how do you go about having someone declared incompetent?

Question

what do you have to do to have a person deemed incompetent by a court?

Answer 1

It must be done with the advice of a doctor and the court ruling.

Answer 2

If you are twelve and this is your parent you are talking about, it is going to be pretty hard but there is that outside chance you have really pushed them over the edge into insanity this time. You want to be careful having them put away, though because you are not going to be able to drive yourself to the mall. If on the other hand you are an adult I do have some experience with that. Well, I have the experience with the kid driving me nuts too but if you want to know about an adult, it probably varies by what state you live in. Here in KS it's not all that hard to get a 24 hour evaluation but hard to keep them after that. You'll have to have witnesses as it's not going to happen on your say so. A few years ago, I got a phone call from a little old lady saying that she was ready to sell her house to me. I had no clue who she was or what she was talking about but I made an appointment to go over and look at it. I didn't know her but my husband and I had bought, fixed up and sold a couple of houses in the past so I thought I'd maybe talked to her and just didn't remember it. I went over and she showed me through the house and it was really nice and in good condition.She had beautiful antiques and I asked her if she was going to sell any of the furniture and she told me that she was not as it was her great grandparents furniture and she was taking it with her t an apartment. It was a big Victorian in a nice area so I really was interested. I asked how she knew to call me and she showed me a slip of paper with my phone # on it but not in my handwriting. She was sure I gave it to her. I saw pictures on the mantle and asked her about her family and she told me she didn't have any but that she had a friend, a young black boy who she met and he mowed her lawn for her. He was helping her with her affairs. Back in the 70's her house was worth about $25,000.00 and she told me she wanted $40,000. I told her that I would talk to my husband about it but that seemed to be kind of high and we might not be interested at that price and I left thinking that was that and it was not going to work out. I'd only been home a few minutes and she called me again to say she would really take a bit less and would I pay $25,000. I told her that was more what I'd had in mind and I'd bring my husband over to see it. When we looked at it that time. I asked her if she would take a cash down deal and carry the note herself and she said she would. I called our attorney and had him draw up the contract and asked her about going to her bank to deposit the cash and having her signature noterized. We set a day and time but once again she called me and asked me if I was interested in buying the furniture with the house. That threw up a red flag in a hurry as she'd told me all about the history of the pieces and I knew she didn't want to sell it. I really felt there was something wrong but didn't know what to do. I was getting the paperwork ready and when I called the city about checking if the taxes where paid to date the lady to me that they were but the taxes weren't sent to the address I was asking about but to the lady's daughter who took care of things for her. She was a vice president of another bank in town and gave me her name. I was really surprised as it was the sister-in-law of the friend who was my bridesmaid and I knew her very well. I called her immediately and of course she hadn't a clue but told me that she had tried to get her mother declared incompetent a few months before but she told the judge her kids just wanted her money and she could take care of herself just fine. She was so angry at her kids she never wanted to see them. When I told Marge about the black kid she said that she'd never seen him but that the old ladies bank had told her before that he came and helped her cash checks for good size amounts of money and helped her cash her ss checks. Marge said during that time, she had to pay her mom's utilities to keep them from being shut off and that her mom should have had the money but her purse was always empty and she didn't know what she'd done with the money. Marge thought she was hiding it somewhere in the house and not remembering. Meanwhile, I was telling the lady that I did want to buy the furniture but she would have to decide what it was worth, just kind of stalling until Marge could get something done. A few days later she called me to ask if she sold me the house for $5,000.00 cash could I come up with it immediately and I told her I could and I'd come over and talk to her. I walked in and was shocked to see all the antique furniture gone. She had a mattress on the floor to sleep on. I asked her why she didn't wait and sell it to me and she told me for the first time that she was helping this young boy and he needed the money fast and brought a man who bought it all. He was in some trouble and the money I was to give her the next day was going to help him as he had to have money for his schooling right now. I called Marge and told her what was happening. She had a friend who was a police officer and he went over with Marge to talk to her. When they started talking to her about this whole thing and that the young boy was scamming her, she went off totally and hit Marge. The policeman called an ambulance for her and took her to the hospial and this time when they had the committment hearing she had the cop and me to testify. Of course the judge couldn't apologize enough for not putting her away the last time but the damage was already done. She only had a few dollars in her purse when they took her away so the money for the furniture was gone. They couldn't prosecute the young man because she insisted that she wanted to give him the money and he wouldn't ever steal from her because he loved her like a mother. We did buy the house from her court appointed guardian and lived there many years and sold it for $40,000.00 when we wanted a smaller home. So, you see you might get the person into court but unless you have others to testify they won't keep a person. The young man had moved from the address on his driver's license when the police went to talk to him but they dropped it since she wouln't testify and we thought he got away with it. However a couple of years later, he was arrested for kidnapping someone who actually knew him but they got away from him before he could do whatever he intended. He was convicted and put in prison for life which is mandatory in this state. So he did get his. It just took awhile. I hope this story is of some help to you if in fact you do need to take care of someone who needs it and keep your eyes open as God may have a plan to help you as he did Marge. Blessings to you.