SUMMARY
- Kyle Shayna Hamilton was the only child of and sole heir to Martha E. Ham.
- Martha Ham made Kyle the beneficiary and the survivor trustee to the Martha E. Ham trust.
- Martha Ham also gave to Kyle powers-of-attorney for her estate and health care.
- All of these documents were written so that in the event that Martha Ham was declared incompetent, they would each become irrevocable.
- It was Martha Ham’s clear intention, with the full knowledge that Alzheimer’s runs in the family, that her daughter Kyle should have complete and total control over her (Martha’s) life in the event that Martha could no longer make decisions for herself.
- Later, Martha Ham was found to be incompetent in Jasper County Superior Court, however, several discrepancies existed:
- The Superior Court ruled on guardianship petitions (granting guardianship to Kyle) which, according to Indiana law, were invalid due to the existing powers-of-attorney.
- The Superior Court Judge, J. Philip McGraw, assigned a number of conditions (conditions that were in direct confrontation with the trust and powers-of-attorney) before Kyle would be allowed to assume the (unnecessary) guardianship roles.
- In a following hearing, Judge McGraw removed the Guardianship of Martha’s Estate because of the legality of the power-of-attorney, but did nothing to remove the invalid Guardianship of Martha’s Person which was superseded by the existing health care power-of-attorney.
- A year later, the City Attorney of Rensselaer, Ned Tonner, had Martha Ham sign legal documents he had drawn up ( knowing full well that Martha had been declared incompetent), in which Martha requested that Kyle be removed as her guardian based on false allegations that Kyle had failed to pay her bills.
- That same month, Martha was admitted to Jasper County Hospital, against Kyle’s specific instructions.
- Upon investigation, it was discovered that the hired caregiver, Tonjua Gray (a client of Ned Tonner’s) had been illegally opening and photocopying mail and posing as Martha’s daughter-in-law in an effort to obtain proprietary information about Martha.
- Kyle’s complaint to the Rensselaer Police regarding the illegal signatures obtained by Ned Tonner and the fraudulent activity of Tonjua Gray was disregarded because of Tonner’s position as City Attorney.
- At a subsequent hearing to remove Kyle as the Guardian of Martha’s Person, Judge McGraw refused to address the charges that Kyle had failed to pay her mother’s bills and refused to review the evidence Kyle was prepared to present proving the allegations to be false.
- At that hearing Judge McGraw allowed questioning regarding the Martha Ham Trust, even though the Trust was not relevant to the allegations made and the court had no jurisdiction over the Trust at that time.
- At the end of the hearing, Judge McGraw ruled to remove Kyle as Guardian of Martha’s Person and referred to Kyle as an “outsider.”
- Since that hearing the following events have occurred:
- Numerous hearings have been scheduled without Kyle (or her attorney) being notified.
- An officer of the court informed Kyle that Judge McGraw stated that he (the Judge) “had not ruled by law, but rather by what he thought was morally right.”
- Judge McGraw directed the District Attorney to “find something to charge her (Kyle) with.”
- Numerous charges that have no basis have been filed against Kyle by the State of Indiana.
- Kyle has been detained and jailed and the Jasper County Prosecuting Attorney has refused to accept her bond when posted.
- Martha Ham died after a year of being institutionalized and never seeing the outdoors. There are suspicious circumstances surrounding her death.
- An officer of the court has attempted to bribe one of Kyle’s attorneys.
- The Jasper County Chief Deputy Prosecutor has informed one of Kyle’s attorneys that they are pushing forward on Judge McGraw’s orders, and because she (Kyle) had “sinned”.
- An officer of the court has informed one of Kyle’s attorneys that their plan is to bankrupt Kyle so that she won’t be able to pay her attorney’s fees, which would leave her without representation.
- Attorneys assigned (as Guardian-ad-litem, Trustee, Guardian of the Person, and Guardian of the Estate, Personal Representative, etc.) in place of Kyle have paid themselves fees totaling over $50,000 out of the Martha Ham Trust.
- These same officials have even billed the Martha Ham Trust for the time they spent at Martha’s funeral.
And this just scratches the surface.