WASHINGTON -- The results of an investigation that uncovers serious trouble in D.C.'s probate system were published in Sunday's Washington Post.

The paper reports hundreds of court-appointed attorneys have misspent, lost and stolen clients' money up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.

The Post reviewed 10 years of dockets and files in superior court's probate division. It handles more than 2,000 cases involving mentally ill, disabled, and elderly residents. Post reporter Carol Leonnig says the investigation found that many attorneys didn't visit their clients and failed to give the court status reports. She also wrote that judges routinely reappointed attorneys who they knew mismanaged cases.

The Post report features the story of Geraldine Harrison, a substitute teacher at Washington Career High School who died in 2000, her family says, after being kicked out of a nursing home because her attorney didn't pay the bill. Her family says the court ignored years of complaints about the attorney.