"In July 2004, her oldest son Edward Moore Kennedy, Jr. was appointed as her legal guardian. In 2005 her children were granted temporary guardianship by a court judge. That year, she was hospitalized with a concussion and a broken shoulder after being found lying in a Boston street near her home.
Joan Kennedy apparently resented the guardianship and in 2005 she asked her second cousin, financial planner Webster E. Janssen from Connecticut, who established a trust to control her $9 million estate, which included a condo on Back Bay and the house on Squaw Island in Hyannis Port.
Janssen also denied Joan’s children access to records of her assets and put up the Hyannis Port house on the market, a violation of the court order that had placed Edward Moore Kennedy, Jr. in control of affairs.
The Kennedy children took successful legal action against Janssen, blocking the sale of the house and removing Janssen as the trustee. They also filed a complaint against Janssen with the Securities & Exchange Commission “for financial advisor malpractice” and “ethics violations”.
Joan Kennedy agreed to strict court-ordered supervision with a guardian, to avoid being placed in permanent custody of her children, and her estate has since been placed in a new trust overseen by two court-appointed trustees.
Joan Bennett Kennedy was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery in October 2005. She resides on Cape Cod and in Boston.