only my shout remained.
Context removed.
Another video:
I stumble in hallway.
Ray says:
“See? She’s unstable.”
That was the night Mom gave me the first pill.
Another:
I sleep on couch all day.
Caption:
Unable to perform daily tasks.
Second pill.
He had been building a case.
Then Stonebridge attorney intervened.
The guardianship hearing was postponed pending criminal investigation and independent medical evaluation.
I was not automatically declared competent just because Ray was awful.
Court wanted facts.
Fine.
I wanted facts too.
A psychiatrist evaluated me after discharge.
No psychosis.
No cognitive impairment.
No uncontrolled seizure disorder.
Anxiety symptoms consistent with trauma and family stress.
I almost laughed.
Ray had tried to prove I was unstable.
He helped give me trauma.
Then neurologist reviewed fainting episodes.
Could not conclusively attribute old events to medication without samples.
But pattern suspicious.
Then my primary doctor’s records.
Mom had repeatedly called before appointments.
She described me as:
Attention seeking.
Dramatic.
Resistant to treatment.
I read and felt sick.
The doctor had never agreed.
Notes often said:
Patient calm and appropriate.
Mother provides conflicting history.
I had never seen that.
Then one note from six months earlier:
Patient asks privately whether medications can be administered without knowledge. Reports family sometimes gives “supplements” that cause profound sleepiness. Encouraged patient to contact clinic if recurrence.
I had forgotten.
I had been afraid to say more.
But I had said something.
Evidence.
Then financial audit.
Ray had received $146,000.
How much was legitimate?
Approximately $41,000.
Real roof work.
Repairs.
Transportation.
Some maintenance.
Unsupported or inflated:
Around $105,000.
Of that, about $68,000 benefited Mom indirectly.
Ray kept roughly $37,000 plus profit on legitimate work.
So Mom had taken more than Ray?
In a way.
But much paid household mortgage while I was minor.
Trust rules allowed reasonable housing support if directly benefiting me.
The audit had to separate improper from permitted.
Final potentially improper amount tied to Mom:
$34,000.
Still serious.
Then another twist.
Ray had opened a credit card using my Social Security number three months after I turned eighteen.
Balance:
$18,600.
Charges:
Contractor supplies.
Hotel.
Casino.
Cash advances.
Mom did not know.
That was clear.
The guardianship would give him no direct control as uncle.
Why credit card?
He planned to claim it was my spending.
May you like
Evidence of financial irresponsibility.
My own stolen identity would prove I could not manage money.
