Chapter 4 - THE GUARDIAN I NEVER APPOINTED
The lawyer’s name was Helen Ward.
I called her before noon.
By two, I was sitting across from her with the certified packet, photographs of the iPad label, and a recording of Ashley telling me she had signed the witness line.
“Did you record without telling her?” Helen asked.
“Yes.”
“State law may matter. Do not circulate it. Give me the original.”
I did.
“What exactly is a guardianship permit?”
“It looks like shorthand used in this claim file. The actual attached document is a limited conservatorship authorization for settlement purposes.”
“English.”
“Someone represented that you authorized your mother to act with regard to Noah’s settlement.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
“Did a judge approve it?”
“Possibly based on submitted documents.”
“How?”
Helen’s expression stayed cautious.
“Courts process uncontested petitions based on sworn filings. Fraud can penetrate systems when nobody knows there is a dispute.”
“Who filed?”
She turned pages.
My mother.
My father joined later as co-conservator.
My signature supposedly consented.
Ashley supposedly witnessed it.
A notary certification belonged to a retired notary who claimed she notarized “a stack of family documents” at my parents’ house.
“Did the court speak to Noah?”
“Not for this narrow settlement approval at his age, based on what I see.”
“How could nobody call me?”
“They thought the papers came from you.”
Again.
The usefulness of forged consent.
Helen looked up.
“There is another problem.”
“What?”
“Your mother filed a supplemental declaration three weeks ago.”
My pulse increased.
“What declaration?”
“She alleges that since Noah’s accident you have displayed emotional instability, financial impulsivity, and escalating aggression.”
I almost laughed.
“The party was yesterday.”
“The declaration predates it.”
“What did she use as evidence?”
“Old incidents.”
The broken lamp after Noah’s accident.
My argument with Ashley at Thanksgiving.
A text where I wrote:
I’m so tired I could scream.
Then a line:
Petitioner anticipates respondent’s instability may escalate as financial safeguards are reviewed.
Anticipates.
Just like Patricia’s plan in another story? Need not. Here, Mom was planning.
“She knew the insurer was reviewing the account.”
“Yes.”
“And she needed me to look unstable before I discovered it.”
Helen did not answer yet.
Evidence first.
Then she turned her laptop toward me.
A filing had been submitted at 8:42 that morning.
Emergency petition to expand guardianship authority.
Attached exhibit:
Still image from birthday-party camera.
Me kicking Emma.
May you like
I stared at myself frozen mid-motion.
My worst decision had reached court before I had even finished reading the forged signature.
