Friday, January 30, 2015

The Vegas Voice: Guardianship: A Legal Sham and Disgrace

Rana has been on her Don(na) Quixote crusade to protect seniors from the abuses and scandal regarding the Guardianship (Nevada Revised Statutes - Chapter 159) laws. For the past few months, she has taken me kicking and screaming into this issue.

On each and every occasion, when I told her that “it could not happen” she provided the paperwork.

As a former attorney, I learned how to read the law, petitions and court orders. More importantly,I was taught how to read between the lines.

From our research and investigation, it is clear that these “Private Guardianships” are nothing short of a racket. It gives “ambulance chasers” a good name.

Let me be very precise in our findings:
Having a private guardian appointed for a senior is like selecting a child molester to run a day care center. It is financial elder exploitation; sanctioned and approved by the Court and Nevada.

One example: According to court records filed by a private guardian, is not ready to release her name yet - but we’re real close) it listed an elderly couple’s (mentioned in Rana’s column) bank account as having approximately $23,000.

The initial court order authorized this private guardian to seize $10,000 for the husband and then an additional ten thousand for the wife (a total of $20,000) for the couple’s on-going expenses AND (of course) the expenses related to the court proceeding.

Just like that - the couple’s bank account was depleted by nearly 90%.

Just like that, the guardian was allowed “reasonable compensation and expenses.”

Just like that, the guardian was allowed to hire an attorney to represent the guardian and to have the lawyer receive “necessary compensation as well as expenses.

While the guardianship laws require an annual accounting, such filing was not done.

What did the court do over this failure? Nothing.

Where did all the money go?

Full Article and Source:
The Vegas Voice:  Guardianship:  A Legal Shame and Disgrace

7 comments:

StandUp said...

Well done, Vegas Voice!

Jim said...

Fantastic article. Well done and very comprehensive.

jerri said...

thank you thank you thank you for speaking the truth about the protection racket the proof shows how a good plan was taken advantage of as a money machine in life everything is summed up as the good the bad and the ugly so here we have the bad and the ugly this is the stuff our kids should be learning about because they are at risk when they leave the safety net of mom and dad turning 18 puts them in harms way right here in the usa wake up america eyes wide open

Betty said...

"Where did the money go?" is a question so many of us victims ask. And there's no answer nor any way to recover from the exploitation from guardianship.

Tom said...

Be very afraid is exactly right. "Guardianship" is a misnomer.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Vegas Voice. I saw this article on fb and I will share it with pride.

Anonymous said...

They need to add to the list of changes that the person in question is required to be at the hearing, either physically or via video conference. Additionally, a willing family member cannot be removed or not chosen as the guardian unless they have been convicted of a felony by a jury of their peers. The jury part is very important, since Kangaroo proceedings might be less likely with a jury. A willing family member who wants to be the financial guardian cannot be denied this unless their personal credit rating is less than 720. Additionally, any professional financial guardian must also have a personal credit rating of 720 or greater and be a non-gambler, since this is Nevada. :)