FORD DYNASTY HEIRS AT WAR OVER $350M!
SAY MOM’S CARETAKER HOLDS HER CAPTIVE TO CONTROL FORTUNE
AN AILING brainaddled heiress is caught in the middle of a no-holds-barred legal battle over auto tycoon Henry Ford II’s $350 million family trust!
The daughters of wheelchair-bound Kathleen DuRoss Ford charge the 80-year-old has fallen under the spell of an abusive caretaker who’s drugged her and cut her off from family and friends in a bid to gain control of her fortune! Deborah DuRoss Guibord and Kimberly DuRoss claim their mother — widow of the late Henry Ford II, grandson of the legendary carmaker — is being held captive in her $44 million mansion in Palm Beach, Fla. They desperately want to wrest her court-appointed guardianship away from her live-in companion, 78-yearold Lonny Frank Chopin.
“He just treats her horribly. Disrespectfully. Condescending. Yelling. Physically abusive,” Deborah said in court records.
But legal eagles who represent Chopin claim the battle is simply a cash grab by Kathleen’s daughters, who want to get their hands on the millions she inherited from her late husband!
“It’s about money. It’s not about anything else,” attorney Greg Barnhart said in court records.
Kathleen was a 19-year-old widow working as a model to support her two young daughters when she met then-married Henry.
They wed in 1980 and when Henry died in 1987 at age 70, Kathleen was thrust into a public battle with her stepson, Edsel, over a $350 million trust fund her hubby left behind. After the suit was settled, Kathleen’s attorneys said she’d receive an annual allowance of $10.5 million. Chopin had served as
Henry’s lawyer and became Kathleen’s legal adviser and constant companion.
She survived double lung transplant surgery in 2006 and was left partially paralyzed after 2015 spinal surgery. As Kathleen’s health declined, Chopin began taking over her life and moved into her home in 2016, according to her daughters, who filed suit in 2018 to remove Chopin as her legal guardian.
“It was slow and methodical. Every time my mother got a little weaker, he’d get the claws in a little deeper,” Deborah said in a deposition. Chopin screams at Kathleen and abuses her, according to testimony from nurses, housekeepers and assistants. “At night, Mrs. Ford lies in her own waste sometimes for eight hours at a time in a room that stinks of human waste,” according to one household staffer.
Another claimed Chopin tilts back Kathleen’s head, shoves pills into her mouth and then pours water down her throat. “In order to administer whatever drugs Frank considered appropriate, including narcotic opioids like oxycodone, Frank would
violently force-feed Mrs. Ford, cause her to gag, vomit and aspirate,” said the staffer.
In a 2018 police report, hospital X-ray technician Jodi Mazzoca told cops “Chopin got upset and he slapped the back of her head causing Ford to go flying forward in her wheelchair.”
Physical therapist Jeanine Heira said she once saw “Chopin punch Mrs. Ford twice in the face,” according to her affidavit.
Chopin’s attorney claimed many of the staffers had been fired years earlier — and that they’d only complained about Chopin’s tone of voice.
“We agreed,” said Barnhart. “He was like a Vince Lombardi and he suffered no fools. He was a taskmaster when it came to taking care of Kate.”
Chopin has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and called a list of medical professionals and prominent Palm Beachers to testify he’s given Kathleen the best care possible.
Charles Pu, an internist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said Kathleen’s care was “probably in the top 0.1% of what I typically see,” noting he’d examined her 30 times and never seen any evidence of abuse. Sources claimed Chopin has also barred family and friends — including a childhood pal, actress Lily Tomlin — from visiting or speaking to Kathleen.
In a letter to the court, the “Grace and Frankie” star wrote that she’d appealed to visit her “soulmate,” only to receive no reply.
“I have since learned that Frank has prevented Kate from having any interaction with me — this behavior is absolutely heinous … and surely against her wishes,” she wrote.
After a 17-month legal tussle, Palm Beach Circuit Court Judge Scott Suskauer determined Kathleen suffers from dementia and appointed Chopin as guardian, a decision her daughters are expected to appeal.
The family source is more direct about how they see Frank’s intentions, insisting: “Chopin is in it for the money, the power, the status.”
Barnhart fired back: “Sometimes family members can be toxic and difficult. Kate has made it clear she loves her daughters and wants to spend time with Frank.”