Tom Girardi, the estranged husband of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Girardi, has been placed under a temporary conservatorship, with his brother Robert being appointed to take control of his daily activities and personal care on Monday, February 1.
During a hearing on Monday, February 1, Tom’s court-appointed attorney Rudy Cosio announced that the 81-year-old would not be participating as he’d suffered a medical emergency over the weekend. According to Us Weekly, Robert filed a petition to the court last month to be given control over both his brother and his brother’s estate amid his ongoing legal battle. Judge Daniel Juarez approved the petition in part and named Robert the temporary conservator of Tom’s estate and control over Tom’s daily activities and personal matters until March 30.
An additional hearing will take place on March 15, where the court will deliberate over the other requests in Robert’s petition. Tom’s brother also asked the court to give him the authority to place Tom in a facility that treats neurocognitive disorders such as dementia.
“There was an urgent need for Bob Girardi to have the power to engage counsel in the bankruptcy proceeding on his brother’s behalf, and Tom’s court-appointed counsel clearly agreed, as did the court today,” Robert Girardi’s attorney Nicholas Van Brunt told Us Weekly in a statement.
The news comes after Robert claimed that Tom was facing major health setbacks amid his divorce from Jayne and embezzlement scandal according to court documents previously obtained by Us Weekly in January. Robert requested to be given control over his brother’s finances as “[Tom] is incapable of realizing and understanding the repercussions of the bankruptcy filings pending against him and the Debtor,” the docs stated.
In November 2020, Erika filed for divorce from Tom last month after more than two decades of marriage. In the filing, Erika sought spousal support and requested the court terminate its ability to award spousal support to Tom. Tom responded by asking the court to terminate its ability to award spousal support and to request that Erika star pay attorney fees and costs.
She then accused the 81-lawyer of having an affair with a California judge in a now-deleted Instagram post. “This is Justice Tricia A. Bigelow. She was f–king my husband Tom Girardi and he was paying her Saks bill and paying for her plastic surgery,” Erika wrote alongside a series of alleged text messages between her estranged husband and Bigelow.
After Erika deleted the post, Bigelow’s attorney released a statement to the Los Angeles Times on December 22, saying Erika’s “actions in maliciously doxxing the Justice were nothing short of criminal. We are considering our options to protect Justice Bigelow from further harassment.”
During another hearing last month, Keith Griffin, an attorney at Tom’s firm, revealed that the estranged husband of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star was secretly hospitalized in 2020. Griffin said his boss was “unavailable in recent weeks due to a serious illness that caused him to be hospitalized for which he sought treatment.”
Tom previously failed to hire a lawyer to represent him in the case. One of his recently hired attorneys, Evan Jenness, told the judge during a December 14 hearing that he wanted Tom to go through a mental examination. “I’m unsure that he understands either the nature or the gravity of the current situation,” Jenness told the judge.
Tom is currently under fire as he is facing multiple lawsuits, including a class-action case filed by Edelson PC against both him and Erika. According to court documents obtained by the publication, the spouses have been accused of embezzling settlement money for families of the victims of Lion Air Flight 610, a 2018 crash that killed 189 people.
A judge has subsequently frozen Tom’s assets and Erika has been asked to stop selling her used clothes through the French company Vestiaire.
“There’s an asset freeze,” the judge told Erika’s lawyer in court on December 22. “His assets are frozen. I think you need to convey that to your client. … If she is selling assets that are property of Tom Girardi, you need to inform her of the danger that puts her in [of being in contempt in court].”
Erika’s attorney, Matt Wasserman, went on to question her role in the case. “Erika was completely unaware of the very serious allegations that were being made against Tom in court. Tom always handled all of the finances and that was how they handled things,” one source said. “She is just reeling from all of this but, make no mistake, Erika is a tough cookie and she isn’t stupid. She will get through this.”
Photo Credit: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/Shutterstock; Damian Dovarganes/AP/Shutterstock
