House Oversight Presentation: APS, probate and a forensic review flag possible exploitation of conservatorship ward Roselyn Byrd

House legal counsel told the Michigan House Oversight Committee on Jan. 5 that multiple official reviews and a preliminary forensic accounting raised serious questions about how conservator Tracy Kornack handled the finances of her ward, the late Roselyn Byrd.

Catherine Edwards, a house central staff attorney, told the committee that by the time Adult Protective Services closed its two-year probe in May 2025 it had concluded that financial exploitation of Byrd was substantiated. "The Attorney General's office told APS that it should not take any action to help Miss Byrd, but should sit tight and do nothing," Edwards said while summarizing APS case notes and the agency's communications with the AG's office.

Why it matters: committee members said the findings matter because several independent reviews reached results very different from the Attorney General's office. Counsel presented four agency views: a preliminary Plante Moran accounting review that identified roughly $420,000 in questionable transactions; APS's substantiation of exploitation; Kent County law-enforcement recommendations for felony charges; and concerns recorded by the Allegan County probate court that led a judge to appoint a special fiduciary and order a back‑audit of a decade of filings.

Edwards and her colleague Casey Markarian told the…