Matter of REH

── Matter of REH ── Court: Colorado Court of Appeals Date: May 21, 2026 Category: General 25CA0331 Matter of REH 05-21-2026 COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS Court of Appeals No. 25CA0331 Kit Carson County District Court No. 21PR30024 Honorable Justin B. Haenlein, Judge In the Matter of R.E.H., Ward, Melissa Carlson, Appellant, v. R.E.H.; Theresa Lambert; and Felicia Hielscher, Appellees. ORDERS AFFIRMED Division III Opinion by JUDGE KUHN Dunn and Lipinsky, JJ., concur NOT PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO C.A.R. 35(e) Announced May 21, 2026 Melissa Carlson, Pro Se Randa Davis-Tice, Guardian Ad Litem, for R.E.H. Theresa Lambert, Pro Se Felicia Hielscher, Pro Se ¶1 In this guardianship case, former guardian, Melissa Carlson, appeals the district court’s orders denying her motion to relocate the ward, R.E.H.; removing her as guardian; and establishing a schedule for visits with R.E.H. We affirm. I. Background ¶2 R.E.H. is an at-risk adult with a developmental disability. For more than thirty years, R.E.H. has been a full-time resident of an assisted living facility. ¶3 In July 2021, Carlson, who is R.E.H.’s sister, filed a petition to be appointed as R.E.H.’s emergency guardian. The district court granted the motion to ensure that R.E.H.’s “best interests, safety, and medical issues [were] being advanced.” Felicia Hielscher,1 who is R.E.H.’s half-sister, later objected to Carlson’s petition and claimed that Carlson provided the court with “information that was not true about the relationship between Felicia and [R.E.H.]” to support Carlson’s appointment as emergency guardian. 1 To avoid confusion between those who share a last name, we will refer to Felicia Hielscher by her first name. We do not mean any disrespect by doing so. 1 ¶4 The district court scheduled a hearing to determine R.E.H.’s guardianship for November 8, 2021 — the date Carlson’s emergency guardianship expired. ¶5 At that hearing, Carlson alleged that Felicia mistreated R.E.H. and asked that he be “protected from her.” After considering several witnesses’ testimony, the district court appointed Carlson as R.E.H.’s permanent guardian. ¶6 In 2024, Carlson filed a motion to relocate R.E.H. to Grand Junction. Carlson claimed that, if he lived in Grand Junction, R.E.H. would be close to family and “would have a nicer and cleaner living environment” than he had at the assisted living facility. The assisted living facility objected to Carlson’s motion as an interested party. It claimed that R.E.H. was a “beloved member of the community,” and that he was “unfairly caught in the middle of a family dispute between two sisters who are fighting for control and not always focused on [R.E.H.] and [his] best interest.” ¶7 Felicia and Theresa Lambert, who is R.E.H.’s mother, also objected to Carlson’s motion. They claimed that R.E.H. “has come very far” at the assisted living facility and that Burlington is his “safe haven” and a place that he has called home for thirty-six 2  years. Felicia then filed a motion to appoint a guardian ad litem for R.E.H., and Lambert filed a motion to set a visitation schedule. Carlson objected to both motions. ¶8 The court ultimately appointed Randa Davis-Tice, an attorney in Lamar, as R.E.H.’s guardian ad litem. The district court scheduled a hearing to address Carlson’s motion to relocate and Lambert’s motion to set visitation. ¶9 Before the hearing, Felicia and Lambert filed an emergency motion to remove Carlson as R.E.H.’s guardian. The district court scheduled that motion to be heard alongside the other two motions at the hearing. ¶ 10 After the hearing on all three motions, the district court issued an order on October 17, 2024. The court den