Aubrey Preston, the son of Life Care Centers of America founder Forrest Preston.
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America’s largest privately-held nursing chain has been owned and run by the same person for more than five decades. Tennessee mogul Forrest Preston founded Life Care Centers of America in 1970 and built it into a juggernaut with over 200 locations in 27 states.
That all changed on Tuesday after a brief trial in Bradley County, Tennessee, which ended with the court finding the 91-year-old Preston to be mentally unfit to helm the $3 billion (revenue) business. Preston’s son, Aubrey, 65, who was named his father’s permanent conservator, has taken control of LCCA.
It was Aubrey who first sounded the alarm bells about his father last October. The billionaire’s son had alleged in explosive court filings that Forrest was being abused and robbed by his much younger wife and former caregiver, Kim Phuong Nguyen Preston, with the help of a top company executive. Aubrey alleged the pair had helped Kim steal resources from Life Care, endangering the business. Attorneys for both Kim and Preston have denied these claims, arguing the billionaire was being “well taken care of.”
A court-ordered examination of Forrest by doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center found the billionaire to have a “moderate to severe cognitive condition that affects his ability to manage his own affairs, property and healthcare needs,” according to a trial brief filed by Aubrey’s lawyer. The documents are under seal because they contain personal health information.
According to one person who was in the courtroom on Tuesday, the hearing lasted just 30 minutes before Bradley County Chancery Court Chancellor Jerry Bryant determined Forrest to be disabled under state law, and decided on Aubrey as his conservator.
“We’re grateful that the court looked at the facts of the situation and determined that a conservatorship is the right course of action to protect my father,” Aubrey said in a statement shared with Forbes. “This has been a difficult process, but it has always been about protecting Dad and helping him age with grace and dignity. This has also been about ensuring that Life Care and its sister company, Century Park, are protected for the future.”
Todd Fletcher, the president of Life Care Centers of America and one of the people who endorsed Aubrey to become Forrest’s conservator, described the business as embarking on a “new chapter.” “I’m honored to be part of this historic moment,” Fletcher said in a statement. “Forrest Preston hired me in 1990, and for that I will always be grateful.”
According to Forrest’s lawyer Bill Horton, Forrest chose not to testify at the trial “in order to avoid unnecessary tension and conflict.” Horton also said that collateral litigation involving Forrest’s wife, Kim, and her family was resolved with a confidential settlement. Prior to the Tuesday trial, Kim’s lawyers filed a response saying that if Forrest were found to be “disabled and in need of the court’s assistance,” she would not object to Aubrey’s appointment as his conservator.
Horton noted in an email to Forbes that the court “praised the remarkable legacy and record accomplishments of Forrest Preston as an icon in the elderly care industry… and commented that Aubrey had big shoes to fill.”
After the trial ended, Horton told McKnights Long-Term Care News that the elder Preston “accepts the end result.” “Any person who has, at that age, accomplished remarkable things, on his own, as sole owner, for years and decades and accomplished that much and is, I guess you might say, prideful of what he’s created, it’s hard for them to let go,” Horton said. “I would say he had some trepidation about it and reservations about it, but I think he accepts the end result and they’re the best results for the company and all concerned.
