As two brothers battle over whether or not their 98-year old mother should remain in her Connecticut home, she finds her self stuck in the middle and at the mercy of the court.
Read the full story in the CT Post here.
By Daniel Tepfer
Mary Kantorowski just wanted to live in peace in the Fairfield home she has lived in since 1953 but she has been overwhelmed as her two sons battle with each other about whether she should stay there.
Her eldest son, Peter, a retired taxidermist from Trumbull, is seeking to have his mother, a petite 98-year old, evicted from her small Flax Road cape, so he can eventually sell it. Her younger son, Jack, who resides part time with his mother, is fighting to keep her — and, therefore, himself — in the house.
What’s a mother to do?
On Friday a trial on the eviction proceeding will be held before Superior Court Judge Michael Maronich.
After initially telling the Connecticut Post that he is seeking to evict his mother for her own good, and then suggesting she could come live with him, Peter Kantorowski has been mum. But his son, Kevin, has taken up his father’s mantle in interviews with local media.
“Our main interest is the welfare of my grandmother,” Kevin said Wednesday. And while he acknowledges that kicking granny out of a house she has lived in for 59 years doesn’t appear to exactly be in her interest, he said the effect of the eviction will be to remove his uncle, Jack, from the house.
“Jack smokes in the house, he drinks there and until my father stopped it, he was writing checks on my grandmother’s account to buy cheap booze,” he said.
Jack Kantorowski denies his nephew’s claims and contends that Kevin, who has a criminal record in Florida, want to sell off his grandmother’s furniture.
Stuck in the middle of this family battle, along with Mary Kantorowski, is Stratford probate lawyer Richard Bortolot Jr., who was appointed Mary’s conservator by Fairfield Probate Judge Daniel Caruso.
Bortolot, who will argue at the trial against the eviction, said he has examined Mary’s finances and found nothing inappropriate.
But Kevin Kantorowski said he believes Bortolot and Judge Caruso have been mishandling the case, a contention Bortolot calls ridiculous.
Caruso declined comment.
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