Michael Dribin, the attorney for the court-appointed curator of Ronnie's estate, argued that the issue in the case "is the integrity of the legal system.

At the opening of an often-acrimonious contempt hearing, the lawyer for the court-appointed curator of Ronnie DeSillers's estate said Ms. DeSillers's fate was in her own hands.

The judge, Francis Christie, of Dade County Probate Court, granted a request from lawyers for a court-appointed curator of the estate of Ronnie DeSillers, who died in April 1987 at the age of 7.