TN: Senate Committee Completed Review of Judicial Discipline Process

Lawmakers are poised to consider sweeping changes to the Court of the Judiciary, the 16-member body that investigates and disciplines Tennessee judges.

Members of a state Senate committee appointed to study the Court of the Judiciary want more of the disciplinary panel's work made public.

Of 344 complaints leveled against Tennessee judges last year, only one resulted in a public reprimand, according to the court's most recent annual report. Most of the Court of the Judiciary's work is conducted in private.

Some lawmakers also want the Tennessee Supreme Court stripped of its authority to appoint 10 of the Court of the Judiciary's members. Three other members are appointed by the Tennessee Bar Association, and the remaining three are chosen by the governor, speaker of the House and speaker of the Senate.

The Senate committee completed its review Thursday. Legislation is expected to be submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee when the General Assembly meets in 2011.
Tennessee is not alone in handling judicial complaints privately. Thirty-three other states keep complaints against judges private unless formal charges are filed after an investigation, according to the American Judicature Society.

Oregon is the only state that makes judicial complaints and investigations public from start to finish.

Full Article and Source:
TN Lawmakers Consider Making Discipline of Judges Public

See Also:
TN: Judicial Dicipline Walks Tight Line

UnCivil Committment

Danny Tate was led away in handcuffs and committed to the lockdown unit at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital the first time he ever set foot in Randy Kennedy’s court. No crime, no proof of danger to himself or anyone else, no evidence of an emergency, no “clear and convincing evidence”, an “expert witness”, Dr. William Kenner, who is a child psychiatrist and unqualified to testify, yet his completely deficient medical report led to the involuntary commitment. It defied reason by observers. It defied sanity.

Though Tate requested an attorney, Kennedy denied this request and ordered the “trial by surprise” to proceed. It was a rigged court, a booby trap. The law was ignored which is often the case in the 7th Circuit Court. Due process was trampled upon. It was the condensed version of Kafka meets “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.

It makes any reasonable person wonder how many wards are out there, locked away, far away, stripped of all rights, with no chance of ever escaping the conservatorship prison and never to be heard from again. Judge Kennedy regularly announces “there are more conservatorships in this court than any other court in the state”. No doubt, this could easily be true considering the ease that an unsuspecting individual can be thrown into this hell hole in this court. It’s madness turned inside out.

Source:
Impeach Randy Kennedy's Blog - UnCivil Committment

Victim Allegedly Joins Scammers

They preyed on the elderly -- often by trolling obituaries for new widows or widowers -- and enticed them into believing they'd won a lottery but needed to pay the tax on their winnings to claim them.

Thomas Murphy, 68, a retired principal, teacher and coach from Henderson, Minn., started as a victim. Then, police say, he joined the scam in a failed attempt to try to recoup his losses.

Authorities allege that Murphy, a widower with two master's degrees and no criminal record, eventually helped bilk elderly strangers out of more than $800,000. He worked at it for more than a year, and when police came to arrest him, he had $10,000 in his freezer, according to case documents.

Bill White, a special agent with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, said Murphy's own victimization is thin justification for what he is alleged to have done.

"You're a criminal now. You're not a schmuck," White said. "Just because you feel like you're a victim, you can't victimize other people."

Full Article and Source:
Once a Victim, Retiree Allegedly Joins Scammers to Bilk Others

Mental Health Association of Connecticut Weighs In on Gross v. Rell

At the recommendation of its Public Policy Committee, on May 12, 2010, the MHAC board of directors unanimously passed a resolution to sign on as a friend of the court in the case of Gross v. Rell.

In a striking miscarriage of justice, Daniel Gross, an 86 year old New York man, hospitalized with cellulitis while visiting his daughter in Waterbury, was appointed a conservator by the probate court, without his permission, or even his presence in the courtroom. Mr. Gross was locked in a nursing home for ten months by this court-appointed conservator while his family bickered over who should have control over his assets.

This case is important for all persons with disabilities, especially psychiatric disabilities, because the duty owed by the attorney to the person represented, including those being subjected to a competency hearing, is the same as it would be to any other client. It appears not all officers of the court are quite on board with this concept yet.

Under Connecticut practice, lawyers should abide by their clients’ decisions concerning the objectives of representation, yet right now lawyers, court-appointed conservators, and even nursing homes have immunity from this practice. The purpose of this lawsuit is to hold the people with such great power and authority over other people’s lives accountable for their actions and put an end to that immunity. Court appointed conservators and/or attorneys will have to represent their clients with disabilities with the same amount of enthusiasm and responsibility as their clients without disabilities.

The conservatorship was eventually overturned and Mr. Gross went home to live in New York, but the slipshod, under-regulated probate court system is still exactly as it was when Mr. Gross was unwillingly dragged into it. This must not continue.

Source:
Rock the Boat

See Also:
Read Gross v. Rell, No. 08-2626

Rhode Island Lawyer Charged With Professional Misconduct

The state official who investigates alleged misconduct by lawyers has charged former Johnston Town Solicitor Milan T. Azar with violating three rules of professional conduct.

Azar is accused of deliberately overbilling the state Department of Children, Youth and Families for a guardianship, lying about it to the DCYF and to the chief disciplinary counsel of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and improperly soliciting clients.

Azar has denied the bulk of the case. But in a formal answer to the charges, he admitted that he submitted to the DCYF the bills that are under scrutiny, and that he falsely blamed a helper for the initial submission.

The charge has been made by David D. Curtin, chief disciplinary counsel, and will be considered at a hearing by a three-member subcommittee of the Supreme Court’s disciplinary hearing board, composed of two lawyers and one public member who is not a lawyer. The hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Full Article and Source:
Johnston Lawyer Accused of Professional Misconduct

NASGA Advocate Tom Fields Comments on Ohio Aging Summit

The goal of the Aging Summit held last week in Columbus was to foster more interagency collaboration to enhance the safety and well-being of older Ohioans.

The topic of elder abuse, growing across the nation, is close to the heart of one Ohio advocate from Mentor who spoke to CGE on it.

Tom Fields has become an outspoken advocate for a protocol he says would do much to stop the growing scourge of abusing the elder when they are at their weakest. Fields' interest in helping the elder fend away lawyers and others who are more like vultures than angels came about through a sequence of events related to his father. Fueled by his experience with his father, Fields offered an ABC News 20/20 video that shows what can happen when a lawyer and beneficiaries present a new will to a sick, elderly women in her hospital bed and ask her to "make her mark."

The short video shows Mary Ellen Bendtsen, 88, a wealthy elderly woman in Dallas who was not mentally competent to sign a new will presented to her, sign it anyway.

Fields argues that the video demonstrates a need for a good protocol that not only makes clear what questions need to be asked but who should ask these questions, how and when an interview should be conducted and how the answers to these questions should decide the validity of the document in question.

If a protocol he has asked the Ohio Elder Abuse Commission (OEC) to consider with regard to wills, deeds, trusts, power of attorney and other financial and legal documents existed, Fields says the attorney in the ABC video could have used it as an argument for why he shouldn't have been disbarred and indicted on criminal charges, as happened.

"It is in the interest of all legitimate parties that such a protocol be required under circumstances like that captured in this video report," Fields wrote in an email to CGE about a public comment he made to OEC a year ago September that asked the OEC and others "to develop and require a reliable protocol for use in circumstances like that confronted by the 20/20 report."

Fields told CGE that such a protocol would provide safeguards against attempts by person who exert undue influence over a testator to incorporate professionals such as doctors, lawyers, or accountants into their efforts to control the individual.

Fields points to reports by the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse as proof of the growing scope of the problem. He report that he has received "promising initial responses from some lawmakers to my phone calls and e-mails," but cautions that "I understand that these responses are only preliminary and at this point do little more than demonstrate good intentions."

Full Article and Source:
Ohio Aging Summit Speaks to Elder Abuse, Advocates Call for New Protocol

See Also:
NASGA Affiliate Tom Fields Addresses Ohio Elder Abuse Commission

OH: Screening for Judicial Posts Under Fire

One of the judges Gov. Ted Strickland appointed to the Cuyahoga County bench was arrested in September as part of a federal probe into wide-ranging political corruption among Cleveland-area officials.

Another Strickland-appointed judge, in Franklin County, is confronting tough ethics questions about appointing family members to jobs despite rules against nepotism.

Both Judge Steven J. Terry of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and Judge Alan S. Acker of Franklin County Probate Court were vetted by a panel that Strickland established shortly after taking office in January 2007. The Ohio Judicial Appointments Recommendation Panel was one of Strickland's signature initiatives "to restore trust and integrity in Ohio's government" when the Democratic governor took office after Republican scandals.

Strickland's aides say Terry and Acker are isolated cases among the dozens of judges the governor has appointed to vacancies since 2007. The vetting panel is doing its job, Strickland's office insists.

"With only two of the nearly 50 appointments generating headlines beyond their cases, it seems unwarranted to blame a system that has worked well and is far better than the Republican patronage selection process," Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said in a statement.

Full Article and Source:
Screening for Judicial Posts Under Fire

GAO Releases Guardianship Study Report

Some court-appointed guardians for incapacitated seniors are not screened before they're appointed, and many are not monitored by the courts after they've taken over the affairs of their charges, resulting in hundreds of allegations of abuse, a federal probe found.

An investigation by the Government Accountability Office found allegations of abuse by legal guardians in 45 states and the District of Columbia, according to an advance copy of the report obtained by CNN. The report is scheduled to be released Wednesday.

In 20 cases studied by the office in which criminal or civil penalties resulted, investigators found that guardians stole at least $5.4 million in assets from 158 victims, the report said. In some instances, these same guardians abused or physically neglected the people they were supposed to help and protect.

In six of the 20 cases examined, the courts failed to screen guardians before giving them control over the financial affairs and care of their wards, the federal agency found. In one case in Missouri, a former taxi driver and convicted bank robber was appointed the legal guardian of a wealthy customer who had no family. As the elderly man developed Alzheimer's disease, his guardian stole more than $640,000 from him, writing checks out of the victim's estate to pay for exotic dancers and a new Hummer, court records show.

In Arizona, an 80-year-old woman's niece was appointed guardian of her wealth and well-being, despite having declared bankruptcy twice and being arrested numerous times for writing bad checks, according to court documents cited in the GAO probe. The elderly woman's attorney had objected to the appointment, saying the two were not close, but the court disregarded the protest. In the end, the niece misappropriated more than $150,000 from her aunt's estate, court records show.

A certified professional guardian failed to visit one of her wards for eight months, according to documents from a case in the state of Washington. The same guardian was then appointed to oversee another elderly person's estate, despite having $87,000 in tax liens filed against her.

Courts failed to oversee the conduct of appointed guardians in 12 of the 20 cases studied in the federal investigation, therefore allowing the abuse and financial exploitation to continue unobserved, sometimes for years, the federal report said.

It cited the case of a couple in Kansas who ran an unlicensed group home for mentally ill adults. The husband became the guardian of a 50-year-old female patient, allowing the couple to steal $250,000 from the woman, court documents show.

"In addition, they forced her and other residents to perform sexual acts for almost two decades as part of the fraudulent therapy treatment that they billed to Medicare, a federal court and jury found," according to the federal report.

The abuse was discovered when children on a school bus reported seeing naked people working on the farm, the GAO report said.

"At the husband's sentencing, the judge compared conditions at the house to those of a third world prison, and concluded at the wife's sentencing that '...but for the sighting by the children on the school bus, I am firmly convinced that [the group home] would be in business today,'" the report said.

Federal investigators also tested guardian certification required in a handful of states. To test to see whether this certification process would deter criminal-minded guardians from entering the system, investigators applied for the certification in Illinois, Nevada, New York and North Carolina. None of these states checked the undercover investigators' credit, nor did they validate their Social Security numbers to confirm their identities.

The GAO report was requested by the Senate Special Committee on Aging, chaired by Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin. The committee says its next steps will be to consider federal legislation that will help state court systems improve their training of guardians, judges and legal personnel who handle adult guardianship cases.

The committee is also considering legislation that would help reduce fraud by unscrupulous guardians who receive the Social Security and veterans' benefits of incapacitated beneficiaries.

Note: This article is shown in its entirety:
Source:
Probe Shows Court-Appointed Guardians Often Not Screened or Monitored,by Jen Christensen, CNN

See Also:
Read the GAO Report: GUARDIANSHIPS: Cases of Financial Exploitation, Neglect, and Abuse of Seniors

Judge Rules Lindsay Ellis Unbiased in Probate Case

A Superior Court judge has ruled that a probate commissioner acted unethically but there's no evidence she was biased -- not even when she communicated with only one set of lawyers in the Marie Long case, the side that wound up with most of the old lady's money.

However, the judge also found that the supposedly unbiased commissioner, Lindsay Ellis, deprived Marie of a fair trial when she improperly came out of retirement and approved a $233,000 legal bill submitted by one of her forbidden e-mail buddies, attorney Brenda Church.

If you just said, huh?, you're not alone.

Full Article and Source:
Judge: Ellis Unbiased in Probate Case

See Also:
Read the Ruling of 10/25/10

Iowa: 87-Year-Old Judge Ruth Klotz

My mom isn't allowed to vote. Judge Klotz took that right away from her on November 4, 2008.

NOW, it is YOUR turn to speak for her and tell Judge Klotz to go and seek employment elsewhere!

Source:
Facebook: Vote NO on Judge Ruth Klotz

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At age 87, Ruth Klotz is the oldest judge in Iowa — and the only one who wasn't required to retire in her 70s.

She's on this fall's general election ballot for another six-year term, which would allow her to serve until age 94. As an associate probate judge, she rules on children's guardianships, elderly affairs, contested wills and other probate cases.

Klotz is almost universally well-liked and respected by the lawyers who appear regularly in her Polk County courtroom. But some Iowans question whether the state lawmakers who exempted her from mandatory retirement laws meant for her to be on the bench this long.

A small but vocal set of Iowans is campaigning against Klotz, mainly on the Internet. A "Vote No on Judge Ruth Klotz" Facebook page has 62 supporters. Most cite concerns that Klotz is too quick to strip elderly or disabled Iowans of their civil rights by granting emergency orders that give state officials all authority over their lives.

Full Article and Source:
87-Year-Old Judge is on Ballot, How Old is Too Old for the Job?

CT: Accountant Charged With Mail and Wire Fraud and Money Laundering

A federal magistrate released Norwich accountant F. Robert LaSaracina on $500,000 bond this morning [10/20] after he was presented in U.S. District Court on federal charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

LaSaracina has been charged in state Probate Court of defrauding a family estate of millions of dollars and is named in a number of Superior Court suits by plaintiffs who allege he has defrauded them by taking money for purported investments.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is charging him with devising and executing a scheme to obtain monety and property from victms for his personal and business expenses.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez ordered LaSaracina to surrender his passport by noon Friday; restricted him to Connecticut; ordered him to avoid contact with any person who might become a witness for the prosecution and anyone who has invested money with him; and directed him to refrain from excessive use of alcohol and drugs.

Full Article and Source:
Feds Charge LaSaracina With Fraud, Money Laundering

Ruling in the Marie Long Case

A probate commissioner acted unethically and she violated the rules, but she did nothing wrong in the case of the old lady who went into probate court worth $1.3 million and five years later was penniless, according to a ruling released Monday morning.

Based on a quick read of the 11-page ruling, Marie Long lost the overall question of whether she was treated fairly during her five-year foray through Maricopa County Superior Court's probate division. But she won a new trial on the most outrageous of issues: the $233,000 charged by attorney Brenda Church and her firm, Frazer, Ryan, Goldberg & Arnold, for 11 months of work last year.

In all, Superior Court Judge Robert Budoff found that Commissioner Lindsay Ellis violated the Code of Judicial Conduct of the Arizona Supreme Court when she e-mailed a draft copy of her ruling in the Long case only to certain attorneys – the ones who wound up with (or their clients wound up with) much of her cash. But that “ex-parte communication”, while inappropriate, isn’t enough to show that Ellis was biased, he wrote.

“The ex parte communication occurred after the trial and after the ruling had actually been prepared, and the only change that had occurred as a result of the improper ex parte communication was immaterial to the substance of the ruling itself,” he wrote. “The fact that the lawyers who were in receipt of the ex parte communication did not disclose it for two months, and the fact that the judge never disclosed it, apparently, until after it was brought to the attention of other judicial officers, after the fact, is inconsequential to the substance of the ruling itself regardless of whether or not counsel and the Judge may have violated any of their ethical obligations.”

Budoff found that the other ex parte communications “were only related to scheduling issues and are inconsequential.”

Overall, Budoff found there was no evidence that Ellis was biased and that she properly approved hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees charged by the Sun Valley Group. He dismissed complaints that Sun Valley was self dealing by both acting as guardian and providing care because the guardian ad litem, Brian Theut, and Long’s court-appointed attorney, Jon Kitchel, “arguably acceded” to Sun Valley providing care while Marie was still living at home. Apparently, the Supreme Court rules prohibiting such conduct don’t matter. The judge never even mentioned them.

Full Article and Source:
Judge: Probate Judge Acted Unethically but She Wasn't Biased Against Old Lady

DeKalb Co DA Candidate was Suspended by State Bar

One of DeKalb County’s two candidates for district attorney has been suspended twice by the State Bar of Georgia.

Decatur attorney Constance Pinson Heard is running against former DeKalb Solicitor-General Robert James.

The two are competing for the seat vacated by Gwen Keyes Fleming, who resigned last month to become a regional administrator with the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution show Heard was suspended twice for violating State Bar standards. James has no complaints with the Bar, according to its records.

The state Supreme Court found Heard guilty of three Bar standards: dishonesty and fraud; willful abandonment to the detriment of her clients; and commingling clients’ funds with her own.

The director of the National Institute for Teaching Ethics & Professionalism, who is not involved in the DeKalb race, said he would be concerned about any lawyer who violated those specific standards.

“I have no hesitation in saying that someone who has been suspended for violating [these standards] should not be a candidate for district attorney.” said Clark D. Cunningham, who also teaches law and ethics at the Georgia State University College of Law.

Full Article and Source:
DeKalb DA Candidate was Suspended by State Bar

Harris County Probate Judges Award More Fees Than Anywhere in TX

Judges here award more than anywhere else in Texas — $302,081 in one case, so far — to attorneys they pick

Harris County probate judges handed out $8.5 million in fees in one year — far more than any other county in Texas — to private, hand-picked lawyers and others tasked with managing the estates of the dead and the lives of the disabled.

County court-at-law judges kicked in another $800,000.

One probate judge has approved payments of $302,081 so far to attorneys involved in a single case: a legal dispute that dates back decades and involves the guardianship of Ugo di Portanova, a disabled globe-trotter and heir to a series of multimillion-dollar oil-funded trusts in Texas.

Those fees, approved by Judge Mike Wood, were the highest awarded in any Texas case in the last year, public records show.

Collectively, 200 county and probate judges statewide signed off on nearly $21 million related to death, guardianship and other disputes in the year ending August 2010, according to a Chronicle analysis of more than 9,500 fees approved by all county and probate judges in Texas.

The Office of Court Administration began collecting electronic reports on fees for the first time last year. The reports stem from an earlier state Supreme Court initiative to boost accountability and counter long-term concerns about judges' alleged favoritism toward fee recipients, who are often attorneys and campaign contributors.

Each year, thousands of people's lives and deaths end up in the hands of probate judges, who wield sweeping power over the liberty and assets of others. Probate fees can be controversial, as they often come from private pocketbooks and can quickly deplete estates or drain resources needed to care for disabled and elderly Texans.

Full Article and Source:
Harris County Probate Fees a Bonanza for Some

Texas: Former County Social Worker Indicted

A former county social services worker was indicted on a felony theft charge that accuses her of stealing between $20,000 and $100,000 from elderly people in her care, authorities said Friday.

Sylvia Ann Villareal, 44, was indicted by a grand jury and arrested Oct. 15 on the second-degree felony charge, authorities said.

Villareal was dismissed March 2 after nearly 15 years on the job, according to information from the county human resources department.

She worked for the county’s guardianship program, one of two such programs statewide, Community Services Director Curtiss Brown said.

Villareal was appointed by Probate Judge Gladys Burwell as a guardian for elderly wards and was responsible for managing their money, Galveston County Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said in a statement.

"Judge Burwell, in her normal course of review, noticed some irregularities in the checks that were being written on the accounts of the wards and brought the matter to our attention," Sistrunk said.

Prosecutors began the investigation in February with the assistance of the County Auditor’s Office.

The indictment accuses Villarreal of stealing more than $20,000 but less than $100,000 between June 2007 and April 2009, Sistrunk said.

Sistrunk declined to reveal the specific dollar amount or how many wards were involved.

Full Article and Source:
Former Social Services Guardian Indicted on Theft Charges

Editorial: Blame the Voters for Bad Judges

In Dallas County, I blame the Democrats. In Tarrant and Collin counties, I blame the Republicans. In total, I blame every single reader who ever has voted the straight party line. For good measure, I’ll even blame the Libertarians, although they seem like innocent sorts.

In Tarrant County, it is the GOP that dominates with straight-ticket voting. For County Probate Court No. 2, they elected Pat Ferchill. This judge appears to have turned his probate court into a racket, holding ex parte hearings with favored attorneys, terminating guardianship rights of parents over their disabled children, and taking advantage of the elderly. Fort Worth Weekly and the Texas Tribune have done an excellent job of tracking the judge’s suspect rulings.

Full Article and Source:
Blame the Voters for Bad Judges

Elder Abuse: America's Dirty Secret

As an attorney I have spent decades representing elderly men and women who have endured unspeakable abuse and neglect in nursing homes. Often, these conditions were so reprehensible and so degrading that – were they unearthed at daycare centers or even federal penitentiaries – members of Congress and the media would be crusading for reform. The AAJ’s report is rife with illustrations: A nursing home resident whose leg was amputated after becoming infested with maggots; an Alzheimer’s patient who died trapped in a freezer; a Florida nursing home resident who suffered from multiple falls, severe weight loss, multiple pressure sores, infections, dehydration, and eventually death by starvation; patients at a home in Illinois who were given antipsychotic drug injections “assembly-line style” as a means of “chemical restraint;” and an elderly nursing home resident who was sexually assaulted in the middle of the night at the hands of an orderly who was an ex-con.

If something major doesn’t change, and change soon, this is the kind of fate that awaits multitudes of Americans expected to join the ranks of the institutionalized elderly in the coming decades.

Full Article and Source:
Elder Abuse: America's Dirty Secret

The Executor's Guide

If you're faced with wrapping up the affairs of a loved one who has died, you may feel overwhelmed by all the work ahead—especially when you're grieving. But with the right legal and practical information, you can do it. The Executor's Guide shows you how to get organized, get the help you need and make progress one step at a time. You will also learn how to navigate an unfamiliar land of legal procedures and terminology.

Source:
HALT

Editorial: Impeachment Clearly Called for in Probate Case

Shame on the Council on Probate Judicial Conduct for only censuring Probate Judge Bryan Meccariello when the Josephine Smoron property disinheritence case clearly calls for impeachment [editorial, Oct. 4, "The Least He Could Do"].

Mr. Meccaraiello said he feels vindicated because he wasn't charged with corruption but was instead simply forced not to run for re-election. Is the legal understanding of the definition of corruption different from the layman's term? Corruption being the impairment of integrity, virtue or moral principle.

If disinheriting a person of money or property or altering a will isn't corruption or morally wrong, then what is?

Is "disinherit" the new legalese for stealing? What good is a will if even the judge doesn't adhere to it? What good is a watchdog council if it only watches out for its own? There have been only two censures in 35 years. That speaks for itself.

How do you disregard the will of an old woman who wanted nothing but for her farm to go to Sam Manzo, Ms. Smoron's longtime caretaker?

If the legal system works, this property will go to Mr. Manzo, its rightful owner. He says he wants to keep it as a farm. Let him do with it as he wishes, or let the General Assembly step in and do the right thing. Our probate system also needs to be censured.

Marie Tuccitto, Southington

Source:
Impeachment Clearly Called for in Probate Case

See Also:
Editorial: Impeach This Judge

Women Receive Supreme Court Award

A case of an Omaha woman convicted of cheating people she was appointed to protect out of hundreds of thousands of dollars helped trigger an award-winning program in Platte County Court.

Chief Justice Mike Heavican of the Nebraska Supreme Court this week recognized Chief Magistrate Darla Schiefelbein and Records Clerk Kathleen Hein for their work in revamping the court’s process for managing the county’s conservator system.

The two Columbus women received the Outstanding Customer Service Award during the Supreme Court’s employee recognition reception at the Governor’s Mansion in Lincoln.

There are nearly 1,000 employees in the judicial system in court and probation offices statewide.

The award honored Schiefelbein and Hein for implementing an “effective and creative program” that improved customer service to the court’s customers.

The problems with Douglas County’s conservatorship system that surfaced earlier this year were a catalyst for bolstering the local system, said Schiefelbein, who heads the Platte County Court’s office staff.

“We did need to tighten the reins,” Schiefelbein said of the local process that ramped up scrutiny of the system. “We’re looking out for the protected person, that’s our responsibility.”

Full Article and Source:
Local Women Receive Supreme Court Court Award

Orange Co. CA Will Spend $45,000 to Review Public Guardian

The county plans to spend $45,000 to investigate allegations that one of its agencies is unnecessarily taking control over people’s estates to pad its own coffers, including taking aim at the $15 million estate of Charles "Mask" Lewis Jr., the co-founder of Tapout, a mixed-martial arts clothing line.

Public Administrator/Public Guardian John S. Williams and his agency, which oversees $38 million in estates and the lives and deaths of more than 1,000 people every year, is the target of the county’s review.

Criticized in two Orange County grand jury reports in 2009, the Public Administrator/Public Guardian’s Office was back in the spotlight in August when then-Assistant District Attorney Todd Spitzer, thought by many to be in line to become the next district attorney, was fired after he began looking into allegations a conservatorship case was being mishandled by the agency.Supervisor Pat Bates, who last year allowed Williams a little breathing room to correct the critiques of his office, has now asked for a county review of how the once little-known county agency liquidates the assets of large estates.

Williams, who blames the complaints on disgruntled employees who were either fired or not promoted, then upped the ante, asking for a complete review of his office’s policies and procedures.

The review, being done by Tim Kay, a local attorney with expertise in conservatorship issues, is under way, but the board of supervisors will consider his contract at Tuesday’s meeting.

Kay's report, which will be confidential, will be handed over to Orange County Chief Executive Officer Mauk by Oct. 29 with any necessary revisions, according to the proposed contract.

Full Article and Source:
$45,000 to Review Public Guardian, Tapout Sale

See Also:
Orange Co. California: Investigator Will Review Public Guardian

Indiana May Seek Background Checks for Nursing Facility Workers

Early next year, Indiana lawmakers will consider a proposal to require workers in nursing homes to undergo background checks, in an effort to provide better protection for vulnerable elderly residents.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he will also propose that the legislature make additional changes in state law to provide whistleblowers with legal protections. More broadly, Zoeller has asked an oversight panel that reviews licensing agencies to focus its scrutiny on the Indiana Health Facility Administrator (HFA) Board, the body that has disciplinary power over nursing home administrators.

Full Article and Source:
Indiana May Seek Background Checks for Nursing Home Workers

See Also:
Nursing Home 101: Being an Effective Advocate

Luzene Co, PA: Lawyer Could Get Suspended

A city attorney who vowed months ago to file a wide-ranging lawsuit against Luzerne County Children and Youth is facing the loss of his legal license for one year based on a recommendation of a disciplinary panel.

The disciplinary board of the state Supreme Court issued a report that recommends the suspension of attorney James Hayward based on his mishandling of a bankruptcy case and the alleged “dishonesty” he exhibited in replying to allegations raised in the initial complaint.

The recommendation, which was forwarded to the Supreme Court on Sept. 27, seeks a stiffer sanction than was suggested by a hearing committee made up of attorneys who heard the original complaint against Hayward.

That committee suggested Hayward be publicly censured and placed on probation for one year. The committee’s report was not binding on the disciplinary board, however, which makes its own findings and recommendations. The final determination on what, if any sanction, will be decided by the Supreme Court.

Full Article and Source:
Lawyer Who Criticized Children’s Agency Could be Suspended

Confined in a Nursing Home Against Her Will, Isolated From Daughter and Grandson

My mother, Margaret (Margo) Freebairn, is one of an untold number of Americans who has been drugged and kidnapped from her home, and confined in a nursing home against her will. Her bank account has been drained by geriatric care counselors, attorneys, judges, court-appointed guardians, conservators, nursing homes and nursing home doctors. In May 2010, her home and all of her earthly possessions were sold. All the while, Margo has pleaded to be reunited with her family and to return home.

Margo is 87, and as she would be the first person to tell you, she does have a poor memory. She was attending classes in art, history, politics, and philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis when she became concerned about her memory deficits. She began attending cognitive aging seminars, enrolled herself in two memory and aging studies, and invited her two daughters and a number of her nieces to become informed participants in her aging process. This was to be an open and constructive exchange of information and ideas. At this point a corrupt and predatory system, aided and abetted by a few of her family members, began moving behind the scenes in a series of covert activities to derail her life, devour her resources, and bar her from contact with anyone who has any objections to this, I am very afraid, for the rest of her life.

I am her daughter, Mollie Freebairn, her chosen Health Care and Durable Power of Attorney, who has not been allowed to see or speak with my mother for the last nine months. I have managed to get calls though to her on three occasions; the last time was May 9, 2010, Mother's Day. Margo related to me in desperate tones of her deep unhappiness at being confined at the nursing home, and her dearest wish to go home. She pleaded with me to call her more often, and to please visit her, which compelled me to explain to her that there is nothing I long for more, but I would be arrested for attempting to visit my mother. Her guardians claim that I am the cause for my mother’s unhappiness at being confined in a nursing home, and that she is happy when barred from seeing me. They do not allow her to have contact with most of her other family and friends either, for some reason. Among the most disturbing aspects of this situation is the fact that no one who is not personally profiting from controlling my mother’s life, is allowed to see her or ascertain how she really is!

As decreed at the hearing on February 5, 2010, Margo’s guardianship is held jointly by two of her nieces.

Margo named me as her sole Power of Attorney in 2009. This fact was dismissed without acknowledgement at the February 5, 2010 hearing, which lasted only a few minutes, and where little of substance was discussed. Commissioner Patrick Connaghan threatened to appoint a stranger as Margo’s guardian if I did not agree to his appointment of my two cousins. I therefore agreed, also in view of the fact that my sister and the guardians agreed to try allowing Margo to return home with the 24 hour a day affordable, loving, in-home caregivers.

Despite their own assertions that Mom would be happiest at home, and the Missouri law that the guardian must allow the protectee to live in the least restrictive environment, both guardians, Diane Smith, and my sister have since simply refused to meet with the caregivers or allow Margo to try returning to her home. They have refused to allow me or my son to visit or call my mother.

Anyone In America Can Fall Prey To Guardian Abuse

Most people do not realize, as I have only through this ordeal discovered, that anyone can petition the court for guardianship or conservatorship of an elderly or disabled person, which can lead to the complete and permanent loss of their freedom, possessions, and rights. The point of no return in today’s corrupt legal system is when the petition for guardianship is submitted. In Missouri Law for example, Chapter 475.060 states:

“Any person may file a petition for the appointment of himself or some other qualified person as guardian of a minor or guardian of an incapacitated person..."

At this point, the court assumes total control over the person’s estate, living arrangements, and medical care. All costs incurred by the court-appointed attorney, guardian, conservator, geriatric care manager, and nursing home are charged against the person’s estate. This can swiftly drain their life savings and lead to the necessity to sell the person’s home and all of their belongings. Family members trying to free their loved one and save their home are on their own to cover the attorney fees. My experience is that it is almost impossible to find an elder law attorney who is not part of the corrupt system. Attorneys practicing elder law converse freely with the judges and opposing attorneys, and sabotage their client and their efforts to free their loved one at every turn. Twice I have been abandoned and/or betrayed by my previous attorneys. Under these circumstances both the Commissioner and opposing attorneys refused to communicate with me pro se in any manner.

My request to you is to please help to call attention to and bring an end to this predatory abuse of untold numbers of elders and disabled persons rights, before they consume any more of our beloved ones.

Thank you,
Mollie Freebairn

Source:
NASGA - Margo Freebairn, Missouri Victim

TX: Judge Indicted on Bribery Charges

State District Judge Suzanne Wooten and three other people have been indicted on six counts of bribery and one count of engaging in organized criminal activity.

The charges stem from the judge's 2008 campaign and allege that David and Stacy Cary gave money to Wooten's campaign manager, James Spencer, in exchange for a favorable decision in court, according to DallasNews.com.

Wooten's attorney, Peter Schulte, told DallasNews that the accusations are part of a "political vendetta" and are "completely ridiculous."

A spokesperson for the Texas Attorney General's office said they aren't commenting on the case at this time.

Source:
Judge Indicted on Bribery Charge

Holly Peffer Argues Her Own Case For Her Mother's Return

The matter at hand stems from a battle over who should be guardian of Rita Denmark.

Holly Peffer presented exhibits and arguments, at a hearing in the McKean County Court House small court room Friday [10/8/10], and pleaded for a ruling that would get her mother, Rita Denmark, out of a Florida nursing home and back to Bradford to live, in effect ending her brother’s guardianship over their mother.

Attorney Ronald Langella, appearing for his client Etta Getty (who did not attend), lodged a continuing objection to most of what Peffer was presenting to the extent it relied on facts not presented before White’s eqarlier ruling, and later declared that the judge lacks the authority to confer with a Florida judge concerning a procedural puzzle at the heart of the case. Getty is a Florida guardian appointed by a Florida court.

For his part, Senior Visiting Judge H. William White listened closely, patiently allowed for the difficulties faced by a party proceeding pro se (serving as her own attorney). His interest in the case and the legal issues it raises was evident throughout the hearing.

The judge said he would examine the items being presented for consideration, and would take into consideration those that he properly could, so as to decide “whether I was wrong.”

At one point White mused about some the murky points considering how a court in Florida had come to accept jurisdiction and why it had handled things as it did. He suggested that it would be practical for the judges to communicate, “me picking up the phone and conferring with the Florida judge.”

Peffer’s pleadings have argued that fraud was committed in order to get the matter out of McKean County and under the jurisdiction of a Florida Court; that because there had been a guardianship action commenced in McKean County, the Florida Court should not have agreed to hear a petition for guardianship in Florida. Besides, Peffer said, the Florida court assumed or was told Mrs. Denmark was domiciled there, when instead she had been taken there in a ploy to derail the McKean County guardianship petition.

Peffer also had harsh words for Bradford attorney Mark Hollenbeck, claiming he had been engaged to represent her mother’s interests but had worked against those interests.

Judge White stated that it is a very serious thing to suggest that an attorney has failed to carry out his duty toward his client, because “the courts, our system, we depend on being able to know that attorneys represent their clients faithfully.”

Full Article and Source:
Martha Knight, ERA Correspondent: Peffer Argues Own Case for Mother's Return

Peffer Case Summary

In the summer of 2007 Rita Denmark, a widow living with one of her Bradford daughters, was a fit 76-year-old who walked miles every day. She had cross-country skied in the winter. Her memory was not what it used to be, so she had given another local daughter, Holly Peffer, durable power of attorney responsibility, and Peffer managed her finances and bills in consultation with her mom.

An Office of Aging social worker recommended that a guardianship be arranged. The Orphan’s Court of the McKean County court system would be the court to grant that.

Accordingly Peffer set about getting guardianship in place by filing the appropriate petition in Orphan’s Court.

Even as the procedure was getting underway, two other adult children stepped in. The other Bradford daughter with whom she had been living took Mrs. Denmark to Florida to visit her son.

Early in that visit Mrs. Denmark was taken to see an attorney who had been lined up by the son she was visiting. She signed an affidavit which indicated that she had moved to Florida.

In more recent actions in McKean County Orphan’s Court, Peffer has maintained that Mrs. Denmark was tricked into her part in the proceedings, and had no intention of moving to Florida—only meaning to visit a son she had had little recent contact with. Peffer is convinced her mother was tricked into saying she was a Florida resident.

She considers the guardianship proceedings in Florida to have been based on a fraud on the court there, and the representations in McKean County Orphan’s Court to have been fraudulent as well, all intended to support the contention that the Florida court had jurisdiction in the matter.

Peffer says jurisdiction should have remained in McKean County, and the decision of the Florida court should be declared a nullity or should be overturned somehow.

As for Mrs. Denmark, she has been appointed a “professional guardian” who has worked with the two Florida attorneys. They placed Mrs. Denmark in an assisted living facility (or possibly a nursing home). Also, the attorneys and guardian got court approval of a no contact/no visitation order which keeps Peffer from having access to her mother.

“My mother is being criminally confined behind the locked and secured doors of a Florida elder care facility,” Peffer wrote to U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton, based in Pittsburgh, in September. “She is being held against her will and she wishes to return home to Pennsylvania. There is substantial, clear and convincing evidence that my mother is a lifelong domiciliary and resident of Pennsylvania.”

The Florida guardian, Jetta Getty, assisted by others, came to Bradford and took custody of Mrs. Denmark’s valuables, antiques, car and jewels. Previously they had obtained Peffer’s assistance in packing up some of the items, and transferring over $240,000 in Mrs. Denmark’s funds from Hamlin Bank to a Florida bank.

Peffer says she cooperated with Getty because Getty told her this would be the most efficient way to get things in order so that Mrs. Denmark could some home.

Was there fraud upon either or both courts? How could that be determined? Peffer, representing herself, maintained that there was fraud, and offered case law to support such a conclusion.

Peffer’s hopes for her mother’s return are pinned to the judge’s decision. But there are others interested in the outcome as well: activists who are seeking changes in how guardianship of adults is handled, across the United States.

Full Article and Source:
Martha Knight, ERA Correspondent: Guardianship of Adults Can be Tricky and Contentious, Local Family Fights

NASGA Members Support Holly Peffer at Hearing

Among those who attended last Friday’s hearing in McKean County Orphan’s Court, and paid close attention to what Senior Visiting Judge H. William White said and did, were several members of the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse (NASGA).

Although they did not participate in the hearing, they did sit in the small court room where it was held, and handed out large pin-back buttons to anyone who wanted one. During a break in proceedings they huddled with the litigant who was present, Holly Peffer, who is seeking to have a Florida guardianship over her mother, Rita Denmark, dissolved, and the elderly widow returned to Bradford where she had lived nearly all her life.

On their website and in their literature, NASGA describes sequences of events and procedures used to gain total control over the wards placed in the care of guardians, and includes unethical attorneys and corrupt judges among the players in a system gone awry, as they see things.

Full Article and Source:
Guardianship Abuse Group Following Rita Denmark Case

Website: So Sorry Mom

Mom died August 29th @ 11:20pm in the Year 2010: Don't be "sorry" my mom is gone...maybe there is a G-d for He finally woke up and took her, He could have had her live until age 97 as did two of her sisters. They were never going to allow me to be a welcomed visitor in that horrible facility, with all the rules they put upon us. I'm just very very sad that for the love of money, which led to negative thoughts which bread into sins of hatered and jealousy, the brothers choose to 'allow it all', which lead to complete and total abuse of a parent whom only always lived and gave her entire being, heart and soul, for her family.

Source:
SoSorryMom.com

Orange Co. California: Investigator Will Review Public Guardian

The county will hire an outside investigator to review the embattled Public Administrator/Public Guardian’s Office after accusations of mismanagement in the office responsible for managing $38 million in assets and the lives or deaths of 1,000 people each year.

Assistant county executive officer Rob Richardson confirmed the county is looking into hiring a retired judge or law firm to look into the policies and procedures governing the office, but the decision of who that will be or how much it will cost the county has not been made.

The review will target cases involving estates and conservatorships to make sure they are being handled within the law, said Stephen Dunivent, the deputy county executive officer overseeing the review. Also in the county’s cross hairs are property auction firms hired by the office and the process used to select those firms. The review is expected to be done by early November, Dunivent said.Public Administrator/Public Guardian John S. Williams has hired his own personal attorney, Phil Greer, to represent him as an individual. Greer is not being paid by the county, Richardson confirmed.

The Public Administrator/Public Guardian Office was thrown back into the public spotlight in August after then-assistant district attorney Todd Spitzer, thought to be the heir apparent to the district attorney, was fired after he began looking into allegations that a case was being mishandled by the agency.

Full Article and Source:
Investigator Will Review Public Guardian

Impeach Randy Kennedy's Blog

The purpose:
This site has been established to shine the light of accountability on Judge Randy Kennedy, 7th Circuit Court, Davidson County, Tennessee. This is Nashville’s probate court and we believe crimes are perpetrated on the citizens of Davidson County systematically by this court, it’s officers and certain practicing attorneys. This is legalized organized crime sanctioned by its mob boss Judge Randy Kennedy.

On this site, we will prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that this court systematically commits crimes, under color of law, to enrich its officers and an elite group of practicing attorneys.

How the probate racket works:
Pay close attention, because this next line should wake you up and give you pause. At some point, all the money of our country (and the rest of the world for that matter) will eventually makes its way through a probate court. When a person dies, this is the court who will officiate over who gets what, if any. Imagine, THE ENTIRE WEALTH OF THE WORLD, individual by individual, county-by-county, is eventually funneled through this room. THE ENTIRE WEALTH OF THE WORLD!!!

How the probate racket works, part II:
Though the law has been written to protect and conserve, rarely is that intent followed, especially when you have a cooperative judge sanctioning the proceedings in order to “take care of his colleagues”; and his colleagues, who are probate attorneys trained in the art of liquidating estates, do just that. It’s an utter hypocrisy of jurisprudence, but one that is practiced without oversight. I’ve heard it referred to as “the dark hole of the legal world”.

How the probate racket works, part III:
Remember, in the probate court there is no jury, no oversight, no accountability outside the court. Also, the probate court is a court of “liquidation”, not “preservation”, but are ordained with the duty to liquidate AND preserve. Adversarial lawyers are both being paid from the estate, so no one is inclined to get off the gravy train.

How the probate racket works, part IV:
Conservatorships, meant to conserve, are adjudicated in a court that is set up to liquidate and divide. A law meant to preserve the assets, as well as the person, of the “disabled” has been abused and morphed into a instrument that is used to loot and dispose.

Source:
ImpeachRandyKennedy'sBlog

Judge Re-Opens Case With Ties to Abraham Lincoln

A probate judge in Coventry has reopened the 55-year-old estate of a relative of Gideon Welles to determine if rare artifacts, including handwritten notes by President Abraham Lincoln, were illegally sold and not included as part of the estate.

For the past five months, the Welles and the Brainards, descendents of Gideon Welles who served as Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War, have been appearing before Probate Judge James K. Kelley arguing about what happened to what could be priceless items — from as many as 713 handwritten notes by Lincoln to Gideon Welles to a rare Spencer carbine rifle that Lincoln gave to Welles after firing it once himself. The rifle was said to be the 16th ever made.

The Welleses and another side of the family, the Smiths, are accusing some of the Brainards of secretly selling off artifacts without telling anyone in the family or sharing the profits.

In his six-page ruling released this week, Kelley found that the original estate of Ruth Trost Welles, who died in 1955, was never properly inventoried and that evidence shows that non-inventoried property belonging to Gideon Welles was sold and not properly distributed to the heirs.

Kelley has appointed Willimantic attorney Kevin Connors as the new administrator of the estate, charged with determining what existed, what happened to it, who owns it now and how much money should be part of the estate.

Even the Welles' attorney, Michael Kopsick, acknowledges that Connors will have a difficult job separating truth from fiction.

Full Article and Source:
Judge Re-opens Case With Ties to Abraham Lincoln

Read the Probate Judge's Decision

Legal Abuse Syndrome

Karin Huffer has discovered why many people leave a courtroom frustrated and sick. Karin Huffer explores the foundation of Legal Abuse Syndrome and has proven that a constant negative result from any courtroom experience produces Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome in litigants. Before you go to any court, understand that Justice is not a part of the equation and prepare yourself for the possibilities of being in a situation that is based in judge and attorney created rules rather than common sense.



Source:
YouTube

See Also:
LegalAbuseSyndrome.com

Ohio: Two Corruption Defendents Ask for New Lawyers

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Bridget McCafferty, who was indicted last month for lying to the FBI, has requested a new attorney.

Attorney Henry Hilow represented McCafferty during her arraignment last month, at which time she pleaded not guilty, and at a subsequent pre-trial hearing. Now she and Hilow have asked that he be replaced by J. Michael Murray.

U.S. District Judge Kate O'Malley has yet to rule on the motion, which does not explain why the switch is being sought. Murray did not return messages left at his office.

Hilow said during the pre-trial conference in front of O'Malley that McCafferty may ask that her case be severed from her five co-defendants, which include County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora. All six are scheduled for trial on Sept. 12, 2011.

Also seeking a new lawyer is Michael Gabor, another of the people scheduled for trial in September.

Full Article and Source:
Two Defendents in Cuyahoga County Corruption Probe Seek New Lawyers

ND: Case Against Former Stockbroker to go to Trial

A judge has ruled there is enough evidence to go to trial with prosecutors’ charges that former Grand Forks and Grafton, N.D., stockbroker Ross Haugen ripped off elderly investors in Walsh County.

North Dakota District Judge Laurie Fontaine’s order finding probable cause in two cases against Haugen argued before her last month was filed in state district court in Grafton.

Haugen is charged with seven counts of selling unregistered securities, seven counts of acting as an unregistered broker/dealer and/or agent, eight counts of fraudulent practices and six counts of theft of property involving elderly investors in Walsh County sales in 2006 and 2007. He’s also charged in a separate case with three counts of conspiracy to commit theft of property, or an alternative charge of fraudulent practices, in which two other men also are charged.

All but one of the counts against Haugen are Class B felonies, each with maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Full Article and Source:
Case Against Former GF, Grafton Stockbroker to go to Trial

Lawsuits - the Cost of Doing Business

"When you’re selling $1 billion a year or more of a drug, it’s very tempting for a company to just ignore the traffic ticket and keep speeding.”

A New York Times report reviews what has been accomplished by multiple civil and criminal lawsuits against Big Pharma companies that have relied almost entirely on fraud to market industry's worst pharmaceuticals--antipsychotic drugs--which have become industry's most profitable cash cow.

"The new generation of antipsychotics has also become the single biggest target of the False Claims Act, a federal law once largely aimed at fraud among military contractors. Every major company selling the drugs — Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — has either settled recent government cases for hundreds of millions of dollars or is currently under investigation for possible health care fraud."

"Two of the settlements, involving charges of illegal marketing, set records last year for the largest criminal fines ever imposed on corporations. One involved Eli Lilly’s antipsychotic, Zyprexa; the other involved a guilty plea for Pfizer’s marketing of a pain pill, Bextra. In the Bextra case, the government also charged Pfizer with illegally marketing another antipsychotic, Geodon; Pfizer settled that part of the claim for $301 million, without admitting any wrongdoing."

But these lawsuits are no deterrent to crime, as Jerome Avorn, MD, Harvard medical professor correctly observes : "When you’re selling $1 billion a year or more of a drug, it’s very tempting for a company to just ignore the traffic ticket and keep speeding.”

Full Article and Source:
Lawsuits, Just the Cost of Criminal Marketing of Antipsychotic Drugs

See Also:
Side Effects May Include Lawsuits

Florida: Medicare Scammer Gets 20 Years

Just days after his partners in crime were arrested on Medicare fraud charges, Ihosvany Marquez was recorded on an undercover tape saying he had no qualms about stealing from the federal program for the elderly and disabled.

"I don't care because it is the government," Marquez told a federal informant, pitching him on a plot to export a multmillion-dollar scam from Miami-Dade to Detroit.

"Medicare needs to have fraud because it's more money they get every year," he said in the May 27, 2009, recording, which was read Thursday by a prosecutor in Miami federal court.

Marquez, a former Miami Springs High pitching ace who almost played in the Major Leagues, was sentenced Thursday to 19 ½ years in prison for healthcare fraud. He schemed to bilk $48.8 million from Medicare by submitting false claims for purported HIV therapy.

Marquez's seven clinics in Miami-Dade and Orlando were paid $21.6 million, which he must repay the taxpayer-funded Medicare program.

Full Article and Source:
Convicted Miami Dade Medicare Scammer Imprisoned for Nearly 20 Years

Kansas: Lawyer Disbarred for Charging $3,500 an Hour

The Supreme Court of Kansas has disbarred a Kansas City attorney for charging $3,500 an hour to handle a soldier's case and for making offensive remarks to a judge and court staff.

Carlos Romious lost his license on Monday after the Kansas high court found that he charged the inflated fee while representing a soldier facing drug possession charges in a military court. The court also found that during a three-year period Romious shouted profanity at court clerks, got into a brawl with a court security officer and accused a judge of being a pedophile.

In adopting a recommendation from a disciplinary administrator, the court in a per curiam decision concluded that the pattern of misconduct warranted disbarment.

"In summary, the respondent's conduct resulted in two criminal convictions, a contempt adjudication that led to 120 days in jail, minor injuries to a U.S. deputy marshal, and an adverse impact on a military career," the court said.

Full Article and Source:
Kansas Attorney Disbarred Over High Fee, Disrespect to Judge and Court Staff

Editorial: Arizona Probate System in Desperate Need of Reform

Last year my daughter almost died. Dealt a severe blow by a massive aneurysm, the doctors did not think she would make it. All we could do was pray and wait.

In the midst of it all I was sued by people unrelated to us seeking to gain control of her life, and her trust.

My daughter happens to be Walt Disney's granddaughter.

What has transpired over the past year has been torture. I have not been able to speak to my daughter in private for nearly a year. Courts, bodyguards and self-serving individuals have sought at all costs to use the probate system to their advantage.

Just think about our case for a moment. Not all blood relatives are necessarily good people, of course. But throughout my life I have tried every day to be a good father to my children.

However, our probate system - that used to supposedly protect the vulnerable and their assets during the most trying of times - actually allowed in our case people completely unrelated to us and relatives with no close family ties to create chaos in our family.

That's just not right.

We are going to use what we have learned to put forth a very aggressive set of legislative reforms.

Some of the issues are:

1. The court should not allow a case to go forward without evidence. Hearsay is not evidence.

2. If a malicious petition is filed, the petitioners should have to pay all attorney fees. The attorneys should also be sanctioned.

3. When individuals have their directives, the court must uphold them.

Full Article and Source:
Arizona's Probate System in Desperate Need of Reform

TX: Budget Shortfall Forces Big Cuts for Disabled

Barbara Cullison waited eight years and eight months to get community-based care for her profoundly autistic daughter Audrey through a popular Medicaid waiver program designed to keep people with disabilities out of institutions. Now, Audrey and thousands of other Texans with disabilities fear losing their services because of budget cuts demanded of state agencies.

Advocates say the Department of Aging and Disability Services’ baseline budget request eliminates financing for more than 13,000 people — the majority of them waiting to receive so-called Medicaid waiver services in private homes, group homes or other community settings. Agency officials say an “unknown number” of people already receiving the services could lose them.

Lawmakers would have to approve another $317 million off of the agency's budget wish list — called "exceptional items" — to keep the services intact, a pipe dream when the state is facing an estimated $21 billion shortfall and has asked agencies to submit options for cutting their budgets another 10 percent.

“If this goes away, what are we going to do?” asked Cullison, whose daughter just came off of the waiting list for community services in September. “I need that safety net, need to know [that] when I can’t take care of her anymore, there’s a place for her that’s set, that’s paid for. After nine years, I thought I didn’t have to worry about this anymore.”

Agency officials acknowledge their hands are tied.

Full Article and Source:
Budget Shortfall Forces Big Cuts for Disabled

Grandchildren of Walt Disney, Father Battle for Control

Even the lives of American royalty are not immune from being upended in Probate Court.

Three cases in Maricopa County and California courts attest to the fact.

The court battles revolve around the fortune of one of the legends of American entertainment, Walt Disney. They trace back to secret land deals in Florida. A prominent East Valley developer. A controversial Arizona real-estate baron. And two Disney heirs, his grandchildren, who inherited hundreds of millions of dollars.

The cases illustrate how even the most careful estate planning may not prevent vicious court fights from erupting when families feud. Relatives take sides, attorneys clash, and original estate terms may be altered.

The legal fees, they all say, are costing a fortune.

Full Article and Source:
AZ Maricopa County Probate Court - In the Valley, Heirs Embroiled in Disney Feud

Financial Advisor Charged With Bilking Elderly Out of Hundreds of Thousands

The state charged Carlene B. Veara of South Yarmouth with diverting money from elderly investors to a company she controlled.

Veara, a registered representative in the Hyannis branch of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, gained power of attorney for a 98-year old investor, a woman in failing health with no known blood relatives. She then transferred more than $177.000 from the woman’s accounts to a company called Cape Cod Caretakers, of which Veara was sole executive officer, according to Secretary of State William Galvin’s office.

Veara was also listed as beneficiary of the investor’s Morgan Stanley Smith Barney account valued at more than $600,000, and a joint owner of the investor’s bank account. None of these arrangements were disclosed to the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney as required by its policies and procedures.

“Examiners have also determined that Veara has entered various forms of fiduciary relationships with multiple clients, such as a trustee of a trust, an executrix of a will, or as health care proxy – all without disclosing that relationship and associated conflicts of interest to her employer,” the complaint states.

Full Article and Source:
State Charges Cape Woman With Bilking Elders for Hundreds of Thousands

Once Again, Watch Out for Probate Court

The latest appalling story out of probate court begins with a frantic message to a state senator from a relative worried about her 84-year-old aunt.

"She has been forcibly removed from her home by the police, accompanied by her daughter who is acting as her temporary conservator, to the psychiatric ward,'' the woman wrote in an e-mail last week to state Sen. Edith Prague. "She is not insane and committed no crime but is being treated like the worst type of criminal.''

Sadly, this is no surprise in some of our lawless probate courts. I've been writing these tragic stories for more than four years. Two things have not changed: judges and lawyers who take advantage of the old and sick and probate court administrators who say these are only isolated and rare problems.

The daughter, who lives out of state, was estranged from her mother. At the daughter's behest, Probate Judge John W. Cooney made her conservator of her mother and allowed Dorothy Crouse to be snatched from her home and locked in a secure nursing facility in Wallingford.

For 10 days, nobody could find Crouse, who was medicated and blocked from all visitors.

Crouse suffers from mild dementia, but she lived alone and independently. She has a boyfriend, relatives she is close with and friends in the community. The law requires that even if a person is conserved - which means the court takes over your civil rights, your money and your freedom -the judge must make sure it is under the "least restrictive" conditions.

That means an estranged child can't step in and tell mom or dad what to do. That means a judge can't name somebody conservator when the conserved person already has a power of attorney and other legal documents dictating care.

"It makes my blood boil,'' Prague told me. "There are people my age ... who want to live independently and who want to be left alone. I am not going to sit down and let this happen.

"The conservator abuse is usually caused by money. Look at Miss Smoron down in Southington,'' Prague said about the infamous case where, at the behest of a rogue conservator, a judge changed the will of a dying woman to benefit a developer. "Who do these probate judges think they are? We've got to do something about it."

Indeed we do.

Full Article and Source:
Once Again, Watch Out for Probate Court

Britney Spears Hearing Scheduled for Oct. 14

Britney Spears' conservatorship order is to come to an end within three months.

the 28-year-old pop star is expected to reclaim control of her life after meeting with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Reva Goetz last week so he could assess her general wellbeing.

A source told RadarOnline.com: "Britney has made tremendous progress in the past three to four months. She seems to be firmly in control again.

"Judge Goetz needed to meet with Britney and talk to her face-to-face, to see how she was doing. It's one thing to read medical reports about her, but the in-person meeting was very important.

"Britney's court-appointed attorney, Sam Imgham, was the only other person in the judge's chambers during the 35-minute meeting.

"Judge Goetz also met with Britney's father, Jamie separately, as well as with Britney's therapist."

The final decision will be made by Judge Goetz, and if he decides Spears no longer needs conservators she will be in charge of her affairs within 12 weeks.

The next conservatorship hearing is scheduled for October 14.

Full Article and Source:
Britney Spears Set to Take Back Control

See Also:
Britney Spears Remains Conserved

Lawsuit Not Connected to Banker's Disappearance

A lawsuit against missing banker David Widlak alleging he mismanaged an elderly Windsor woman's estate has no bearing on the police investigation into his disappearance, Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said.

"Any connection with someone who wanted to harm David based upon the lawsuit has not been brought to our attention, nor do we believe any reason for his disappearance is connected to it," Hackel said.

The suit against Widlak was filed in Macomb County Circuit Court last October on behalf of Elizabeth Mary Cerget, 69, who died in 2008. Her daughter and legal representative, Jennifer Rubli of Windsor, filed the suit.

The lawyer representing Cerget's estate also said today that he doesn't think the case has anything to do with Widlak's disappearance.

"If we win everything, he may be liable for $200,000," said Troy-based attorney Andrew Mayoras. "That's not enough to disappear over."

Because Widlak is missing, the lawsuit is up in the air, the attorney says. "I don't know what's going to end up happening at this point," Mayoras said.

Hackel said the department's detectives were aware of the suit, checked into and determined that it wasn't connected to Widlak's disappearance.

Full Article and Source:
Hackel: Lawsuit Against Missing Banker Not Related to His Disappearance

If You Ask Me...

Guardian. Someone who protects.

Children need permission from a parent or guardian, to take part in field trips or other activities. Health care providers need the authorization of a parent or guardian in order to treat a patient who is a minor.

Those are situations that come to mind when we think of guardians. But there are guardians of adults, too. And sometimes there are children who are guardians of parents.

I don’t mean that minors can be guardians of parents, only that “adult children” can encounter situations in which their elderly or inform parents are in need of that kind of help. It’s a role reversal that is becoming more common than it used to be, what with life spans being greater.

“We need a guardianship bill!” was a mantra I heard at gatherings of the New York State Association for Retarded Children, Inc., decades ago. When first I heard that statement I didn’t know what it was about. But soon someone explained it to me.

NYSARC included numerous people who were highly qualified to explain guardianship and other legal issues. The one who laid it out for me was Augustus M. Jacobs, a courtly gentleman indeed. His specific court was the New York State Supreme Court, First District (Manhattan). He was one of the founders, in 1949, of the first organization of its kind, the Association for the Help of Retarded Children. I have his AHRC lapel pin.

The guardianships NYSARC was talking about were those in which persons with mental retardation would reach the age of majority but would not be able to handle all the responsibilities that come with adulthood. Their parents wanted to be able to continue to protect and guide them—to act as their guardians.

Most such parents expected that they would predecease their offspring. Some conditions causing mental retardation also included other health challenges which tended to shorten life spans, but even so, parents realized there probably would come a time when they would not be around, or able, to carry out their guardianship functions.

Often standby guardians were named. For mentally retarded adults, usually a parent or parents were named guardian/s, and often a sibling was appointed standby guardian. There could be other standby or contingency arrangements made, too. A local chapter of NYSARC would be one possible choice. The reasoning was that such an entity would have a longer “lifetime” than an individual. Chapters and NYSARC itself had guardianship committees; I served on several.

Then there are the guardian arrangements in which adult children assume responsibility for parents. Most of us know some of those guardians and their parents.

This isn’t the same as being “attorney-in-fact” or having the responsibility of power of attorney. That role is one in which the grantor voluntarily and knowingly gives the POA that authority, so that the POA can act for the grantor as needed, or maybe regularly. Typical duties and powers would be handling money and other assets, paying bills, selling property and making living arrangements.

Ordinarily the grantor can revoke or change power of attorney arrangements at will. Also, the grantor is still free to make decisions too, to pay bills and sign checks and buy things.

Guardianship arrangements may not always be voluntary on the part of the person being “guarded.” Sometimes that individual is too impaired in mental function to participate in the decision. Courts grant those non-voluntary guardianship arrangements based on a showing that the individual is incompetent. The court must find the proposed guardian to be suitable. Usually the person petitioning the court to appoint a guardian for someone is also proposing to be that guardian; but sometimes the petition asks the court to appoint another person or entity.

Would you be surprised if I told you some guardians of adults are untrustworthy? Probably not. There have been high profile cases in the news, where the rich and famous were victimized, usually by those close to them, through abuse of guardianship prerogatives.

There’s an organization devoted to helping those victimized by guardianship abuse, and to seeking legislation and court rulings that will help prevent such abuse. National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse has a website you can Google for.

Some of NASGA’s activists were in McKean County recently to monitor court proceedings related to the guardianship of Rita Denmark, a Bradford widow her daughter alleges to have been virtually abducted to Florida and wrongfully placed under guardianship there and then placed in a secure care facility and her assets made off with.

Sad. Worrisome. The court may rule on some aspects of that case later this week.

Source:
If You Ask Me...by Correspondent Martha "Marti" Knight

See Also:
Help Bring Rita Denmark Home

New Shelter for Elderly Victims of Abuse

Hinds County law enforcement officials are close to opening an emergency shelter for seniors that they say will help protect elderly victims of abuse or neglect statewide.

"Seniors are the largest growing population worldwide, and Mississippi is no exception," Sheriff's Department project manager Ruth Marie Stogner said. So authorities are expecting to see more crimes targeting the elderly, especially those with physical or mental ailments.

Mississippians age 65 or older number more than 364,000 and make up 12.5 percent of the population, according to 2009 Census estimates. That's an increase of 6 percent in the last decade.

The state Attorney General's Office investigates cases of abuse, neglect, fraud and exploitation of vulnerable adults. Its investigators have opened 812 new cases this year, up from 591 last year.

The emergency shelter is a renovated house in southwest Jackson that will provide temporary living quarters and care for up to eight.

"We will be able to take them out of a bad situation and give them a safe home until we can locate their Medicaid or Social Security and can put them in a place where it is stable," Stogner said.

Full Article and Source:
Shelter for Elderly to Open in Hinds

NASGA Press Release - FL: October is "Guardianship Month"

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has declared October as “Guardianship Month.”

NASGA would point Governor Crist’s attention to the fact that the original intent of guardianship/conservatorship law - “guard,” “protect” and “conserve” - is no longer being complied with in a frightening and growing number of cases involving court-appointed fiduciaries. Wards' estates, instead of being conserved, are being plundered in the guise of fiduciary fee billings for "services," either not necessary or not necessarily legal in nature, or simply through blatant overbilling. More and more fiduciaries are engaging in “protecting” their wards into indigence!

Wards’ best interests aren’t being protected either. Many wards are forced into facilities against their wishes and the wishes of their family. Often, these wards are then isolated from family and friends, believing they have been abandoned, and end up dying prematurely, alone and afraid. They are often given unnecessary and dangerous psychotropic drugs which “straightjackets” them and hastens their death after their assets are gone!

Not all guardianship is unlawful or abusive, but when it is, families and lives are destroyed. When unethical fiduciaries have bled estates dry, their wards are thrust onto the Medicaid rolls for the rest of their lives. Every citizen is then affected through increased taxation. The fiduciaries move on to greener pastures while the taxpayers are left with the Medicaid tab for the rest of the lives of the wards, still under state control.

Families fighting for release of their loved ones are damaged financially and can be driven into bankruptcy themselves, while the “fiduciaries” take their fees from the ward’s estate with the blessings of a judge who fails to comply with law. The devastation can cross generations.

It’s no longer a secret: guardianship can and often does harm the very people the laws are supposed to be protecting: the wards, their extended families, and the unwary taxpayers.

Some examples:
*In Miami-Dade, Judge Maria M. Korvick appointed an attorney known to her to be on psychiatric disability, despite the statutory requirement that a fiduciary be sui juris; i.e., competent. The ward, Estela Torrent, went blind due to neglect during court-ordered confinement in a nursing facility, where she remained against her will, at the urgings of the guardian of the property - her very own son. He also convinced the judge, through a hearsay complaint, to compel his sister to pay for a guard in order to visit her mother in the nursing home. That same sister has now been appointed by that same judge as guardian of the person of their mother, and is her present caregiver, now that her estate has been bled out and she has been filed as an indigent. What’s wrong with this picture?

*In Volusia County, Judge McFerrin Smith is determined to retain control over Rita Denmark, a nonresident of the State of Florida. Rita Denmark has lived her entire life in Pennsylvania, yet Judge Smith has refused to let her go home for three long years!

*In Pinellas County, after her guardian’s refusal to take Retta Rickow to her doctor, she landed in the ER. The guardian then secretly moved Retta to a facility 21miles across county - away from her home, family, church and her doctors of over 20 years. Family contested and a hearing was set in Judge Patrick K. Caddell’s court for the purpose of moving Retta closer to her daughter and son in compliance with her wishes and wants. At that hearing, family was blindsided by the judge who, on his own and before any of the lawyers present had submitted their fee billings, assessed family to pay the guardian and attorneys over $8,000. Retta Rickow continues to be separated from her family, her estate plundered, and Florida law ignored.

*In Broward County, Judge Mel Grossman presided over the case of 95-year old Lucille Gittens, who was forced to leave the home she had lived in with her son and his family for thirty years and placed in a group facility against her wishes and the wishes of her family.

If Florida is to remain the “Sunshine State,” it must bring that sunlight into its courts and end the unlawful and abusive misuse of well-intentioned law for unjust enrichment purposes. A large percentage of the Florida elderly population is presently victimized, with the Baby Boomers coming up fast.

NASGA calls for Governor Crist and those running to replace him this election year, to stand up for the vulnerable elderly and disabled persons of Florida and work with NASGA toward reform.

See NASGA’s “An Open Letter to Congress and the White House,” available online at www.AnOpenLetterToCongress.info.