I am not a lawyer, but from my understanding a judge is required to appoint a guardian ad litem any time there is a potential conflict between a guardian's own interests and those of his ward. Decisions may only be allowed without a guardian ad litem if there is no plausible conflict of interest involved.
I don't know exactly what the statutes requiring a guardian ad litem say about what happens if a judge fails to appoint one when legally required, but I believe it would open up to question any decisions made by the judge when a guardian ad litem should have been present but was not. Had Judge Greer found a guardian ad litem who would rubberstamp anything Schiavo wanted, his approval of Schiavo's disbursement of over $300K to Felos would have been beyond question. But since he didn't do that, I believe any findings of fact made in relation to the trust fund would be open to investigation in an independent audit.
To be sure, I don't know whether an indendent audit would actually manage to land the Schiavo Triumvirate in jail. I suspect strongly, however, that they don't want anyone else looking over their books.
I am not a lawyer, but from my understanding (...)
And
I don't know exactly what the statutes requiring a guardian ad litem say (...)
And
(...) but I believe (...)
And
(...) I believe (...)
And
To be sure, I don't know (...)
You should have just answered my question correctly with the one word: conjecture. I have many questions about this case myself, and, like you, I support her parents in their efforts, but lets wait and see what the facts are before jumping off with wild accusations. There have been many courts look at this issue, and all have come down (apparantly) on the husband's side. All this while Jeb hasn't been able to act since he hasn't found any authority in which to do so. None of this is conclusory, but it gives some presumption to the side of what's going on now. I don't like it, and I appreciate your feelings on it.
I would like to get to the bottom of why the state is allowing the guardian in this case to terminate a life that another potential guardian would care for. That doesn't make any sense.