Opinion ID: 1852842
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Prepetition Decisions

Text: The third assignment of error asserts that the lower courts erred in failing to interpret the guardianship law in a way that is consistent with the only constitutional purpose for guardianship so that Mrs. Sim is not `incapacitated' when she has already made `responsible decisions' concerning her own person and property. The key flaw in this assignment is the word already, because although the record shows that Sim had entered a nursing home before the petition was filed, there had been no decisions already made concerning her property. Moreover, the record does not disclose that Sim herself made the decision to enter a nursing home. Another flaw is found in the use of the word responsible, which refers not only to the method used in the decisionmaking process but to the quality of those decisions as well. The conveyances, trust, and powers of attorney were signed after the subject proceeding was initiated, under circumstances which leave us in doubt as to Sim's level of understanding of the nature and finality of her acts. The constitutional arguments Sim's attorneys make in connection with this assignment of error have been addressed in the analysis of the first two assignments. As with those preceding assignments, this third claim is also without merit.