Emmy winner Tyler Christopher (ex-Nikolas Cassadine) is the focus of a new investigative report by Bloomberg Law. Christopher alleges that he is being "taken advantage of by a family member." The bombshell report also reveals that the actor underwent life-saving surgery in 2019.
Guardianship, also known as conservatorship, has been around for a long time, but it is something that didn't become part of a wider conversation until the "Free Britney" movement, focused on pop star Britney Spears, shone a spotlight on it in 2008.
A conservatorship is a legal appointment where an individual or organization is designated as a caregiver for an adult who is deemed unfit to care for themselves or to manage their own finances.
Over the past several years, Christopher's personal struggles with alcohol have been the topic of tabloid gossip. The actor has been arrested twice for public intoxication, once in 2019 and another time earlier this year.
In November 2019, Christopher was arrested when he fell asleep and urinated in the back of an Uber in Indiana. Christopher subsequently pled guilty to two counts of misdemeanor public intoxication and was ordered to pay a $440 fine. A judge denied requests from police that Christopher enter an alcohol treatment program.
That same month, as he withdrew from alcohol, Christopher fell in his bathroom and hit the back of his head on a bathtub. It was not the first time the actor had fallen. That fall, however, resulted in Christopher fracturing his skull, which caused bleeding on the brain. Christopher was rushed to the hospital and underwent craniotomy surgery, a procedure in which doctors drilled holes in his skull to relieve pain and pressure.
In 2020, while Christopher was recovering, his sister, Susan Asmo Baker, filed a petition to put him under guardianship.
In her petition, Baker stated that her brother was homeless, a "flight risk," and unable to "make decisions for his care or care for himself."
In February 2021, the court transferred Christopher's guardianship from Indiana to Ohio, where Christopher had relocated. Christopher asked for the guardianship to end in September 2021. Baker agreed, and an Ohio judge approved the request.
"While he was under guardianship in Indiana, Christopher alleged in court papers, his sister misspent or improperly received reimbursement for $40,000 to pay down her own credit card debt, bankroll her move, even buy her son a MacBook," Bloomberg reports.
Baker has called her brother's complaints unproven "allegations."
Earlier this year, Baker agreed to pay for a forensic accountant to examine her spending under the guardianship. If that review verifies Christopher's claims, Baker will be required to reimburse her brother. If Baker is found not to have used Christopher's money in an unapproved manner, Christopher might be required to cover the costs of the audit.
Bloomberg opted to report on guardianships because the organization wanted to explore "how guardianships deprive citizens of basic rights, often requiring them to get approval for everything from where to shop to who they can marry."
In Bloomberg's reporting, Christopher's allegations do not appear to extend beyond accusing his sister of misspending his money. Christopher has acknowledged that he believes his sister was initially motivated by a "genuine desire" to help him.
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