ST. LOUIS – A Missouri appellate court judge has dismissed an appeal in a case involving a conservator of a disabled, incapacitated woman’s estate.
In a May 1 ruling, Missouri Court of Appeals Judge Roy Richter dismissed the appeal centered on a June 12 trial court ruling that “denied appellant’s motion to vacate various interlocutory orders from the probate court: orders for waste of March 31, 2016, and March 31, 2017, as well as orders for attorney’s fees of March 29, 2013, and March 31, 2017.”
In October 2010, Casper Machino was appointed the conservator of Sharren K. Smith’s estate. In March 2016, a probate court removed him as conservator “for failing to correct annual settlements as required by law, and failing to correct his settlements after being notified of deficiencies, which was the trial court's stated grounds for removal,” the ruling stated. A show cause order was provided to allow him to correct the accounting before he was removed.
While Machino was conservator, “the court entered an order to expend funds for support on Sept. 24, 2012, at which time it explained the court's approach to appellant's mileage reimbursements and the limitations imposed, and that appellant received reimbursements for mileage and other expenses in excess of those authorized by the court,” the ruling stated.
Machino petitioned, and that order was vacated by a new order regarding Smith’s expenses on May 17, 2013.
After Machino was removed as conservator, the public administrator then became the conservator of Smith’s estate, and a petition to determine liability was filed in April 2016 against Machino.
At the center of the current case is the matter of allowance of attorney’s fees and court findings that “administration expenses furthered the personal interest of the fiduciary and his attorney without furthering the best interests of the ward-protectee, Ms. Smith,” the ruling said.
In April 2017, Machino filed a first amended petition for reconsideration and petition to amend the judgments of March 31, 2016, and March 31, 2017, that removed him as conservator and held him liable for attorney expenses. His request for a hearing and reconsideration were denied by the trial court, and Machino filed an appeal stating that the “trial court erred as a violation of due process of law” and alleging the “trial court erred in refusing to enter orders, the decisions for which were either against the weight of the evidence or without any credible, substation evidence to the support the order.”
The court ruled that, “we lack authority to address the merits of the cause and must dismiss the appeal.”
Presiding Judge Lisa P. Page and Judge Philip M. Hess concurred.