What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California
My father-in-law suffered a stroke 10-years ago which left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak English. He understands what people are saying, but when he tries to talk, only jibberish comes out of his mouth. My mother-in-law has put him in various skilled nursing facilities in their area and the one he is in now is close to their home, but about 100 miles away from us. Unfortunately, we are not able to visit him very often because we lack reliable transportation.
Recently, my husband was able to borrow a friend's car so we could take the kids to visit their grandfather on his 80th birthday. However, the staff would not allow us to have any contact with him because of my mother-in-law. She wrote a letter to the facility’s staff giving them “authorization to withhold" from her husband "all telephone and personal contact" with my husband and me.
We have never done or threatened to do any harm to my father-in-law (or anyone else). My mother-in-law thinks we are going to tell her husband what she’s up to and then he’ll get upset: she evicted us from the home we rented from them for the past 22 years (which we thought we were buying) – grandkids and all; and then she threw away most of our belongings. Why? Because she can. And because our rent-to-own agreement was a verbal one between father and son. Also because real estate prices are sky high and she hopes to get $400k if she sells to someone else compared to $5000 that we had left to pay. She plans to use the money not for herself AND her husband, but solely for herself .
My mother-in-law has power-of-attorney for my father-in-law and can do whatever she pleases with his property or their property, but does that give her the authority to decide who has contact with her husband? It’s like she issued a restraining order against us. I thought only a judge or magistrate has the power to issue restraining orders. Maybe it is legal, but it certainly doesn't seem ethical for her to isolate her husband from his only son or any other close family member just because she is hiding information from him. Is there anything we can do? Any good advice is appreciated, thank you.
My father-in-law suffered a stroke 10-years ago which left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak English. He understands what people are saying, but when he tries to talk, only jibberish comes out of his mouth. My mother-in-law has put him in various skilled nursing facilities in their area and the one he is in now is close to their home, but about 100 miles away from us. Unfortunately, we are not able to visit him very often because we lack reliable transportation.
Recently, my husband was able to borrow a friend's car so we could take the kids to visit their grandfather on his 80th birthday. However, the staff would not allow us to have any contact with him because of my mother-in-law. She wrote a letter to the facility’s staff giving them “authorization to withhold" from her husband "all telephone and personal contact" with my husband and me.
We have never done or threatened to do any harm to my father-in-law (or anyone else). My mother-in-law thinks we are going to tell her husband what she’s up to and then he’ll get upset: she evicted us from the home we rented from them for the past 22 years (which we thought we were buying) – grandkids and all; and then she threw away most of our belongings. Why? Because she can. And because our rent-to-own agreement was a verbal one between father and son. Also because real estate prices are sky high and she hopes to get $400k if she sells to someone else compared to $5000 that we had left to pay. She plans to use the money not for herself AND her husband, but solely for herself .
My mother-in-law has power-of-attorney for my father-in-law and can do whatever she pleases with his property or their property, but does that give her the authority to decide who has contact with her husband? It’s like she issued a restraining order against us. I thought only a judge or magistrate has the power to issue restraining orders. Maybe it is legal, but it certainly doesn't seem ethical for her to isolate her husband from his only son or any other close family member just because she is hiding information from him. Is there anything we can do? Any good advice is appreciated, thank you.
