Kennedy family battle goes public

(Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in Saturday's City & Region section about the legal battle between Joan Bennett Kennedy and her children contained an incorrect first name for Brian D. Bixby, a Boston attorney who specializes in probate law.)

When the legal efforts first began last year, Joan Bennett Kennedy wholly endorsed a move by her three children to give her son Edward M. Jr. temporary control over routine medical decisions and authority over her estimated $9.5 million in assets.

''I do not object to the appointment without prejudice of Edward M. Kennedy Jr. as my temporary guardian," she wrote in a court filing on July 9, 2004.

But since then, relations have soured between Kennedy and her children, and a court battle largely fought behind closed doors is now expected to spill into public view on June 13 in Barnstable Probate and Family Court.

Kennedy's three children, led by Edward Jr., plan to ask a judge to name a permanent guardian who would have the final say on medical and financial matters.

''I oppose my children's petition," Joan Bennett Kennedy said in a recent court filing.

Court papers released yesterday at the request of The Boston Globe show that Edward Kennedy Jr. was named his mother's temporary guardian for the first time on July 12, 2004, after the children convinced Probate and Family Court Judge Robert E. Terry that Joan Bennett Kennedy was ''mentally ill."

''Ward [Joan Kennedy] is unable to properly care for her person and estate," Terry found. She is ''incapable of taking care of herself by reason of mental illness," he found.

The specific illness was not disclosed in the court papers, which had been impounded by the judge and were released in response to the Globe's motion to have them unsealed. Terry declined to release medical records.

''The ward's medical records and related reports contain sensitive, often detailed information," Terry wrote. ''Although the ward's struggle with alcoholism has long been public . . . the disclosure of any aforementioned detailed records would not produce any public benefit."

Joan Bennett Kennedy's lawyer, Hanson S. Reynolds, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Joan Bennett Kennedy publicly disclosed her battle with alcoholism several years ago. In March, she was hospitalized in Boston for several days after she fell on a sidewalk near her Beacon Street residence and injured her shoulder.

Terry has extended the temporary guardianship four times since July 2004. The most recent is set to expire July 7.

Augustus F. Wagner Jr., a lawyer representing Edward Kennedy Jr. and his siblings -- Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy and sister, Kara -- said yesterday that the judge could embrace the children's view or rule that Joan Bennett Kennedy is able to handle the complexities of daily life and free her from court control.

In court papers, Joan Bennett Kennedy's assets were identified as $8 million in real estate -- the family home on Cape Cod and a Beacon Street condominium -- plus $1.5 million in monetary assets.

But control of the real estate is another issue that mother and children are fighting over. Last fall after Edward M. Kennedy Jr. was given control of his mother's assets, she handed over her real estate and financial assets to Webster Janssen, a second cousin from Connecticut. Janssen has put the Cape Cod home on the market, but legal action by the Kennedy siblings have blocked him from selling it.

In the court papers, the Kennedy siblings said the court should reverse the transfers, a contention that Janssen is challenging before Terry.

Bruce D. Bixby, a Boston lawyer who specializes in probate law, said awarding permanent guardianship would forever change Joan Bennett Kennedy's life. He said the guardianship would remain in effect unless she convinces a judge that she can live on her own again.

''If you commit a crime, you go to jail," Bixby said. ''In a guardian situation, if you start losing your sharp edge, you can wind up having all your freedoms taken away indefinitely -- without ever having harmed a soul. . . . You can't be in charge of your own money, you can't be in charge of healthcare decisions."

John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.