Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Editorial: Too Quiet in the Court

When is a public hearing not a hearing? When you can’t hear what’s going on, what’s the point of having a court hearing open to the public?

In probate court, the speakers are often so quiet you don’t have a clue what’s happening. In this court, many-a-fate of an older person is decided. Many elders are put under conservatorship, and lose their rights and freedom. Persons under conservatorship should have the right to be videotaped in this court.

An example of corruption was when my mother was placed under conservatorship – hundreds of thousands of dollars of her estate went to pay the fees of a profit-seeking network.

Family disunity was exploited. The court-approved evaluators said she had dementia – one said “likely of the Alzheimer’s type.” My mother’s choice of evaluator, a highly qualified neuropsychologist, Dr. Cheryll Smith of Montecito, and her doctor of 25 years, found her competent but this was ignored by the court. She was even given heavy-duty dementia medications, which she refused to take. When the second professional conservator resigned due to my “interference,” my mom was placed in the hands of the Public Guardian, who found her to be competent. The Public Guardian, who had no incentive to portray her in a negative light and plunder her estate, petitioned for the conservatorship to end.

Full Article & Source:
Too Quiet in the Court

4 comments:

StandUp said...

Very good points and very well said.

B Inberg said...

Multiply this by every courtroom in every state hush hush next case. If not for the determination of the family member to get the truth, her mother would have been a ward til she departed from this earth years of court ordered hell with auto approve on the billing.

This is business for profit being conducted in our courtrooms in secrecy under color of law.

Any ideas how many ex-parte communications prior to the hush hush gathering in the courtroom?

Out of control money grabbing enterprise, every hour of every day people turned into products to feed the probate machine.

Pete said...

Hah, this happens very often. My sister's guardianship was ended because the probate court investigator did not like me, and the court said my sister, with traumatic brain injury could take care of herself, eventhough the court had medicial reports stating otherwise.

Since when does a Probate Judge become a licensed Medical Doctor?

Betty said...

We are conditioned to sit in a courtroom as we sat in the classroom -- quiet.

Later, they'll say, "you should have spoken up in that hearing; you've waived your right to complain when you didn't...."