I had thought carefully about that evaluation before I sought it out, because there was something almost insulting about needing it at all.

A woman with my professional history should not have to prove to a court that she can read a bank statement.

But that is exactly the trap that abusive guardianship petitions lay, and I understood the trap better than most, because I had spent years watching it close on other people.

The petition does not accuse you of anything you can defend against.

It simply asserts that you are diminished, incapable, no longer yourself, and it places the burden on you, the very person it claims cannot function, to prove otherwise.