Conservatorship of Navarrete
Annotate this CaseAnna Navarrete is the 33-year-old adult child of Maria Navarrete (mother) and Rodolfo Navarrete, Sr. (father), who had cerebral palsy and a speech disorder which limit her ability to answer questions and express her needs and desires. Mother has been her primary caregiver. Mother and father split up during the dispute that lead to this appeal. Mother filed a petition asking to be appointed Navarrete’s probate conservator. Navarrete’s father and older brother objected to mother’s petition, and her brother filed a competing petition asking to be appointed instead. Mother and father also sought domestic violence restraining orders against each other. An accusation was lodged against the father, that he sexually assaulted and raped Navarrette. At trial, Navarrete’s therapist, mother, and younger brother, Adrian Navarrete (Adrian), said Navarrete told them her father sexually assaulted and raped her and she fears her father. Father testified and denied the accusations. The trial court interviewed Navarrete, but concluded she wasn’t a competent witness before eliciting any testimony from her about the assaults. In the end, though the court expressed uncertainty about what had happened, it found mother hadn’t proven the accusations of sexual assault by a preponderance of the evidence, but also found Navarrete had genuine fear of her father and didn’t want to see him. The trial court appointed mother as Navarrete’s probate conservator and denied the brother’s petition. Later, after further hearings, the trial court granted father visitation and ordered Navarrete to attend joint counseling sessions with her father. The court concluded, over the objection of Navarrete, her conservator, and her attorney, that such visits were in her best interest because it would allow reconciliation in the event the accusations of sexual assault weren’t true. The visitation order was the only part of the case challenged on appeal. The Court of Appeal held trial court didi not have the authority to order Navarrete to attend joint counseling sessions with her father, and therefore reversed the order.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.