My name is Clare, and I'm a retired millwright.
CLARE (VOICEOVER): Now as we approach the house,
I've left things go.
[music playing]
It's not very nice.
It's cluttered with magazines and books.
And I need to retrieve those things.
I'm Dean, and I'm Clare's son.
Police responded, came out, and he
figured he had the legal right to Baker Act her.
And he blamed me.
He said, how can you let your mother live like this?
He put me in the back of the squad car
and took me to Columbia Hospital.
CLARE (VOICEOVER): They told me at the hospital
it was for alcoholics and drug addicts.
And I did not fit that class, and they released me.
I'm allowed to return to my home each day
to clean and feed my animals.
Once I am done cleaning, I must leave.
DEAN: For my mom to get back inside the house,
the whole inside has to be cleaned up.
Bushes have to be cut down.
The pool needs to be cleaned out.
Yesterday, I picked up a certified letter
that stated I have 10 days to clean up everything.
If I don't get the house cleaned up,
the next time, he would take me to jail.
I'm Denise, and I'm Dean's girlfriend.
One of the neighbors has a nickname for her.
They call her Slumdog Millionaire,
because she has a beautiful home with a pool
and lives like she's in the slums.
In 2008, we were laid off due to the recession.
Dean is living with his girlfriend in the back
of my home in a shed.
It's hard living.
Hard doing laundry, hard keeping yourself clean.
DENISE (VOICEOVER): We have electricity back there,
so we have a TV.
We have a hot pot.
DENISE (VOICEOVER): In the bathroom, I use a bucket.
It's kind of like a chamber pot.
DEAN: I'm sick of living outside in the back
with those conditions.
CLARE (VOICEOVER): Dean gets very upset
when I do not clean the house.
DEAN: We end up to the point sometimes where we
stand and cuss at each other.
DENISE: She's not some little old lady
that you can push around.
She's the one who does the pushing around.
I do get angry when people throw away my things.
I truly need them.
My plan for the cleanup is to move back into the house.
If my mom decides not to proceed,
I'm going to go down to the courthouse
and have her declared incompetent
to take care of herself.
So one way or another, it's going to get cleaned up.
[music playing]
Good morning, everybody.
ALL: Hello.
We have a huge crew here.
My name is Matt Paxton.
I'm an extreme cleaning specialist.
We have a lot to do.
MATT PAXTON (VOICEOVER): It is a unique situation, where
if you get into the government system
and you don't comply with local code,
then something that was a molehill
does really become a mountain.
We got to get rid of a bunch of these trees.
We got to get rid of a bunch of junk.
We got to move some cars.
And then we got to go inside the house.
Basically, it just looks kind of-- a hurricane
came through the house, and they just never really
got the ambition to fix it.
We are going to say, yes, ma'am the entire day to you.
OK?
There's a reason for that.
We're going to get you back in the habit of being respected.
Everyone's going to say yes, ma'am.
It's not because you're old.
You are old, but it's not because you're old.
[laughter] All right?
It's because we appreciate you and respect you.
All right?
You ready to get going?
CLARE: Yeah. - All right.
Tell these guys.
Let's go, guys.
ALL: Yes, ma'am.
[chainsaw growling]
We had a backhoe.
We had a couple repo guys came in and took cars real quick.
Man, this was a big one.
We had to bring in the squad for this one.
The pool is pretty gross.
All right, so here it is.
This is the pool.
That's not a pool.
That's a pond.
Keep those, please.
They're new.
All right, ma'am.
That can go out.
Yes ma'am.
Before lunch, Clare was able to really
think about her decisions.
No, throw it out.
I'm Dr. Suzanne Chabaud, and I specialize
in obsessive compulsive disorder and hoarding syndrome.
And this looks like old candy.
You're doing fabulous.
Unfortunately, when she thinks too much, it slows her down.
But that's the way her brain works.
Please don't let them take down too much.
I mean, the palmettos?
Don't touch the palmettos, unless they're brown.
Here's the-- what they're doing is
what brings the house to code.
She's let this house go over 25 years,
and we're seeing that today.
That's to code. - Yeah.
I don't like that.
Well, that's how it's supposed to be.
Denise?
Can we invade your privacy a little bit?
Denise was very instrumental in trying to have two agendas met.
I won't take much of your time.
One was to have the house cleared so she would
have a place to live, and the other
was to bring health to Clare.
I believe once she got it kicked in motion, she pulled back.
Why are you staying away today?
A friend of mine called up, and I
did receive this job from her several weeks
ago to do a portrait.
She's bringing over the money and we need the money.
Are you going to be able to help out tomorrow?
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Absolutely.
SUZANNE CHABAUD: OK.
Absolutely.
I'm just going to chill out, get my head together,
do a little meditation, and tomorrow, I
should be back on track.
I put that out into the universe.
This whole family has just gotten
into this lazy Sunday syndrome.
And they just-- they've been coasting for 12 years.
We're going to focus straight ahead and to the left.
And remember, we're always looking for items to show her.
What have we got?
You've got my bra here.
- Oh. - Thank you.
Yes ma'am.
MATT PAXTON: Now that stuff's coming out of the house,
she's getting nervous.
Clare's just worried about everything being thrown away.
MATT PAXTON: Yeah, I would be, because a lot
is getting thrown away.
This is a very real, real situation.
We lose all these guys today.
SUZANNE CHABAUD: We have a half a day, really.
MATT PAXTON: We have six hours.
I picked out the one thing I knew that Dean wanted,
these five weed whackers.
And I let Clare know.
I said, look, you let Dean know I'm
throwing these away right now.
Dean?
Yo, Dean?
What do you want to do with those weed whackers?
They're ready to throw them away.
What do you want?
Not in 5 minutes, not in 10 minutes.
These are going in the trash unless he wants them.
Immediately, Dean shows up.
Where are the weed whackers at, mom?
He's pissed.
[muted] [inaudible] yeah, how's that?
We're happy to save them if you want them.
You just need to tell us.
CLARE: Here they are.
Dean, here they are.
Throw them the [muted] out.
Throw them out.
If that's what you're going to get every day,
every hour by hour, you don't know what's
going to happen, why would we want the house
to be totally cleaned so that they both could
move into the house with you?
If they're going to yell and scream at you.
That's not going to happen for you.
Am I going to move in there?
I don't know.
If my mom will have me.
Yeah, I'd like to stay close with her.
I don't think it would be good for you.
Whether you feel like you should or shouldn't, I just don't
think it would be good for you.
MATT PAXTON: What do you think?
CLARE: Oh boy.
A lot of stuff is missing.
CLARE: You're right.
MATT PAXTON: We have put a Band-Aid on a broken leg.
This is not going to go away.
Right now, I feel like you'd probably
rather go stay at a friend's house than stay here.
You're right.
[laughs]
Even with all the trash out, it still may be condemned.
We don't know.
CLARE: I believe I will have the property in order by the time
they plan the inspections.
MATT PAXTON: What do you think?
DEAN: Wow.
What do you think so far?
DEAN: I'm disappointed that my mom couldn't move back in.
I'm really excited because I just sold a portrait.
So unfortunately, I wasn't able to be as involved as I
would have liked to have been.
Clare and Dean both made it clear that we love each other.
We say that to each other every day.
But what is love?
Love requires work.
That love that takes courage and hard work to get in there,
deal with the problem, clean up the house--
that's where you see love manifested in real life.
[music playing]