Vivienne Crawshaw: Rhonda's crystals fail to deliver the goods

Jocelyn was independent. She cooked her own meals, shuffled to the shops with the help of her walker and got her miniature schnauzer to the vet when he needed a check-up.

At 85 she was proud to live in her home of the past 50 years and, ramshackle as it was, it had charm.

The fact that it was within a stone's throw of Takapuna beach was a bonus, for Jocelyn and the dog.

Jocelyn's grandchildren lived on the North Shore and visited frequently. Their own mother had died of breast cancer and they were Jocelyn's only remaining family.
Shirley, the eldest of the three, was particularly attentive and came most weeks with library books and treats for the dog.

Shirley also did the lawns, a task that until recently the stubborn Jocelyn had managed with a hand-mower.

One day when Shirley popped in to take Jocelyn to the doctor, she found one of her grandmother's neighbours in the lounge chatting.

The pair hadn't heard Shirley arrive and as she entered she caught the last of the conversation which seemed to focus on the purchase of a new car.

Jocelyn had failed her licence two years back so Shirley was perplexed at the discussion. The neighbour stopped mid-sentence when she saw her and was out the back door before she could even offer her a cup of tea.

It transpired that the neighbour's car was on its last legs and she had been pouring her heart out to Jocelyn about it. Jocelyn could not bear to think her neighbour would be carless and had offered to help her out with repairs.

But the neighbour, Rhonda, had convinced her it would be false economy to try to fix the car and had brought some pamphlets around advertising new cars which she could get on hire purchase.

Jocelyn told Shirley the hapless Rhonda wouldn't be able to get the car on hire purchase because the poor dear didn't quite earn enough.

All she wanted was a little for the deposit and Jocelyn would sign the papers and Bob's your uncle.

Shirley wasn't convinced but didn't want to poke her nose into her grandmother's affairs. Making a mental note to watch Rhonda, she cleaned the fridge, did the lawns and left.

Later in the week Shirley spoke to her brother. She was disturbed by comments the GP had made about her grandmother's increasing vagueness being attributable to possible dementia.

Her brother mentioned "that nutter Rhonda" who, he said, was trying to get Jocelyn to set her up in business. "She wants to start some weird rainbow natural healing shop," he said, "and she seems to have got Gran all fired up about it."

It turned out that Jocelyn's savings were all set to go into funding the business, buying stock and fitting out the premises.

Shirley was livid. She went to see Rhonda, who was quite nonchalant about Jocelyn bank-rolling her.

"She's quite able to choose her investments and in this case I think she has a good business sense for an old dear. She knows when to back a winner."

A winner indeed, thought Shirley, spending thousands of dollars on crystals. I think not.

Shirley knew that although Jocelyn was sitting on a small goldmine by way of her house, her life savings were her only means of topping up her pension and buying herself a few extras, not to mention paying her hefty vet's bills.

But when she gently broached the subject with her grandmother she got no sense out of her. Jocelyn was convinced that Rhonda was a smart businesswoman who promised her returns of up to 40 per cent. The fact that Rhonda's sole business experience amounted to working as a check-out operator at the local supermarket did not deter her.

"Everyone has to start somewhere, dear, and she does seem to have a calling with her crystals."

After convening an urgent meeting with her brother and sister, Shirley went straight to the lawyer. The lawyer made an urgent application in the Family Court to have Shirley appointed a property manager for Jocelyn and for an interim order.

She filed an affidavit setting out all the relevant circumstances, including a doctor's report which diagnosed Jocelyn as being in the early stages of dementia and said she was partially lacking in competence to make decisions on her welfare.

The court decided to make the interim order and at the same time appointed an independent lawyer to check that Shirley was not making the application for some personal benefit of her own and her suitability to be the manager.

The independent lawyer's role was to ensure that Jocelyn was represented in court, to explain the proceedings to her and report to the court on the appropriateness of making the order.

While the court recognised there was always a presumption of competence, it decided there was clear evidence that Jocelyn's vulnerable mental state was sorely being taken advantage of.

Shirley was able to step into Jocelyn's shoes, manage her grandmother's affairs properly and stop the scheming Rhonda from getting her mitts on her grandmother's nest egg.

Rhonda's crystals had not helped her on this occasion and she had certainly not bargained on Jocelyn's family being quite so astute.

* Vivienne Crawshaw is a family law specialist practising in Auckland.