FARMINGTON – An attorney for a couple in Germany and a Kentucky woman have appealed a Franklin County Superior Court decision regarding power of attorney for a deceased, wealthy, Phillips doctor.

Attorney Lee Bals, representing the John and Gudrun Stifel of Germany and Mary Wagner-Burkhardt of Kentucky, filed the appeal on Aug. 29 in Franklin County Superior Court, moving the case to the Maine Judicial Supreme Court.

Franklin County Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy ruled in August that the power of attorney granted by Dr. Margarete “Gretl” Hoch on Dec. 7, 2001 to Richard and Lorraine Chandler of Strong was valid and in full-force effect since that day, through and including the date of Hoch’s death on July 24 in Germany.

In 2004, Hoch’s wealth was estimated at $7 million with $1.8 million of the assets in the U.S., court documents show.

Murphy ordered that any powers of attorneys claimed to have been given by the former Phillips doctor to the Stifels or any other nominees or agents, as well as any purported revocations of the Chandlers’ power of attorney from Hoch, are invalid, void and without any legal effect. She also ordered the Stifels to pay out of their own funds nearly $27,000 to cover costs and disbursements for a contempt motion.

The Chandlers, close friends of Hoch, who practiced medicine in Maine for 40-plus years before moving back to Germany in 2004, filed a seven-count lawsuit in October 2007 against the Stifels, owners and operators of Naturhotel hessische Schweiz, a spa in Germany where Hoch had been staying prior to her death. Also named in the suit was Wagner-Burkhardt. The Chandlers’ suit claims that they found Hoch in poor condition and living in filth during an unannounced visit they made to the German spa in 2007.

Murphy entered a final judgment in August against the Stifels and in favor of the Chandlers, on two counts of the Chandlers’ lawsuit. Murphy also issued a permanent injunction against the Stifels.

Murphy’s judgment upheld the Chandlers’ power of attorney and permanently prohibits the Stifels from undertaking directly or through others any action to transfer or exercise control over any money assets and property of Hoch or her estate that are located in Maine.

Those assets, according to court documents, are left to charitable organizations in Maine.

Parallel court proceedings were ongoing in Germany as late as July.