THE CASE PREVIEW: What the Massachusetts Probate & Family Court System is Like & Corrupt Attorneys Targeting Elderly Heirs
- justiceforjoe777
- Oct 24, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 21, 2025
The Netflix and Golden Globe winning Movie: "I Care A Lot" is based on TRUTH: what happens in the pushed under-the-rug corrupt American Probate and Family Court System.
As just one example, the Massachusetts Probate, Family and Juvenile Court System has been the subject of nationwide scrutiny for the 2019 [CLICK LINK]: Harmony Montgomery murder case in which a Judge gave custody of 5 year old Harmony to her father, ADAM MONTGOMERY, a drug addict violent crime felon who served time for shooting someone in the head. Within less than a year, after being tortured relentlessly, Harmony went missing while KAYLA MONTGOMERY, Adam's wife, continued to commit felony welfare fraud and collect benefits on Harmony's behalf. In November 2022, KAYLA MONTGOMERY was sentenced to 3 and a half to 7 years for lying to a grand jury regarding Harmony as a result of a plea deal in which her felony welfare fraud claims were dropped. In August 2023, in a separate case and while awaiting trial in prison for the murder of Harmony, ADAM MONTGOMERY was sentenced to up to 60 years in prison for gun convictions, stealing and selling guns and for being an armed career criminal. A trial for his role in the murder of Harmony Montgomery is set for February 2024.
In Joe's case, during and after the time she killed Joe, STEPHANIE CATHERINE CAPORALE a/k/a HAMBELTON filed a Petition in the Berkshire County Probate and Family Court before Judge David J. Dacyczyn seeking 'guardianship' over her granddaughter because her daughter was another drug addict even though all three lived together, so that Caporale could collect 'guardianship' benefits from the State. Caporale's Petition stated: "DCF [MA Dept. of Children and Families] asked I make this into Legal Guardianship."
Despite the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Children and Families' duty to investigate the 'best interests of the child' and the ‘living situation’ before guardianships, custody, adoptions, etc., are recommended, like in the Harmony Montgomery case, the Massachusetts Dept. of Children and Families' Services located in Pittsfield, MA, as well as Judge David J. Dacyczyn apparently believe that a decades long Heroin addict and serial violent Assault to Murder by Car offender, Stephanie Caporale a/k/a Hambelton, like Adam Montgomery, is the appropriate guardian for a toddler (b. 2016).
At the time Stephanie Caporale a/k/a Hambelton killed Joe in October 2019, attempted to kill again 6 weeks later and was arrested for the separate Nov. 17, 2019 attempt to kill under the influence of Heroin and Fentanyl, Caporale worked for MassHire Berkshire Career Center (a County/State company). Starting in September 2021, during the pendancy of Joe's Probate Case and Stephanie Caporale's guardianship case Caporale worked at Goodwill, a company at which Judge David J. Dacyczyn’s Case Manager Lisa McCormack, Esq. was and continues to be a Board Member.
Between 2019 to 2022, at the same time Berkshire County Probate and Family Court Judge David J. Dacyczyn and his Case Manager Lisa McCormack, Esq. presided over Stephanie Caporale a/k/a Hambelton's proceeding to obtain guardianship over her granddaughter to receive Massachusetts State benefits as a result, despite the fact that her drug addict daughter lived with her and the granddaughter, Judge David J. Dacyczyn and Case Manager Lisa McCormack, Esq. were presiding over Joe's Estate in which Dacyczyn was required to appoint appropriate individuals to investigate Joe’s death ... a death caused by the very same Stephanie Caporale a/k/a Hambelton.
Berkshire County Probate and Family Court Judge David J. Dacyczyn knew or had reason to know of Stephanie Caporale's role in Joe's death. When Stephanie Caporale was tipped off that Joe's family were speaking with police about her role in Joe's homicide, Stephanie Caporale submitted an 'emergency request' to leave the state. Within 14 days, Judge David J. Dacyczyn signed an order for Heroin/Fentanyl Addict and serial violent Assault to Murder by Car offender Stephanie Caporale a/k/a/ Hambelton to flee the state of Massachusetts with the child despite knowing Joe's family in the Estate proceedings Dacyczyn was also presiding over had been speaking to the Pittsfield Police Department about reopening the investigation of Stephanie Caporale and her role in Joe’s death.
In Joe's case, the family has been subjected to not only the absolute refusal of the judiciary and law enforcement to conduct any adequate investigation into Joe's death, but also to the callous and corrupt conduct of the Massachusetts Probate & Family Court System and Massachusetts Estate Attorneys, who once appointed are responsible for investigating and filing the wrongful death lawsuits.
In Joe's case, Steven K. Hemingway, Esq. (Hemingway & Owens LLC, Westwood, MA) and Criminal Defense Attorney Katherine E. Brennan, Esq. (Brennan Law Firm/Law Office of Katherine E. Brennan, Esq., Pittsfield, MA) obtained 'special personal representative' emergency appointments by the same judge presiding over Joe's killer's Stephanie Caporale's 'guardianship case' Judge David J. Dacyczyn in July 2021 based on their false and fraudulent representations that such emergency appointment was needed for the wrongful death investigation and filing. They only requested one incident report and Joe’s medical records over a year and a half later in 2022, they lied about having an attorney experienced with wrongful death litigation review the case, and they failed to file any wrongful death lawsuit against Heroin/Fentanyl Addict serial Assault to Murder by Car offender Stephanie Caporale a/k/a Hambelton, et. al, Berkshire Medical Center where Joe was taken by ambulance, or to initiate any criminal investigation to this day...all while writing checks to themselves for well over $400,000.00 from the Estate bank accounts.
"Finally, maybe I just have to thank America’s broken legal system for making it possible to make stories like this."
— an excerpt from Rosamund Pike's acceptance speech after she won a 2021 Golden Globe Award for her role in "I Care A Lot." In the film, Pike portrays a court-appointed legal guardian (i.e., administrator) who uses the conservatorship (i.e., probate) system’s loopholes to find ways to defraud her elderly clients. https://abovethelaw.com/2021/03/the-dark-side-of-the-justice-system-gets-a-shout-out-at-the-golden-globes/ .
