COURTESY CYNTHIA CARLSMITH-CRESPI This is a 2003 photo of Edith Carlsmith, a 98-year-old woman who is the focus of a nasty guardianship fight before a Hawaii judge.

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Family legal fight
stretches to Panama

The battle concerns the matriarch
of Hawaii's oldest law firm

Sometime soon, a doctor in Panama is supposed to examine a frail, blind, partially deaf 98-year-old woman and determine whether she's mentally fit to make her own decisions.

That's assuming she's still alive.

The physician's diagnosis is being sought to help resolve a bitter legal fight playing out thousands of miles away in a Hawaii courtroom.

The fight focuses on Edith M. Carlsmith, matriarch of the family that founded the state's oldest law firm. It has pitted her son against his two daughters.

Their main dispute: Whether Carlsmith is competent enough to make her own decisions or whether age and illness have zapped her ability to do so, requiring appointment of a guardian.

As the court case has unfolded, it has exposed an unflattering side of the Carlsmith clan, long among the most prominent in Hawaii's legal community, and has generated allegations ranging from attempted kidnapping to a possible murder plot involving international thugs.

On a broader level, the case provides a cautionary tale for other Hawaii families who have elder members in their sunset years and demonstrates how nasty the situation can become if disagreements arise over their care.

"That's happening more and more in Hawaii," said Jim Pietsch, a University of Hawaii law professor and director of its elder law program. "We see battling (family members) all the time."

But this battle is unlike any other.

People familiar with the Carlsmith case say they would be hard pressed to find another guardianship fight with such intrigue.

A Hawaii judge already has found Edith Carlsmith and her son, Duane Carlsmith, in contempt of court. Duane Carlsmith faces fines that so far total about $4 million. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

In one document filed with the court, Duane Carlsmith said a private investigator had information indicating that one of Duane Carlsmith's daughters, her husband and Carlsmith's sister were plotting to kill him in Panama, where he lives. The daughter, Cynthia Carlsmith-Crespi, 42, called the charges ridiculous.

In the court documents, Duane Carlsmith suggested that he was the target of a murder contract involving foreign thugs, and once he was killed, his mother would be kidnapped and taken from Panama.

At the center of the guardianship dispute is the wealthy widow of Wendell Carlsmith, the late senior partner in the law firm now known as Carlsmith Ball, Hawaii's oldest. Edith Carlsmith has an estate worth millions of dollars.

The court case began in October 2003 when Duane Carlsmith brought his mother, who lived in a luxury retirement condo in Northern California at the time, to Hawaii on their way to Panama. She suffered a stroke earlier that year.

After learning about the planned Panama trip, Carlsmith-Crespi, who had been designated a health-care agent for her grandmother, asked a Family Court judge in Honolulu to issue an order preventing anyone from taking Edith Carlsmith from Hawaii and that a guardian be appointed for her.

Carlsmith-Crespi also requested the court to order a medical examination to determine whether her grandmother was competent to make her own decisions. Carlsmith-Crespi's sister, Annaliese Carlsmith, joined in the request, which was supported by a UH expert in geriatrics medicine.

Carlsmith-Crespi told the court that she suspected that her father intended to take her grandmother against her will to Panama, and that the elder Carlsmith may have been the victim of physical or mental abuse.

But attorneys for Edith and Duane Carlsmith argued that the elder woman was mentally competent, her doctors said as much, the court had no evidence to the contrary and California authorities previously investigated abuse allegations and found them unfounded.

The attorneys also said Edith Carlsmith wanted to spend her final years with her son in Panama and that Hawaii courts had no jurisdiction over her.

After an October 2003 Honolulu hearing that included testimony from a confused Edith Carlsmith -- she thought she was in California, for instance, and was unsure how she was related to her granddaughter Annaliese -- Family Court Judge Karen Radius ordered that the elder Carlsmith undergo a medical examination, according to court records.

Radius also amended an earlier order to prevent Edith Carlsmith from leaving the United States for 90 days and to prohibit anyone from taking her outside the country pending resolution of the competency question.

In November 2003, Edith and Duane Carlsmith went to Panama anyway. Judge Radius found them in contempt. An arrest warrant was issued for Duane Carlsmith, who since December 2003 has been fined $10,000 for each day he doesn't return his mother to Hawaii.

Carlsmith-Crespi said her father isolated Edith Carlsmith in Panama from family and friends, screening attempts to contact her.

Not even the Honolulu attorney appointed by the court to look after Edith Carlsmith's interests and the Honolulu administrator overseeing her financial affairs have spoken to her since she left Hawaii in late 2003.

The pair can't even say for sure whether she's alive, though funds from her estate were sent monthly to Panama through October to cover what they believed were her living expenses.

Attorney Timothy Luria, the court-appointed temporary guardian for Edith Carlsmith, said he no longer tries contacting her because he's been told by Duane Carlsmith, his attorney and Edith Carlsmith's lawyer that the prospect of having to talk to him would so upset the elderly woman that her health would suffer.

Attorney Howard Glickstein, whose Honolulu firm started representing Edith Carlsmith after the guardianship fight began, said it is his understanding that his client is still alive. But he declined to disclose when he last spoke to her or to make Edith Carlsmith available for an interview.

Charman Akina, a family friend who used to be Edith Carlsmith's physician in Hawaii, told the court he visited her in Panama in July 2004 and found her happy, comfortable and opposed to returning to Hawaii, a trip that could jeopardize her health.

Carlsmith-Crespi, however, said she has received information she deems reliable that her grandmother died late last year.

Carlsmith-Crespi said she initiated the court case after her grandmother's daily caregivers in California told her they were concerned that Duane Carlsmith was mistreating his mother. Duane Carlsmith came to California to stay with her in the summer of 2003 following her stroke.

Carlsmith-Crespi said she was extremely close to her grandmother and visited her frequently when they both lived in Northern California.

"All I wanted was what was best for her," said Carlsmith-Crespi, now a Big Island resident. "I just wanted to make sure she was all right."

To underscore that she wasn't motivated by financial gain, Carlsmith-Crespi said she has waived any claim to her grandmother's estate. She also said she and her husband have spent more than $300,000 on the litigation thus far.

Carlsmith-Crespi said she believes her father, on the other hand, is motivated by a desire to get her grandmother's money. She noted that he once sued his own parents, obtaining Big Island land to settle the case.

Duane Carlsmith used to practice law in Hawaii, but the state inactivated his license in 1980 on grounds he was mentally ill or infirm, according to court records.

The documents that Edith and Duane Carlsmith's lawyers have filed in the guardianship case portray him as a caring son motivated by what's best for his mother.

One California resident who accompanied Akina on his Panama trip last year said the elderly woman was lucky to have someone like Duane tending to her daily needs.

"If I make it to age 98, I would be privileged and pleased to have what Edie has, including the support from those looking after her," J. Brysson Greenwell Jr., a retired physician, said in a sworn statement.

But California resident Janet Wessel said in a sworn statement that she had asked to see Edith Carlsmith, her long-time friend, in May 2004 in Panama but was told by Duane Carlsmith that she couldn't.

"I am worried about what appears to me to be Edith's isolation in Panama," Wessel said.

Stuart Cowan, Duane Carlsmith's attorney, said his client has been screening visitors and callers at his mother's request, partly because she was distressed by her granddaughters' actions and didn't want to talk to them anymore.

Glickstein said the court illegally took away Edith Carlsmith's personal liberty and seized control of her possessions without the required due process, something everyone should be concerned about. "There's no bigger stakes. That's what we're talking about," Glickstein said.

But the alleged procedural violations he has raised have been largely shot down by the court.

The attorneys involved in the case said the logistics of performing the medical exam in Panama still are being worked out, so it's not known when that will happen.

For Edith Carlsmith's financial administrator, however, the exam can't come soon enough, answering, among other questions, whether she's still alive.

"This whole thing really has spun out of control," Joseph Krahulik said.