The afternoon light filtered through the window of the modest bungalow in southeast Calgary as Margaret Henderson sat across from her husband Richard, both of them staring at the letter that had arrived by registered mail earlier that day. Richard's left hand trembled slightly—a lasting reminder of the stroke he had suffered eight months prior—as he held the document that would reshape their understanding of guardianship responsibilities. The letter, bearing the letterhead of a law firm representing the owners of the community soup kitchen that had burned down three weeks earlier, outlined a claim for property damage exceeding four hundred thousand dollars. The claim named their ward, David, a forty-three-year-old man with an intellectual disability for whom they had served as guardians for over two decades. The letter also suggested that Margaret and Richard, as David's legal guardians, might bear some responsibility for the incident. As Margaret reached for her reading glasses, her oncologist's words from the previous week echoed in her mind—the cancer had spread, and the treatment would be aggressive. The couple now faced not only their personal health battles but also a legal claim that threatened to upend the careful arrangements they had maintained for David throughout their guardianship.