Taxation & Estate Planning

Amy Winehouse, Drugs and Alcohol, and Guardianship

By Joel A. Schoenmeyer

Amy Winehouse is a really talented singer -- she's popular with critics and with the public. (If you haven't tried it, you may want to check out her CD "Back to Black," in which she drags the girl group sound of the 60's into the 21st century.)

Ms. Winehouse is famous for her singing and her personal style (think John Waters Baltimore with a dash of punk), but she is also becoming increasingly famous (or perhaps "infamous") for what euphemistically might be called "struggles" with alcohol and drugs. Ms. Winehouse's mother is trying to reach out to her -- see this story.

In Illinois, there's a solution more concrete than "trying to reach out to an adult child in trouble." Article XIa of the Illinois Probate Act deals with guardianships for disabled adults, and the definition of "disabled person" (in Section 11a-2) includes "a person 18 years or older who... because of gambling, idleness, debauchery or excessive use of intoxicants or drugs, so spends or wastes his estate as to expose himself or his family to want or suffering." In other words, someone can petition the court to find a person with drug or alcohol problems to be disabled, and be appointed as that person's guardian. This could allow the guardian to make decisions about the ward's finances and health care, among other things.

Full post as published by Death and Taxes Blog on December 10, 2007 (boomark / email).