They asked for Micheal to be dismissed as legal guardian a few times which also meant custody over funds in the bank, and controled by a trustie from the award Micheal won for her care. After Micheal refused to share half of what he was awarded personaly from the malpractice suit (separate from the money used for Terri's care) is when the relationship soured between him and his inlaws, specificly Mr. Shindler. He had hoped he would get a new house, whic he planned to take care of Terri in, and Micheal would also live in, happily ever after. Mr. Shindler wanted control of that money, but he had to get custody of Terri first.
The cost of defending against Mr. Shindlers attempts of gaining custody, and other alegations came out of that fund set aside for Terri's care, except for the court appeals they filed trying to reverse the order of having her feeding tube removed.
The costs of the personal attacks against Micheal came out of her care fund however, and towards the end there was very little left. thanks to the frivolous suit attempts by mr. Shindler against Micheal. I guess he didn't want Micheal to get any of it either. In that regard he succeeded.
http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/infopage.html
This is the site where you can Dl all the court docs filed by Mr. shindler, as well as other things about the case are discussed.
Terri was the apple of her father's eye.