Estate of Hoellen and Guardianship Citations
If you read a lot of the cases that involve undue influence of an elderly person, certain patterns become clear. There tend to be a lot of cases involving younger family members (children and grandchildren) trying to take advantage, as well as some cases involving unscrupulous attorneys. Another group of individuals who show up with some regularity in these types of situations: police officers.
In re Estate of Theodore Hoellen is one such case, involving a Chicago cop. The facts are fairly typical for this type of situation:
The record shows that respondent [Donald L. Owsley], a Chicago police officer, first met Hoellen in the summer of 1999 when he responded to a 9-1-1 call from Hoellen's neighbor after Hoellen mistakenly entered the neighbor's home believing it was his home. After the incident occurred, respondent began regularly visiting Hoellen at his home. Hoellen's case was referred to the Public Guardian's office based on allegations that respondent was financially exploiting Hoellen, who lived alone and suffered from dementia.
In most of these cases, the exploitation is only uncovered after the elderly person dies, but here the Cook County Public Guardian's office was on the case. They "filed a five-count amended petition for issuance of a citation to recover assets alleging that over the years, respondent had engaged in a course of conduct designed to manipulate and financially exploit Hoellen, an 89-year-old physically and mentally impaired senior citizen who, it was argued, was unable to protect himself from such exploitation." Citations to discovery information and recover assets are used a lot in the deceased estate context, but can be used by guardians of living individuals as well.
Bookmark: 
