A live-in caregiver whose elderly patient gave her around $1 million in assets lost a court battle with the patient’s children today to keep the deceased man’s estate.
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Katherine Tennyson this morning ruled that caregiver Patricia McIntosh used “undue influence” to convince Warren Cummins, 91, to leave her everything.
“I don’t see this as a gift freely given,” Tennyson said. “I see this as a manipulation of this man.”
As previously reported in WW, McIntosh, a state-licensed practical nurse from Forest Grove, received a $492,000 home plus accounts worth up to $400,000 from Cummins, a retired accountant from Southwest Portland. (That’s Cummins’ house in the photo.)
Cummins also rewrote his will a month before he died last September, leaving the rest of his estate to McIntosh. Multnomah County officials were investigating the incident as a possible case of elder abuse.
Tennyson today called McIntosh’s testimony during the three-day trial last month “disingenuous,” saying she didn’t believe McIntosh’s explanations for why her husband moved into Cummins’ house along with McIntosh and her daughter while Cummins was alive.
Tennyson also questioned McIntosh’s motivations for monitoring Cummins’ conversations with his lawyer, and cutting those conversations short when they turned against her.
McIntosh quickly left the courtroom after the hearing adjourned. Her attorney, Jim Cartwright, said McIntosh would not comment.
Tennyson’s ruling today threw out Cummins’ gifts to McIntosh and his last will, leaving intact a previous will where Cummins left his estate to the charity Loaves & Fishes, plus $50,000 to McIntosh.
McIntosh has already spent an estimated $300,000 of Cummins’ money, says Rick Braun, attorney for Cummins’ stepson, Fletcher Johnson. In an agreement with Loaves & Fishes, the charity will split the remaining assets with Johnson and Cummins’ three adopted children.
Braun adds that the state Board of Nursing is investigating a complaint against McIntosh based on the Cummins case. Board of Nursing spokeswoman Barbara Holtry declined to confirm such an investigation, citing state confidentiality laws.
State administrative rules prohibit “using the nurse-client relationship to exploit the client by gaining property or other items.” Judge Tennyson had choice words for McIntosh on that point, saying she should have refused Cummins’ gifts.
“If you actually have certain ethics and standards, you don’t let the person employing you drive that train,” Tennyson said.
Multnomah County referred its investigation of alleged elder abuse to the district attorney’s office, says Mohammad Bader, adult protective services program manager for the county. The DA’s office has not yet returned a call for comment.
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