SALT LAKE CITY — Accounting records show how a Utah family was charged for the legal work to evict them from their homes, but the documents don’t show what happened to the money when the houses were sold.
“Nobody is answering any questions,” said Sherry Jackman, whose father is a ward of Owl Guardianship and Elder Care Services, LLC.
FOX 13 News reported Monday how Owl evicted the family of James Myers — Jackman’s father — from a house in Price and one in Helper. Myers owned the houses. Family said they were living there with his consent. Myers told FOX 13 he did not want his family evicted.
WATCH: How a Utah guardianship company evicted a family from their homes
But Myers, now 79, had been placed in a guardianship with Owl. He suffers from COPD and has accumulated a $343,000 medical debt. The guardianship gives Owl authority to make decisions about his care and finances.
Owl served evictions on the family and then sold the real estate in order to pay off that debt, according to court and property records.
Yet an Oct. 31 accounting filed with the court overseeing the guardianship does not show what came of the sale proceeds. It says Neurorestorative in Riverton has only been paid $10,000 against a bill that – as of the filing – sat at $455,000.
Owl has been getting paid. The accounting shows the company has received $5,200 in the last year to manage Myers’ affairs.
Owl’s co-owner, Kristin Katie Woods, is also an attorney. The accounting shows she and other lawyers she has employed have billed Myers’ estate $11,500.
A breakdown of the charges shows that includes the legal work to evict Myers’ family from his houses.
Owl and Woods also charged Myers $750 to communicate with a reporter. That’s likely a reference to inquiries she received from FOX 13. Woods has declined interview requests.
Another expense caught Jackman’s eye — a $4,500 deposit for a burial plan.
“My dad has always wanted to be cremated as long as I known him,” Jackman said.
Jackman said she and her father still don’t know where other assets went, including an IRA and life insurance her father had.
Testimony and receipts
Other families have raised concerns about Owl, too.
In the case of an elderly Salt Lake City woman, a family recently went to court to complain about the amounts Owl paid itself while acting as guardian. The family spent time questioning $8,700 to a company called Cinder that disposed of items from the elderly woman’s home.
Records and court testimony show Cinder is owned by Woods’ brother-in-law. She testified about him in a hearing and described the work he did.
“Securing vehicles, cleaning up property, changing locks,” she said.
National standards say guardians should avoid conflicts of interest “where the guardian has some personal or professional interest that can be perceived as self-serving.”
Nate Crippes, of the Disability Law Center, who has lobbied the Utah Legislature on guardianship issues, said the payment raises a question about paying someone with whom Owl’s owners have a relationship.
“It certainly seems like a potential conflict,” Crippes said.
Woods, in that hearing with the family of the elderly Salt Lake City woman, defended the billings as necessary for the work to clean the woman’s house and move her to a care center.
“And this house was very filthy, dirty,” Woods testified.
She also explained why she paid herself before a judge approved it, even though national standards say “fees …must be reviewed and approved by the court.”
“I've been through enough of these cases to understand that if I part with the money, it may never come back,” Woods testified.
The judge ruled against that Salt Lake City woman’s family who wanted money back. The judge said there was no evidence Owl’s billings were unreasonable. The judge did not address any conflict of interest concerning Cinder. Cinder is not listed as having received payment from the Myers’ estate.
Yet, Jackman says she’s “mad as hell” at the lack of description in the accounting. She plans to ask the court to remove Owl as guardian and appoint her instead.
“I'm going to send a letter back to the courts asking for a sales receipt on both the houses,” Jackman said. “I want to know exactly how much they got.”
Woods declined an interview request. She issued this statement:
“Owl Guardianship and Elder Care Services, LLC is a family-owned business that has provided guardianship services across the state of Utah since 2013. Owl receives referrals from various state and private sources to intervene on behalf of disabled adults in distress. Owl prides itself on its compliance with court rules, state statutes, and the ethical guidelines set out in guardianship licensure processes. The highest priority of Owl is first and foremost the care and safety of the vulnerable adult, and sometimes that priority conflicts with desires of friends and family members who may wish to access to property, funds, or other resources of the vulnerable adult. Any legal processes that arise from this conflict are handled through the proper venue, which is the court.”