Overseers Are Wrong

After eight months, the state of Wisconsin has finally released its report on Dane County's actions in a child protection case that ended in six-year-old Deshaunsay Sykes-Crowder being brutally murdered. Not surprisingly, the state found something to criticize in Dane County's handling of the case.

But not as much as it should have. While the state faulted Dane County for a few infractions, it ultimately concluded (in a line that was not part of earlier drafts): "It is impossible to predict what, if anything, could have resulted in a less tragic outcome."

The truth is there were plenty of big, red warning flags. Actions could and should have been taken to avoid the clear possibility that Deshaunsay Sykes would be harmed.

Full Article and Source:
A tear for Deshaunsay

See also:
Unfit Guardian?

Second Guessing

No-One's Policing the Police

"I do not trust an organisation that can hide everything inside its walls and under this legislation to say that substitute-decision making which seems to be the bellwether word in that organisation and in the Guardianship Board is the best thing, no it's not, it's not if no-one's policing the police, so to speak."

Source:
Error cost elderly man $19k, inquiry told

Adoption Support Checks

All Jennifer Lawson wants to do is take good care of two kids she assumed legal responsibility for two years ago. One of the ways she intended to do so seemed simple enough.

The kids' adoptive father had been charged with taking indecent liberties with a different child and she'd been named their legal guardian. So Lawson figured it'd be easy to transfer to her the adoption-support payments that the stepfather had been receiving through a program for people who adopt foster children.

She had the law on her side. Her stepfather, Vance Oxendine, was a convicted sex offender, and she had a strongly worded order awarding her sole custody of the kids, a girl who's now 11 and a boy who's now 7. She also had a judgment in hand that ordered Oxendine to pay $543 a month in child support. In her mind, it really shouldn't have been difficult to channel the adoption-support money to the kids.

If the courts can garnish someone's wages from a private employer, Lawson reasoned that one government agency surely could get another to transfer the payment of public money intended to support two kids who'd had a rough start in life. She figured wrong.

Not only did Oxendine ignore the child-support order -- he only made two payments before he went to prison in October 2007 for violating his probation -- but also the state continued to mail those adoption support checks. Somebody -- it's not clear who-- continued to cash them. And Lawson's children never saw a dime.

Because Oxendine refused to give up his parental rights, and a petition to terminate those rights had never been filed, he was still eligible for adoption-support payments.

Full Article and Source:
Money should be going to woman taking care of kids

Madonna Failed Adoption Bid

The controversy surrounding the attempt by Madonna to adopt a second child from an orphanage in Malawi brings to light the confusing situation in international adoption. On Friday, a judge in that nation rejected the singer's adoption request on the grounds that waiving an 18-month residency requirement would set a dangerous precedent. Madonna was granted such an exemption when she adopted a Malawian boy in 2006.

This is just another example of how the intricacies of each country's legal system, cultural mores and poverty level intersect with the guidelines of The Hague treaty on intercountry adoptions.

The result has been a decline in the number of orphans from developing countries being adopted by Americans. While adoptions become harder, the number of orphans grows, especially in Africa because of the tragedy of the AIDS crisis. Malawi has an estimated 1 million orphans, and untold numbers of orphans languish in other African countries as well as in Romania, Russia, China and Latin America.

Full Article and Source:
Madonna, Malawi and adoption madness

More information:
Madonna, who was seeking an interim adoption, appealed against a High Court decision refusing her bid to adopt a four-year-old girl named Mercy James. Malawian rights groups, who accused the government of skirting residency laws when Madonna adopted David Banda in 2006, also opposed the latest adoption attempt.They say celebrities should not be allowed to fly in and adopt children at will.
Madonna leaves Malawi after failed adoption bid

The adoption was denied by Judge Esme Chombo because Madonna had not met residency rules requiring adoptive parents to live in Malawi for 18 to 24 months. Madonna's lawyer, Alan Chinula, described the judgment as "incomprehensible", saying the court had approved her adoption of David Banda in 2006. He said they were appealing in Malawi's Supreme Court.
Madonna's hopes of adopting Mercy James are in limbo

Lawyer Appeals Judge's Demand

An attorney for John F. Pawloski, the lawyer accused by state regulators of misconduct in his role as guardian of disabled adults and administrator of deceased people's estates, has appealed a judge's demand he provide accounting for his use of money in three cases.

Van-Lear Eckert, Pawloski's attorney, cites his client's Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself in the cases.

On March 10, St. Clair County Associate Judge Stephen Rice gave Pawloski a month to file an accounting or be jailed. Rice said Pawloski has a duty, independent of his own rights, to provide the accounting.

Pawloski appealed Rice's decision to the Fifth District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon, and so the jail issue is now out of Rice's hands.

Full Article and Source:
Lawyer accused of misconduct in guardian case appeals judge's demand

See also:
Lawyer Given More Time

John Pawloski Case

Budget Cuts on Judicial Investigations

Georgia’s system for protecting its residents from rogue judges is in peril.

To balance this year’s budget, the General Assembly significantly cut public money for programs that administer judicial discipline and judicial training for the state’s 1,700 judges.

The cuts are impeding investigations of judges accused of corruption and limiting training for those who sit on the bench, including the hundreds of Georgia judges who are not attorneys.

Only after receiving a strongly worded letter last week from state Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears did the General Assembly decide against a Senate plan to wipe out virtually all state money for training judges.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission, which investigates complaints and punishes errant judges, is already one of the most slimly staffed in the nation. Commission members say they are now so short of money that they have halted some investigations.

Robert Ingram, a commission member "Right now, we have got judges who have serious charges against them that we can’t investigate."

Full Article and Source:
Policing of judges gets less funding

Grandparent-Rights Bill

Jacque Evanson had raised her grandchildren for seven years when her daughter came back into the picture. Though Evanson had guardianship, her daughter simply had to petition the court to regain custody of the three kids.

The judge "strongly recommended" the children get visitation with their grandmother. Then their mom moved them to her home in Washington state. Since then, Evanson has had minimal contact with them.

Though she ultimately wants the kids to be with their mother, Evanson feels like she also should have some rights after raising them for so many years. That's why she's visited the Capitol several times over the past few months to testify on behalf of the grandparent-rights bills presented at the 2009 Montana Legislature.

House Bill 397 establishes a close-relative registry so close relatives, such as grandparents, can sign up to be notified if the state removes a child from his or her home.

House Bill 403 asks the court to consider a child's need for continuity of care along with the other criteria when determining whether the child should be placed with someone other than a parent. The bill asks the court to look at whether the child will remain in the same area, continue at the same school and other such issues when making the judgment.

Full Article and Source:
Legislature considering a half-dozen grandparent bills

More information:
Thousands of Montana grandparents are raising their kids' kids, and it isn't easy

Judge Blocks Release

Former Burnett County resident Adam Hess, 23, was scheduled to be released from the Mendota Mental Health Institute this week.

However, on Wednesday, April 1, Judge James Babbitt blocked this release and ordered Burnett County's corporate counsel to petition for Chapter 55, protective placement and guardianship for Hess.

Hess was placed in Mendota Mental Health Institute after Judge Gableman accepted Hess’s plea of not guilty for reasons of insanity after he allegedly exposed himself to a girl in the public bathroom at Crooked Lake Park in 2002.

Source:
Judge blocks release of Hess

Public Corruption

In recent years, the number of public corruption cases investigated by the FBI has exploded, with 2,430 pending probes of public officials. That's nearly double the 1,300 cases in 2003.

And the FBI, which is already probing possible fraud at mortgage and other financial firms, believes corruption cases could rise further as billions of dollars in stimulus money is handed down from Washington to states and cities.

"While the FBI is surging to mortgage fraud investigations, our expectation is that economic crimes will continue to skyrocket," FBI Director Robert Mueller told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

"The unprecedented level of financial resources committed by the federal government to combat the economic downturn will lead to an inevitable increase in economic crime and public corruption cases," he said.

Courts have convicted more than 1,800 federal, state and local government officials on corruption charges in the last two years alone. Included in that number: 170 federal officials, 158 on the state level, 360 local officials and more than 365 police officers.

Like one police officer in Arkansas, caught on tape stealing money during a traffic stop of a suspected dealer.

Or Louisiana judge Alan Green, convicted of taking bribes. He was caught on camera in his office, accepting cash from a man saying he was "delivering on my promise" and recommending that he "put that away somewhere."

Green's response, as heard on the tape: "I appreciate it."

Government prosecutors pushed for a tough sentence for the former judge, writing in their sentencing memorandum that in exchange for the bribe money Green received, he "harmed innocent victims by releasing dangerous criminals" at the request of a corrupt bail bonds company.

A judge sentenced Green to four years and three months in prison.

Full Article and Source:
Caught on Tape: Bribes, Public Corruption

The Lost Children

As Spain heads towards the 70th anniversary of the end of the 1936-1939 civil war – questions are being asked over the fate of the children snatched from Republican families.

They were seized during the early years of General Francisco Franco's right-wing dictatorship that followed the conflict, which continues to divide Spanish society.

A 1940 decree allowed the state to take children into custody if their "moral education" was at risk.

Firm numbers are hard to come by due to the poor state of Spanish archives and a reluctance by the government, until recently, to probe the civil war era – which some historians estimate claimed as many as half a million lives on both sides – and its immediate aftermath.

But Casanova said up to 30,000 children were registered as being in state custody at some point during the 1940s and 1950s, raised mostly by religious orders.

Casanova: "All of these children under state guardianship were not stolen. But in certain cases they were kidnapped and illegally adopted, their identity was stolen and they were given to other families."

Full Article and Source:
Where are the ‘lost children’ of the Franco regime?

Elderly Set on Fire

TX - A 78-year-old Grand Prairie woman was set on fire after being sexually assaulted in her home Monday, police said.

The woman, who police did not identify, is at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where she is recovering from second-degree burns to her stomach and her chin, said Det. John Brimmer, a Grand Prairie police spokesman.

Investigators say they believe the man, described as in his mid-20s and weighing between 160 and 190 pounds, set the woman on fire after he poured rubbing alcohol on her chest.

Police said the man gained entry to the woman's home on Sunnyvale Road after he introduced himself as "Daniel," a 22-year-old from Chicago who was living in an area motel. He told her that he was doing a communication exercise that would help him get into college. He told her that the more people he talked to the more points her earned.

At some point during the conversation the man attacked her. After talking to several witnesses in the area, police say they believe he may have been selling magazines.

Police describe the man as black, between 6-feet and 6-feet-4-inches tall and wearing his hair in corn row-style braids. During the assault, he was wearing a white shirt and pants that were black, yellow and red.

Police are asking anyone with information about the case or who may have been contacted by a man fitting this description, to call Detective Tracy Hinson at 972-237-8777 or Crime Stoppers at 972-988-8477.

Source:
Elderly Grand Prairie woman raped, set on fire

Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act

The U.S. Senate has introduced a new bill to prevent people with criminal histories from working within long-term care settings by creating a comprehensive nationwide system of background checks.

Dubbed the “Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act,” the proposed legislation expands on a successful three-year pilot program authorized under the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act.

The pilot program prevented more than 7,000 applicants with a history of substantiated abuse or a violent criminal record from working in long-term care settings. It operated in Alaska, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin.

The bill calls for states to establish coordinated systems that include checks against abuse and neglect registries and a state police background check. It also adds a federal component to the background check process by screening applicants against the FBI’s national database of criminal history records.

The Senate legislation was introduced by Senator Herb Kohl, Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and Senator Susan Collins.

Full Article and Source:
Predators Target of New Senior Protection Law

Protective Care

A 70-year-old Grand Rapids woman accused of taking more than $20,000 from three adults in her care might have victimized more than 25 people, the Wood County corporation counsel said.

Myrna M. Trickey has her next court appearance scheduled for April 14. She previously pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of theft in a business setting. If convicted, she faces a maximum of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each count.

According to the criminal complaint, Trickey, who operated a business called Protective Care in Grand Rapids, was the court-appointed guardian for three adults described as at risk -- defined by state law as having a condition that substantially impairs the person. Her responsibilities included managing their money and handling their financial affairs.

Trickey wrote 67 checks, totaling more than $10,000, to herself on the account of one of her wards, according to the complaint. Authorities said she wrote 32 checks, totaling more than $10,000 on the second person's account and 27 checks, totaling $2,500, on the third person's account. The money was taken during a period of more than four years.

Full Article and Source:
Woman accused of stealing from dozens of clients

Caregiver Arrested for Fleecing

A woman accused of stealing more than $100,000 in money and jewelry from an elderly couple she was supposed to be taking care of got the couple to lend her much of the money, according to court records.

Daisy Lee Joubert has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of financial elder abuse, according to court records.

She was arrested March 25 on accusations she stole from Ileen and Norman Jonas, who live at the Sun City Palm Desert Community. They are in poor health and require around-the-clock care, according to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant.

Joubert is accused of forging checks on their bank account and took jewelry and other items from their home and pawned them.

Full Article and Source:
Woman arrested on suspicion of financial elder abuse of Sun City resident

More information:
Caretaker accused of fleecing $100K from senior couple

Ageism Bill

In an already tough economy, some say they're facing an extra hurdle in their quest for jobs. They're older, and they say potential employers often hold that against them.

During a hearing at the Indiana Statehouse, some of those workers testified about their struggles.

Jim Hand is 54, and an unemployed auto worker. Hal Goldman is 74, and looking for work as a business consultant. They've both been looking for work for months.

Goldman: "They would ask my age during the interview, and I refused to answer. They also asked me a question about how long I planned to work."

Hand: "It's awful. I mean, it's absolutely awful because I kind of feel like my future is slipping through my fingers."

Hand and Goldman each testified at the Statehouse in favor of a bill that would toughen the state's age discrimination law.

Paul Chase of AARP Indiana: "It would actually create a remedy. People right now have a right to bring a discrimination claim, but they don't have a remedy, a meaningful remedy. All the Indiana Department of Labor can do is issue a finding of fact that the discrimination occurred. But to a person who's been terminated or not been hired, it doesn't do anything to help them in terms of the economic damage that they may have suffered."

Full Article and Source:
Older workers lobby for ageism bill

More information:
Workers seek protection from age discrimination

Opponents knock age discrimination bill

Preying on the Elderly

TX - Police arrested a self-proclaimed gypsy they say conned an elderly couple out of thousands of dollars.

Police say Danny Groffo and his alleged accomplice, Kathleen Frank, convinced a west Houston couple to pay them $500 for some minor home repairs, but ended up bilking them out of $24,000. Frank, who also claims to be a gypsy, is still at large, investigators said.

District Attorney Valerie Turner: “They don’t steal with guns or with force; they steal with their brains and with their mouths. Their victims may be physically feeble, unable to take care of work around their house, and are more willing to trust folks. It’s sad.”

Turner said the original fee proposed by Groffo and Frank to fix cracks in the couple’s driveway and to power wash a fence was fair, but each day they kept jacking up the price. Plus, the work wasn’t getting done. “They raised the price by tens of thousands of dollars.”

The elderly couple said they were too afraid to get out of the deal because the suspects became aggressive and were scaring them.

One day, the suspects allegedly forced the woman of the house to withdraw $8,000 from her bank while they kept an eye on her from a Whataburger across the street.

“What is frustrating about this case is that the woman felt intimidated. She was shaking, she was nervous and she feared for her and her husband’s safety,” Turner said.

One of the last payments the couple made was with a $5,000 check, which ended up giving investigators a break in the case.

An investigator from HPD’s Major Offenders Division learned the $5,000 check was cashed inside a bar near the Hempstead Highway. That’s how police were able to identify the suspects.

Turner : “I am willing to bet there are other victims out there, and just like this couple, they are too embarrassed to report it to the police. Hopefully, by seeing this story, they’ll see that they weren’t the only ones that were taken advantage of.”

If you have information that can help police, call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Source:
Police arrest self-proclaimed gypsy accused of preying on the elderly

Dumping Grounds for Mentally Ill

Ivory Jackson had Alzheimer's, but that wasn't what killed him. At 77, he was smashed in the face with a clock radio as he lay in his nursing home bed.

Jackson's roommate - a mentally ill man nearly 30 years younger - was arrested and charged with the killing. Police found him sitting next to the nurse's station, blood on his hands, clothes and shoes. Inside their room, the ceiling was spattered with blood.

"Why didn't they do what they needed to do to protect my dad?" wondered Jackson's stepson, Russell Smith.

Over the past several years, nursing homes have become dumping grounds for young and middle-age people with mental illness, according to Associated Press interviews and an analysis of data from all 50 states. That has proved a prescription for violence, as Jackson's case and others across the country illustrate.

Full Article and Source:
VIEWPOINTS: Nursing homes dumping grounds for mentally ill

Some Money Returned - Investigation Continues

The state has returned donated money amounting to more than $27,000 that had been taken out of Jasper County wards’ accounts by Rita Hunter, former public administrator.

Gretchen Long, attorney for Angie Casavecchia, the new public administrator: “There is more coming.”

The office is working on the return of about $85,000 that was taken from wards’ accounts and sent to state health-care agencies in the last weeks of Hunter’s tenure at the end of last year.

Hunter also is the subject of an investigation that was launched after it was learned that all the wards’ records had been taken from the public administrator’s files, and that computer files on the wards had been erased before Casavecchia took over on Jan. 1. Hunter later returned about 30 boxes of files, and additional materials were taken from her house as a result of a search warrant.

Full Article and Source:
Some county wards’ money returned by state agencies

See also:
Probate Judge Orders Return of Money

Hunter Removed Client Files

Class Action Filed

Lawyer Permanently Disbarred

The Ohio Supreme Court has disbarred a Warren attorney who took money from clients.

In a 7-0 decision, the justices noted that George N. Kafantaris, “repeatedly misappropriated funds from two different clients, and incredibly, in one instance, continued taking those funds while under suspension. Respondent callously disregarded his client’s interests. Furthermore, his actions show disrespect for the judicial system as a whole.”

The decision lined up with the state’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, which earlier recommended Kafantaris be disbarred permanently for misappropriating funds from two clients and for filing a false affidavit, according to documents.

Full Article and Source:
Top Ohio court disbars attorney permanently

Mother of Guardian Lied

Diane Merrifield, the mother of a man convicted of sexually molesting and murdering his girlfriend's 2-year-old child, lied to a Child Protective Services investigator who was trying to locate Logan Goodall days before his 2005 death.

The revelation came during a pretrial hearing in the civil lawsuit filed by Jeremy Goodall, Logan's father, against the state Department of Health and Human Resources and Diane Merrifield. Dr. John Merrifield, Diane's husband and father of Michael Merrifield, was also named in the lawsuit, but he settled with Logan's estate for $775,000 in November 2007.

A Putnam County jury in January 2008 convicted Michael Merrifield of first-degree murder, child neglect resulting in death, and sexual abuse by a guardian. He is serving a life sentence without the chance of parole at Mount Olive.

Logan Goodall died on Sept. 6, 2005, of injuries that were consistent with repeated physical and sexual assaults, the state medical examiner's autopsy concluded.

In April 2008, John Merrifield pleaded no contest to gross neglect creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death and was sentenced to five years on home confinement.

Full Article and Source:
Merrifield's mother lied to CPS just days before Logan's death

Ten Years of Financial Abuse

Leroy Newton, Erna's only child, is an investment banker in California. Erna trusted his knowledge and advice. The next thing she knew, her house, her stocks and all her worldly goods were the property of her son. Far before her death.

She appealed his creation of a trust that kept her from accessing her own money, and she won.

She changed her house back into her name, and waited for her other assets to be returned.

Sadly, there was a lack of follow through by the Clackamas County Oregon lower court, "administrative neglect" it's called. The court documents from Erna's "win" were never filed, and therefore left her son a window to finalize his takeover.

When Erna learned of this mishap, she appealed to the court to uphold the decision in her favor, and she was denied. Next, a trustee was assigned to Erna's inheritance without her ever being declared "Incompetent".

Eight years later, now recovering from a stroke, Erna has spent herself into debt defending her right to her own property. Her son has fought her all the way.

Finally, in November of 2007, the Oregon State of Appeals court agreed to allow the documents to be submitted, and the case revisited.

Erna filed the paperwork in January 2008 and her son's attorney drug his feet in responding, receiving two extensions after defaulting, and even missing the extension deadline by three days. His paperwork was accepted, nonetheless.

Erna's a survivor, and she's vowed not to let her son get the best of her. She intends to see justice served.

Full Article and Source:
Elderly Woman Suffering Ten Years of Financial Abuse Looks for Justice

Police Officer Training

As cases of abuse and exploitation against elderly residents continue to increase, Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell hopes further police training can help.

About 40 police officers from departments throughout the county will take part in a school sponsored by the Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Team.

Pickell: "The training is to provide information and strategies to more effectively identify elder abuse."

In the first two months of this year, Pickell said there were 27 felony warrants against people for elder abuse.

In two recent cases in the same Flint Township neighborhood, two men were charged with neglecting the elderly women in their care.

Full Article and Source:
Training to help police identify elder abuse

New Charges Against Buonomo

John Buonomo, the former Middlesex Register of Probate who resigned last year after allegedly stealing office funds, faces new charges of funneling more than $100,000 of his campaign finance money for personal use.

Buonomo, 57, a Somerville politician who has been living in Newton, was indicted by a Middlesex Superior Court jury yesterday on charges of larceny, personal use of campaign funds, and willfully misleading investigators. He is slated to be arraigned at a later date.

Full Article and Source:
Former Middlesex register of probate faces additional charges

More information:
John Buonomo indicted in campaign cash theft

Frmr Middlesex Probate Charged With Stealing Again

Former Middlesex Register of Probate Indicted in Connection with Allegedly Stealing over $100,000 from Campaign Committee

See also:
Register of Probate Indictment

Probate Farce

Suit Filed Against Extendicare

The sister of a woman, whose tracheal tube clogged with mucous causing oxygen loss and brain damage while she was a resident of Extendicare's Aldercrest Health & Rehabilitation Center in Edmonds, Wash., has filed suit.

The action is being taken after a federal district court judge dismissed a class action lawsuit filed against Extendicare Health Services, Inc.; Extendicare Homes, Inc.; and Fir Lane Terrace Convalescent Hospital and 15 Washington Extendicare facilities, (collectively referred to as Extendicare), on a procedural basis as opposed to allowing the jury to rule on the actual merits of the class action complaint.

Seattle elder abuse lawyer Kevin Coluccio of Stritmatter: "It is important to note that the court did not rule that the conduct alleged in the class action was not occurring, but rather simply that it could not be redressed via the class action mechanism. But we will seek justice for Lea Ann in the courts of Washington State."

Full Article and Source:
Elder Abuse Complaint Filed Against Extendicare

See also:
Lawsuit Thrown Out

Judicial Campaigns

By Sharon Male - PARADE Magazine

From 2000 to 2007, some $167 million was spent on judicial campaigns—more than twice as much as in the entire previous decade. Now, advocates of judicial reform are worried that the influx of special-interest money is getting in the way of citizens’ rights to a fair trial. “If you were in court and found out that your opponent was one of the biggest contributors to the judge, would you be happy?” asks Charles W. Hall of Justice at Stake, a nonpartisan group that advocates for judicial reforms. “I think almost all Americans would say, ‘I want a different judge.’”

In West Virginia in 2004, the CEO of a coal company spent $3 million to help Brent D. Benjamin’s judicial campaign. When the company had a case before the court, Benjamin declined to recuse himself—to step aside—and instead cast a deciding vote in favor of the CEO’s company. The case has worked its way up to the Supreme Court, which is expected to make a ruling this spring. Meanwhile, jurists and legal scholars across the country are locked in debate. One group of state supreme court justices argued in a legal brief that the “strong presumption of integrity” of elected judges should override apparent conflicts of interest. But others say that the current system undermines the public’s faith in the integrity of the court.

Source:
Can Judges Be Bought?

Hearsay as Evidence

UPC Takes Effect July 1

A new law will take effect in Massachusetts on July 1 relative to guardianships. This issue has been debated and discussed for more than 20 years, and this law is intended to create uniformity among all states across the country; 13 states enacted the law in 2008.

Until now, in Massachusetts, most issues regarding the administration and legal requirements of guardianships were decided on a case-by-case basis. The new law is more than 100 pages long, and one article applies primarily to the protection of disabled people and their property.

Over the past year, changes have been made to both the ‘petition for guardianship of a person’ and the medical certificate required to be filed with the court for a finding of incapacitation.

The court has redefined the requirements to determine that a person is incapacitated when they are unable to attend to their own affairs and are in need of a guardian. In addition, some of the terminology that was utilized for many years is now going to be changed. As an example, in the past, a person who was determined by the court to be incapacitated was referred to as a ‘ward.’ This term is now reserved solely for the guardianship of a minor. Any other person who needs a guardian is determined as an ‘incapacitated person,’ a ‘person in need of services,’ or a ‘protective person.’ Court personnel, attorneys, and the public will have to learn the new terminology as well as, potentially, new forms, procedures, and standards.

Full Article and Source:
The Uniform Probate Code - Enhanced Protection Available for Those Needing Guardianship

More information:
Massachusetts Adopts Uniform Probate Code

See also:
Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code

Probate Reform After 20 Years

Surety Firms Stall Reform

Dangerous Guardianship Petition