Kendall Merlo v. Ingrid Warren, Presiding Judge, Probate Court No. 2, Dallas County, Texas

Does a state trial court violate due process by appointing a guardian ad litem for the adult beneficiary of an estate, who is presumed to be competent, when the order was entered sua sponte and without valid pleadings, notice or a competency hearing? Does a state trial court again violate due process by re-appointing the same guardian ad litem for the same adult beneficiary of an estate in a court-initiated guardianship proceeding, again without any kind of evidentiary competency hearing, and after the court’s own appointed Investigator has issued a report finding the proposed ward to be perfectly competent? Is it a violation of due process to appoint a guardian ad litem for the purpose of contesting the findings of the court’s own appointed Investigator that the proposed ward is competent, when the guardian ad litem has a clear conflict of interest with the proposed ward because of a large financial incentive to find the ward to be incompetent?