NBCU Photo Bank via AP ImagesUPDATE: A judge decided against a conservatorship for the ailing Peter Falk, but has agreed to hear testimony May 27 before deciding whether to intervene on daughter Catherine's behalf.
Falk's adopted daughter claims the actor's wife, Shera, won't allow Catherine to visit her father. Catherine has withdrawn her petition to take over Falk's affairs, but has maintained that a conservatorship is the only way she'll be allowed to see him.
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Columbo can care for himself.
That's the word from the lawyer appointed by an L.A. judge to evaluate whether Peter Falk needed to be placed under a conservatorship controlled by his daughter, who has claimed the 81-year-old TV legend suffers from Alzheimer's disease and is unable to manage his personal and financial affairs.
In documents filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, attorney Clark R. Byam stated that he had met with Falk and described the four-time Emmy winner as having been "well dressed, clean and composed" during the visit. Byam said he didn't see any justification for Falk's daughter, Catherine, to assume custodial care over him.
Byam's report noted that a probate investigator also assigned to examine Falk's well-being recommended just the opposite—that he does in fact need a guardian to look after his affairs, hence the conservatorship.
A rep for the actor was unavailable for comment.
Opposing Catherine's attempt to pull a Jamie Spears, Falk's wife, Shera, previously filed her own court docs insisting her husband was "healthy and happy." Shera Falk insisted that Catherine had been estranged from her father for years and was making an end-around play for his money.
A judge will decide on Monday whether to grant Catherine Falk's conservatorship request.
(Originally published Feb. 20, 2009, at 10:45 a.m. PT)