{
  "id": 5305814,
  "name": "In re CONSERVATORSHIP OF ROSE A. BROWNE, Incompetent; (STEWART R. WINSTEIN, Public Conservator for the County of Rock Island, Petitioner-Appellant, v. BESTOR F. WITTER, Conservator of the Person and Estate of Rose A. Browne, Incompetent, Respondent-Appellee.)",
  "name_abbreviation": "In re Conservatorship of Browne",
  "decision_date": "1976-02-24",
  "docket_number": "No. 75-305",
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    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "In re CONSERVATORSHIP OF ROSE A. BROWNE, Incompetent.\u2014(STEWART R. WINSTEIN, Public Conservator for the County of Rock Island, Petitioner-Appellant, v. BESTOR F. WITTER, Conservator of the Person and Estate of Rose A. Browne, Incompetent, Respondent-Appellee.)"
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mr. JUSTICE STOUDER\ndelivered the opinion of the court;\nThis is an appeal from the judgment of the circuit court of Rock Island County denying the petition of petitioner-appellant, Stewart R. Win-stein, Public Conservator for Rock Island County. Petitioner prayed for the removal of respondent-appellee, Bestor F, Witter, as conservator of the estate of Rose A. Browne, for an accounting and for appointment of Stewart R. Winstein as conservator of the estate. .\nOn January 24, 1975, respondent-appellee Bestor F. Witter filed a petition praying he be appointed conservator of the person and. of the estate of Rose A. Browne. He stated he was Rose Browne\u2019s attorney and alleged she was incapable of handling herself or her business affairs. The petition listed three persons as Rose Browne\u2019s closest blood relatives: Jessie L. Miller, sister, of Hannibal, Missouri; Mary Elizabeth Crawford, niece, of Girard, Illinois; and Donna M. Campbell, niece, of Kansas City, Missouri. Summons was served on Rose Browne on January 24, 1975, setting the date of the hearing for 10:40 am. on January 30, 1975. On January 24, 1975, Rose Browne\u2019s three relatives were notified by regular mail of the petition and hearing. On January 30, 1975, the hearing was held. No one was there to represent the interest of Rose Browne. Only Best\u00f3r F. Witter was present. No medical testimony was given. Attached to .the petition were the statements of two doctors. One read \u201cI feel that Rose A. Browne\u2019s best interests can be served by her attorney with a conservatorship.\u201d The other read \u201cI feel that it would be to Rose Browne [sic] best interests to appoint Bestor F. Witter her conservator.\u201d After the hearing Bestor F. Witter was appointed conservator.\nOn May 14, 1975, Stewart Winstein; the public conservator of Rock Island County, filed a petition for citation to remove conservator and for appointment of conservator. O\u00f1 June 5, 1975, a hearing was held on this petition. Evidence was presented that on June 4, 1975, Mary E. Crawford, Rose Browne\u2019s niece, filed a letter written to the probate clerk requesting no change be made in conservatorship. On June 5, 1975, Rose Browne\u2019s sister and other niece filed a written request with the court requesting Bestor F. Witter continue to act as conservator. Evidence was also presented that at the January 30 hearing on the petition for appointment of conservator no medical testimony was given and no guardian ad litem was appointed.\nPetitioner-appellant raises several reasons why Bestor F. Witter should be removed as conservator and why he, the public conservator, should be appointed in Witter\u2019s place. Due to the view we take of this case we will not deal with these arguments. The parties\u2019 main dispute concerns who should be appointed conservator. Although they have not directly raised the sufficiency of the evidence to support the finding of incompetency, this court in reviewing the record is unable to overlook the lack of such evidence and the trial court\u2019s failure to require such evidence. As stated above, the petition of Bestor Witter alleges Rose Browne was incapable of handling herself or her business affairs. The two statements of the doctors making bare allegations regarding Rose Browne\u2019s best interest were attached to Witters petition. There is no showing that any evidence was presented at the hearing on January 30, 1975, to prove Rose Browne was incompetent. The only so-called evidence was the petitioner\u2019s conclusion Rose Browne was not capable of handling her business affairs and the unsubstantiated statements of the two doctors to the effect that it was in Rose Browne\u2019s best interest to have a conservator appointed. No reasons were given for such conclusions. The crux of the statutory definition of incompetency is that the person be incapable of managing his person or his estate. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 3, par. 112.) The test applied in determining judicially whether a conservator should be appointed is whether the person is capable of managing his own affairs. (Macdonald v. La Salle National Bank, 11 Ill. 2d 122, 142 N.E.2d 58, appeal dismissed, 355 U.S. 271, 2 L. Ed. 2d 257, 78 S. Ct. 330, and In re Estate of Stevenson, 44 Ill. 2d 525, 256 N.E.2d 766, cert. denied, 400 U.S. 850, 27 L. Ed. 2d 87, 91 S. Ct. 50.) It suffices here to hold such test is not met by mere allegations and conclusions.\nNothing we have said in this opinion should preclude new petitions by all interested parties from being filed and considered by the Probate Division of the circuit court of Rock Island County.\nFor the foregoing reasons the judgment of the circuit court of Rock Island County is reversed and remanded with directions the trial court enter an order vacating the order which adjudicated Rose A. Browne incompetent and appointed Bestor F. Witter as the conservator of her person and estate.\nReversed and remanded with directions.\nALLOY and BARRY, JJ., concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mr. JUSTICE STOUDER"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Dorothea O\u2019Dean, of Rock Island, for appellant.",
      "Stewart R. Winstein, pro se.",
      "Peter C. Fieweger, of Rock Island, for appellee.",
      "Bestor F. Witter, pro se."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "In re CONSERVATORSHIP OF ROSE A. BROWNE, Incompetent.\u2014(STEWART R. WINSTEIN, Public Conservator for the County of Rock Island, Petitioner-Appellant, v. BESTOR F. WITTER, Conservator of the Person and Estate of Rose A. Browne, Incompetent, Respondent-Appellee.)\nThird District\nNo. 75-305\nOpinion filed February 24, 1976.\nDorothea O\u2019Dean, of Rock Island, for appellant.\nStewart R. Winstein, pro se.\nPeter C. Fieweger, of Rock Island, for appellee.\nBestor F. Witter, pro se."
  },
  "file_name": "0962-01",
  "first_page_order": 988,
  "last_page_order": 990
}