WAYNE – A guardianship and conservatorship case filed by a prominent Huntington businessman regarding an elderly woman has been dismissed following the woman’s death.
Wayne Circuit Judge Jason Fry entered the order to dismiss May 30 in the case filed in March by Marshall Reynolds and Kaleb Cihon.
Ben Coffman Jr. had filed the motion to dismiss April 2 in Wayne Circuit Court in response to the petition filed last month by Marshall Reynolds and Kaleb Cihon. In the original petition, Reynolds and Cihon sought the appointment of a guardian and/or conservator for Melanie Coffman, the alleged protected person in the case.
Reynolds
| File photo
Coffman Jr., who is Melanie Coffman’s only living child, had filed a motion to dismiss the case, and the parties had a hearing April 9 before Fry, who agreed to continue the case. But Melanie Coffman passed away April 30, rendering the matter moot.
At the April 9 hearing, Fry agreed to continue the case after Ben Coffman Jr., appearing via telephone, said he had yet to obtain legal representation and that his mother was unable to travel to attend a hearing. That was after Fry emptied the courtroom prior to the start of the hearing, removing both a writer for The West Virginia Record and Cihon's wife as well as other individuals waiting for a child adoption hearing.
Reynolds and Cihon were represented by Matthew Ward of Dinsmore & Shohl in Huntington. Ward also refused to speak after the April 9 hearing, saying he was told not to speak to The Record.
In his original petition, Cihon listed him as the proposed guardian and Reynolds as the proposed conservator. It listed Cihon as Melanie Coffman’s “unadopted son” and Reynolds as a “family friend.”
But in his motion to dismiss, Coffman said he is the only surviving child of Melanie and Ben Coffman Sr. and had been their acting guardian and power of attorney since early 2022 when the health of both of his parents began failing and official power of attorney since August 17, 2023.
Coffman’s father attended Vinson High School in Huntington with Reynolds. His father later played basketball at the University of Kentucky for legendary coach Adolph Rupp.
Coffman’s father passed away in February, and Coffman said he and his wife Kate had been providing full-time care to his mother at his home in Cincinnati.
“At that time they made me an owner or beneficiary of their accounts and assets and I also started managing their medical, home and life needs,” Coffman wrote in his pro se motion. “In addition, my mother resides in my home in Cincinnati, Ohio. All of her life needs including insurance, doctors, finances, family and friends, et al. are in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“This is where she was born and raised and has lived much of her life. All of her family is located here as well. Me, my wife Kate Coffman, my five sons (her grandsons) and one great grandson.”
In the original petition, Cihon listed himself as a de facto guardian, conservator, medical power of attorney, representative or appointed surrogate responsible for Melanie Coffman’s care or custody and said no one else had been designated as a surrogate decision maker, but it did say Cihon believed Ben Coffman Jr. is a duly appointed power of attorney for his mother.
In his motion, Coffman said a guardian hearing requires the alleged protection person – his mother in this case – be there in person or have an evaluation done. He said that couldn’t happen because his mother was “unfit to travel at this time.”
But Cihon’s petition disputed that claim by checking a box that said she has no incapacity that kept her from attending. It also claimed Melanie Coffman had not nominated a different guardian or conservator.
Coffman’s motion, of course, disputed both of those claims.
“The court cannot conduct a hearing on the merits of this petition without the presence of the protected person unless one of the following is submitted to the court at the beginning of the hearing,” the original court filing said, listing the acceptable submission as a physician’s affidavit, qualified expert testimony or evidence that the person refuses to appear.
Cihon’s petition also said Melanie Coffman “suffers from severe dementia and is unable to fully care for herself or finances.”
And in a separate motion for leave to file the petition without evaluation report, Cihon said he “does not possess a power of attorney or medical power of attorney to authorize the physician to execute the required evaluation report” and said he sought an order from the court authorizing Melanie Coffman’s physician(s) to “conduct and complete the necessary evaluation report.”
In a separate matter, Ben Coffman Jr. said a caregiver who had been taking care of his parents’ former home in the Westmoreland section of Huntington refused to move out, so Coffman filed a motion to evict her. The caregiver appealed, but the eviction was upheld.
Wayne Circuit Court case number 24-G-7
