Court-appointed guardian failed sister

MY SISTER ended up under a court-appointed guardianship like Mary Louise Terry (March 12 Journal). Unlike Ms. Terry, my sister was mentally ill, living on her own; however, the circumstances and outcome were similar. A company was appointed to care for my sister, who had been a wealthy widow. What the company didn’t know is that my sister had managed to spend all of the money quickly, through gambling and travel.

During the next two years I received several letters from her, return address undecipherable; instead of the intelligently crafted letters she had previously written, these showed a steady decline in her written communication skills. I determined that she had escaped from the guardianship company and lived somehow near Las Cruces with the help of others. Eventually the words in the letters became no more than squiggles.

Two years after she died, I learned of her death from the internet. I got a death certificate from the State of New Mexico, but the birth date was incorrect. I wrote for her birth certificate from Montana, and New Mexico corrected her death certificate. I have a copy of the court papers, and I searched out the company which had taken on the responsibility of caring for her. The company was no longer in New Mexico.

When I received notice that my sister needed a guardian, I assumed the court would place my sister where she could receive the medical and psychiatric help she needed. Her daughters and I had all tried to help her in the past, with no success. After she was assigned to a guardianship company, I received no communication from the company or the courts. I could not read her letters. I was not notified of her death until a cousin in Kentucky found her on People Search. I hope the courts will reconsider and let Mary Louise Terry go home to her family. DIANE G. COLEMAN Albuquerque