What happens if a protected person refuses to follow the decisions that are made on their behalf by their conservator?

Thank you Garden. I think the booth rent angle is a solid one. I will suggest this to my sibs.
Yes Dad will be very upset because he has to give up the FM but there are other things going on to help him adjust. He is in a day program twice a week and thoroughly enjoys it. He also has a home health aide come in once a week to shave and shower him who he adores. She always stays for a little visit :) He has Mom with him of course plus my sibs and I visit on a regular basis so he has a pretty social life considering his age and infirmities.

I remember when you first began posting, your father was insistent on going to the flea market and you were so frustrated that he wasn't physically able to do so. As I recall, either he or your mother was in the hospital, he wanted someone to continue to go and you felt it was unwise to do so under the circumstances, as well as to encourage him in that sideline. It was a frustrating situation. I remember thinking what a tough time you were having. And I'm saddened to read that you're still having a difficult time with your father and his insistence on going to the flea market. On the other hand, it is good that he wants to keep busy. Maybe that desire can be rechanneled more safely.

As to the potential suit, I think the owner would have to have a list of all the coins and their corresponding approximate value in order to sustain a lawsuit. If your father was going to appraise them, then perhaps the owner didn't have such a list, and perhaps the coins weren't of as much value as he thought. But I'm sure a suit would require a specific listing of the coins as well as approximate value. Otherwise, any financial redress sought would just be a guesstimate.

I have a coin collection and was surprised that most of them aren't worth much more than their face value.

However, I can understand that the threat of the suit is very, very unsettling.

I've never sold through a flea market so I don't know if there are leases, and if so, what the terms are. If there's a violation of any such lease, it might be grounds for the owners to evict your folks.

I assume they pay a rental fee; does any percentage go to the flea market owners? Are they able to meet that requirement? If not, it might be grounds for closing down their booth.

But I would really be concerned that this might devastate them emotionally.

Can you think of any other activities that they could do that would keep them busy, active and safe? Volunteer work? Delivering Meals on Wheels?

If they like to sell, could they work in a small store, perhaps a senior citizen or hospital gift shop?

For some reason I'm thinking of that opening scene in Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indie is ready to remove a valuable artifact, of specific weight, and needs to replace it with a substitute of equal weight. I think that would be your challenge - what can you replace the flea market booth activity with that's equivalent in sales and management to what your parents have been doing?

If you can find a replacement activity for those skill sets, it might be workable to substitute that for the flea market booth.

Every state has Guardian/Conservator training. Make sure they attend the training sessions offered by the court. Mom should not have a checkbook. OK they sell stuff and they use the accumulated money to buy more; why are they left unsupervised? Why hasn't the conservator closed the booth? Show the court order to the FM management. Shut it down.

Thanks Pam all that has been done. The situation is a bit unique. Dad and Mom ran a business which they can no longer do. Part of that business included setting up on Sundays at a flea market. My Bro and Sis are his conservators and they decided to let Dad continue to sell at the FM using left over inventory. They did this thinking it would allow Dad to feel a little independent. Their were problems from the beginning and I was not on board with the idea but I respected their decision.

At first our parents were compliant with the parameters of the agreement. They could only sell what they already had. No buying. Well not only were they buying but Mom wrote a $600 check out of the household account which completely messed up the budget my sister is keeping for them. The most recent incident really shook up my sibs. Dad took in a box of old coins to "appraise" and lost them. The owner is threatening to take him to court. Bo and sis have finally decided to close down their FM booth. Mom and Dad are apoplectic of course and they are soliciting help (rides mostly) from outside the family.

My question is this. How can my sibs put a stop to this legally. I was wondering if they could call the FM owners and ask them for support in evicting my folks? I have been reading about the powers of guardians and conservators and they are less than one might think. For example they can't force the elder into moving to AL, that has to be decided by a judge.

You put the money into an account that they cannot access. You go to the bank with the court order and make that happen. Yes, the account is in their name, but the ward has to go through the conservator to get the funds.