Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Best Friends of 78 Years Move into the Same Care Home, "I missed her."

Olive Woodward and Kathleen Saville, both 89, met when they were 11 and bonded instantly over their similar sense of humor.

Now, the friends of more than 78 years are making mischief in a care home.

“We don’t cause any trouble … but we sometimes have to knock the staff into shape,” Saville told British news agency SWNS. “I just raced one of the managers down the hallway for a laugh.”
Saville has resided at Berry Hill Park in Mansfield, England, since 2018, while Woodward moved into the facility last month. The lifelong pals, who are both widows, have rooms on the same floor, which means they are rarely apart.
“When Kathleen moved into the home, I missed her and I used to go and see her every Saturday for lunch,” Woodward explained. “Then I thought, ‘Why don’t I move in too?’ If I’m unhappy or in trouble, I only have to go to Kathleen and we’ll always end up laughing.”

Saville noted that she and her partner in crime enjoy getting dolled up together.

“I’m so glad Olive is here now, we’re like giggling school girls and we still put on our lippy and get dressed up,” Saville gushed. “We always say to each other, ‘If you’ve got it, flaunt it.”

Full Article and Source:
Best Friends of 78 Years Move into the Same Care Home, "I missed her."

Caught on camera: Sanitation worker puts trash bins away each week for elderly woman after witnessing her fall


The sweet gesture was caught on camera nearly a year after Billy Shelby began lending a helping hand.

In the hustle and bustle of our fast-paced world, little moments of good can often be overlooked. But thanks to modern technology, the kindness of one sanitation worker is not going unnoticed.

Missouri native, Colette Kingston, posted a video taken by her elderly mother’s Ring doorbell surveillance.

The video captured Billy Shelby, a Missouri sanitation worker, arm in arm with 88-year-old Opal Zucca helping wheel in her trash bin.

“God bless you as always, darling!” Shelby said to Zucca, after placing the bin in its place. “You’re looking good. That hair! You got it down!”

This isn’t Shelby’s first-time helping wheel in her trash bin. Obviously the two are quite friendly. That’s because Shelby has been helping Zucca with her trash bins since the start of 2019.

In January, Shelby witnessed Zucca fall and hurt herself trying to bring the bins back up her driveway. Ever since, he has taken time out of his schedule to lend a helping hand.

Over 10 months later, Shelby’s small act of kindness was captured by Zucca’s Ring doorbell security camera.

Zucca’s daughter, Colette, decided to upload it to Facebook with a note of gratitude.

“He demonstrates such care for her. It takes a village,” Colette wrote. “Such a small kind gesture but leaves a[n] enormous relief for us. Thank you kind sir.”

The small act of kindness made a big impact.
Source:
Caught on camera: Sanitation worker puts trash bins away each week for elderly woman after witnessing her fall< /a>

MN College Students Move into Senior Assisted Living Facility

Senior Living at Watkins has decided to welcome six Winona State University students to live in their manor after years of positive experiences with volunteers.

For $400 dollars a month, the students get a spacious room, all of their utilities paid and food provided. Not to mention, the manor is theirs to explore. They were selected through an application process.

“There is no place that’s off limits for them to be able to just sit down, relax and study,” said Cheryl Krage, the director of assisted living and hospice services. “We tell our students they can invite their study groups here.”

The students are required to volunteer at least 10 hours each month, participating in craft sessions, music lessons and eating meals with residents.

"Now, we have the students that are interested in learning from us and we are learning from them," said Nancy Neumann, a senior resident at Watkins.

Full Article and Source:
College Students Move Into Senior Assisted Living Facility

Monday, December 30, 2019

Sweethearts Forever. Then Came Alzheimer’s, Murder and Suicide.

“They were absolutely soul mates.”

By Corina Knoll

It began almost playfully, like tiny hiccups in her mind. She would forget she had already changed the sheets and change them again, or repeat a thought in the same breath.

Then the illness amplified. 

She grew confused by everyday tasks. Became convinced her parents were still alive and insisted upon a visit. At social gatherings, she was anxious and fearful. She forgot how to sew and cross-stitch. Forgot the faces of her children.

She did remember her name. Alma Shaver. But not her age. Eighty.

And sometimes, she did not know her husband.

He was Richard Shaver, a man whose wife of 60 years had been found by dementia, that thief that robs the minds of 50 million people worldwide. So common, yet so personally cruel — it comes with no road map for those tending to the afflicted.

For a while, Mr. Shaver managed. He would sit next to his wife and rub her hand, her knee, to try to calm the unease. He left notes explaining simple tasks. If she was stuck repeating herself, he asked yes or no questions to break the cycle. Did you graduate in 1957, Alma? Why, yes.

When visiting family, he picked out her clothes, usually the beige sweatshirt with the collar and a bird stitched on the front. He resorted to fast food in the drive-through lane so she wouldn’t have to get out of the car.

By the spring of this year, things had gotten worse, as they always do with an illness that takes and takes and takes. Ms. Shaver had slipped beyond a murky fog that her husband could not join.
Mr. Shaver waited until the two were alone in their Brick, N.J., home, a white colonial they had bought in retirement because the deck opened up to a lagoon.

Credit...Bryan Anselm for The New York Times
It was a warm Sunday afternoon in June, the kind of day where, in healthier times, he would have steered his boat out on the water, and she would have sat on the deck swing waiting for his return.

Instead, Ms. Shaver was in the upstairs bedroom asleep, the only peace she ever seemed to find.

Mr. Shaver, 79, crawled onto the canopy bed — the one they had shared for years — and shot his wife. 

Then he lay down beside her and shot himself.


He asked her to the Candyland Cotillion, a high school dance, in 1956. He arrived in a dark suit with his blond hair slicked to one side. She wore a sleeveless dress and a circle of pearls. He swiped her dance card and scrawled his name across all seven lines.

They had known each other since childhood, not unusual in the village of Shadyside, Ohio. That night, Alma Archibald went home and declared, “I’m going to marry that Richard Shaver.”

Two years later, they eloped.

They eventually moved to Landing, N.J., where they raised three daughters. By then, Mr. Shaver had worked for NASA and G.E. in electrical engineering and was traveling often for RCA.

Bright and fiercely independent, he insisted on doing home repairs himself. He bought a motorcycle and taught his girls to ride it. 

He liked to plan ahead, hiding envelopes of cash around the house in case of emergency and writing a guide to finding each one. 

Ms. Shaver was strong-willed and warm, meticulous about her home and her appearance. She had meals on the table at 5 p.m., dressed up as Mrs. Claus, led a Girl Scout troop, delivered handmade gifts. Families liked to use her as their emergency contact.

Credit...Kristy Truland
Friends were drawn to the Shavers’ energy, charisma and laughter. 

“They were absolutely soul mates — crazy about each other,” said Gerry O’Connell, 71, who lived on the same block as the Shavers for two decades. “You’d never hear one say anything bad about the other. My husband traveled and I’d get mad, I’m here alone with the kids. But Alma never would get mad at Dick. She was just happy to drive down in the snow to pick him up at the train station.”

In 1992, the couple moved to Brick near Barnegat Bay where they were a comforting sight in the neighborhood — pulling weeds, riding bikes, holding hands.

At home and when visiting others, the two tended to be in the same room, often sitting side by side.

Credit...Kristy Truland
Mr. Shaver had always been flippant about what he wanted in his final years. 

He would joke about overdosing on pills when the time came, or say he didn’t want a funeral, just a party with lots of booze and funny stories. He referred to nursing homes as “The Place.”

“Don’t send me to The Place,” he would say.

When his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a few years ago, Mr. Shaver avoided discussing it and grew evasive about the future. He dismissed offers of help and suggestions that he hire a home health aide. His daughter Karen McDonald wanted to buy him a home near her. He declined.

“He didn’t want to talk about it, just like, ‘Mind your own business, I’m taking care of it,’” Ms. McDonald, 58, said. “His whole life was always about her. She was the most important. Not the kids or the grandkids. It was her.”

One of the few times Mr. Shaver admitted to being rattled by the disease was when his wife lashed out at him, recalled his daughter Kristy Truland, 52.

“She started screaming, ‘I don’t know who you are, get away from me, don’t touch me!’ to my father in the house,” said Ms. Truland, who spoke to her parents every day.

Credit...Bryan Anselm for The New York Times
Her father had saved well for retirement, and she urged him to think about moving to an assisted living center. 

“He didn’t want to be a burden, didn’t want to go to a nursing home — none of it,” Ms. Truland said. “And definitely didn’t want to leave her for us to take care of. He would say, ‘You’re just gonna put her in a home.’”

Mr. Shaver’s own health was a mystery. He complained of back pain, but never revealed the results of doctors’ visits. 

At one point he declared that he and his wife were going to take a break from doctors, because they didn’t seem to be doing any good.

Their home grew dusty and unfamiliar. Mr. Shaver turned down his daughters’ gift of a cleaning service. The home had once been a hub for the family, where the couple hosted children and grandchildren. But Ms. Shaver herself had become childlike.

“The first time she didn’t know me, I was crying in the shower,” Ms. Truland said, “because my mother was gone.”

In late May, Ms. Shaver fell in the garage, nearly taking down Mr. Shaver with her. The incident unnerved him. 

Ms. Shaver ended up having to go to the hospital. The following week, Valerie Dominioni, a friend who lived across the water, stopped by with a rose.

“Alma really appreciated it,” Mr. Shaver later told Ms. Dominioni on the phone. “You’re such a good neighbor.” He sounded emotional. 

Ms. Dominioni, 75, thinks of that call often, as well as something Ms. Shaver said to her earlier that afternoon.

“We have to go away,” Ms. Shaver said. “You understand, don’t you?”

Credit...Kristy Truland
Their bodies were discovered on June 10 after police arrived for a welfare check. Ms. Truland, their daughter, had been unable to reach them for their usual phone call.

Coroner’s reports would reveal that Ms. Shaver tested positive for the painkiller Oxymorphone and had been shot in the back of her neck. Mr. Shaver had been shot in the mouth. 

The reports also noted that Mr. Shaver had metastatic tumors on his liver and kidneys and suffered from emphysema. 

Authorities would file away the deaths as a murder-suicide, an act of domestic violence, and the news was posted on an anti-gun violence website.

Months later, the surviving family members have come to see it like this: It is not the ending they would have chosen. But they won’t hold it against their father.

“If you knew him, it makes sense,” his daughter Linda Shaver, 55, said. 

They have no idea when or how Mr. Shaver acquired the revolver. Going through his things later, they found a box of pills with a note that had one daughter’s phone number and a receipt for a recent hotel stay. Perhaps a quieter plan had failed. Ms. Shaver had been having trouble swallowing lately, a symptom of the disease’s progression.

Mr. Shaver’s death especially stung his daughters. They were accustomed to their mother not being entirely there. They never thought their father would soon leave, too. 

But they are thankful to not be embroiled in a murder trial. And impelled to now lead full lives, aware that the disease could come for them, too. 

There is one thing that still makes them collapse inside when they reflect upon it all: the thought of their father in his last hour on that bed.

They imagine him lying next to his dead wife, placing the towel over his face, slipping the gun into his mouth, telling himself it was time to pull the trigger. He must have felt so alone.

Credit...Bryan Anselm for The New York Times
Two weeks after the Shavers died, their family had a party.

It was not the one Mr. Shaver had once requested in lieu of a funeral, but there were fireworks and flowers and spinning lights.

Their granddaughter, Alissa Ryan, got married.

Ms. Ryan wrote a speech for a host to read that acknowledged the tragedy, but asked guests to welcome a new love story. It set the tone. Let’s be happy today.

Family and friends danced, toasted, embraced, caroused.

There was a moment before the celebration that Ms. Ryan had wondered how exactly one continues on with a wedding so soon. But, while some were upset at her grandfather’s timing, she was not.

“They were in pain for how many years? They didn’t even know what day it was,” Ms. Ryan, 31, said.

Mr. Shaver had, in fact, been aware of the upcoming nuptials. The only note he left behind was inside a blue envelope addressed to Ms. Ryan and her husband and placed on the dining room table.

It offered no insight into the end of the Shavers’ time together, only a simple wish from a man who had come to know what must be cherished.

“May you both have many years of happiness,” it read. “May life be good to you.”

Full Article & Source: 
Sweethearts Forever. Then Came Alzheimer’s, Murder and Suicide.

Macomb County man at center of high profile guardianship case passes away

By: Heather Catallo


(WXYZ) — We have some sad news to pass along in a high-profile guardianship case first exposed by the 7 Investigators.

The guardianship nightmare involving Bob Mitchell and Barbara Delbridge sparked a social media firestorm and caught the attention of Michigan’s Supreme Court and Attorney General.

Sadly, Bob Mitchell passed away this week.

The 7 Investigators first showed you in May how family members said a professional guardian had prevented them from seeing Bob and Barb.

“I just want my parents back,” Marcie Mitchell told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo in May. At that point, Marcie said she wasn’t allowed past a six-foot-tall privacy fence to visit her dad and stepmom in their Utica home.

Marcie Mitchell had tried to get guardianship of Bob and Barb, but instead Macomb County Probate Judge Kathryn George appointed Caring Hearts Michigan Inc. as guardian and conservator. Caring Hearts is owned by Catherine Kirk.

After 7 Action News exposed how Kirk then hired her own home-care company and her husband’s law firm to bill Barb and Bob’s $2 million estate, the Macomb County Chief Judge stepped in and returned the couple to their family in June. The Attorney General also since removed Robert Kirk from his position as a State Public Administrator.

“The way they were returned to us was not the shape they were in when this happened. They went from being verbal, communicating, to enjoying eating and doing things, to when they were here [under guardianship] -- nothing. As far as we know they never even got to go outside, except for Bob trying to escape,” said niece Gretchen Sommer in a recent interview with Catallo.

Gretchen and Marcie have both told 7 Action News they believe both Bob and Barb were over-medicated while under guardianship with Caring Hearts.

“It’s not fair. It was taken away from him. He worked his whole life. He saved. He was smart. And then a 2-month span makes a person a completely different person that’s not functional,” said Marcie in a September interview.

In November, Barb suffered a stroke and died.

Then on Christmas Eve, family members say Bob passed away as well.

Now they’re hoping the Attorney General will keep investigating this case and other guardianship cases to make sure other vulnerable adults are not separated from their families.

“I hope they are going to get to the bottom of everything that’s happened, not only for my parents but for so many others this happened to,” said Marcie.

Lawyers for Caring Hearts Michigan have claimed family members were not properly caring for Bob and Barb, and they have asked a judge to approve more than 376-thousand dollars in legal and guardianship fees on this case. The 7 Investigators have asked multiple times since May to interview Catherine Kirk, but her lawyers have continuously declined that request.

The family is fighting the fees, and deny they neglected Bob and Barb. They will be back in court January 10, 2020.

To report elder abuse or guardianship fraud, contact the Michigan Attorney General’s office: https://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-359-82917_92157---,00.html
 
If you need to file a complaint about a probate court, contact the Supreme Court Administrator’s Office: https://courts.michigan.gov/self-help/complaints/pages/default.aspx


Full Article & Source:
Macomb County man at center of high profile guardianship case passes away

See Also:
Caring Hearts Michigan backs out of disputed guardianship case in wake of 7 Action News report

Michigan AG opens investigation into Macomb Co. probate case following 7 Action News report

Why did a Macomb Co. judge put strangers in charge of an elderly couple instead of family?

'I just want my parents back.' Woman says company imprisoned her parents in their own home

Michigan AG 'looking into' concerns about state's adult guardianship system 

These new Tennessee laws go into effect this week

Staff Photo by Robin Rudd/ Representative Robin Smith answers a question. Members of the Hamilton County Legislative Delegation spoke to the Times Free Press at the newspaper's offices on November 15, 2019.
NASHVILLE — While Tennessee's new law allowing would-be gun owners to get a concealed carry handgun permit with video training is consuming most of the attention, here are some of the other 17 laws taking effect Jan. 1:

* The "Right to Shop" health insurance price transparency law, sponsored by Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, will allow people with commercial health insurance plans to access a member portal in their insurance plan where they can shop and compare health care service prices as they look to lower costs in four categories: medical imaging work such as X-rays or CT scans, infusion therapy involving administration of medication through a needle or catheter, physical therapy and occupational therapy.

"It is a new way to approach health care that hopefully will correct some of the issues causing health care [costs] to increase," said Smith, a registered nurse who is chairwoman of the House Insurance Committee.

People "are really getting to see that our utilization of health services has declined over the past years, but costs increase," Smith said, calling it "just a function of contracting through insurance companies. This [law] is going to be a little bit of pressure for the cost curve to bend down."

"If you know in advance, unless it's an emergency, you have broader control," Smith said.

She noted some health insurers, which fought a broader version of her bill, have already started posting the information for policy holders to shop. As it takes effect Wednesday, the new law applies solely to commercial insurance but it will later apply to TennCare and Medicare, Smith said.

* Tennessee seniors will see more protection under a law pushed by Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga.

It revises existing safeguards and procedures in the existing Elderly and Vulnerable Protection Act to add new focus on crimes involving sexual exploitation of an elderly or vulnerable adult.

It expands the definition of "neglect" to include failure by a caregiver to make a reasonable effort to protect an elderly or vulnerable adult from abuse or sexual exploitation.

And it requires people convicted of abuse, sexual exploitation, neglect or financial exploitation to be placed on a registry managed by the Tennessee Department of Health.

Gardenhire said he pushed the issue after hearing "a lot of testimony that some elderly person was in bed and not being able to defend themselves and taken advantage by the people in the nursing home or assisted living place. It really left them vulnerable."

Noting he'll likely follow through with more legislation in 2020, Gardenhire said, "We want to make sure we really close the loop on all the elderly abuse that goes on."

* A bill requiring the state health insurance plan to allow use of proton radiation therapy to treat cancer, vetoed in 2018 by then-Gov. Bill Haslam, made its way through the General Assembly and was signed by Gov. Bill Lee this spring.

Proton therapy is seen as a more targeted radiation approach that is less harmful to surrounding healthy tissue. Rep. Smith sponsored the House bill, telling colleagues in April that "we're just moving and making this available based on the recommendations of leading cancer authors."

* Another new law seeking to better inform health care consumers about costs and billing goes into effect this week. Dubbed the Healthcare Billing Clarity Act, it helps patients figure out what charges come from a hospital and what charges come from a specialty physician working there. According to the Urban Institute, 54% of patients in the United States say their medical billing paperwork and invoices are confusing.

* A new state grant program will provide funding for select volunteer fire departments to use in the purchase of firefighting equipment or to meet local match requirements of federal grants for the purchase of equipment and training. It was sponsored by Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, who has worked as a volunteer firefighter.

* Residential contractors who were licensed on or after Jan. 1, 2009, now will be required to complete eight hours of continuing education course work every two years. Active membership in a professional trade association, approved by the board, qualifies as four hours of continuing education annually. Proof of membership must be filed with the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors biennially. The new law requires provisions allowing both online and in-person training.

Full Article & Source:
These new Tennessee laws go into effect this week

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Elder Financial Fraud Reaches $1.7 BILLION

In February 2019, McKnights’s Senior Living reported, citing a report just released from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that financial elder fraud reports had quadrupled since only 2013, reaching $1.7 billion in actual losses or attempted thefts, and those figures were for the year 2017.

The CFPB report is based on suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed with the federal government by banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, and other financial institutions. It is not only believed that the trend is continuing to rise, but that these reports still only represent a fraction of the elderly financial exploitation.

Although the average loss was just over $34,000, approximately 7% of the reported victims lost over $100,000 each. One-third of the victims involved people over age 80 years old. The largest losses reported involved suspects that were people that the victim already knew either personally or professionally.

The CFPB has published a number of materials to help protect elderly persons from financial abuse including numerous reports and materials, even a financial education placement to remind older adults about financial issues. The CFPB website is a resource for these materials. In addition, you can report elder financial abuse to local law enforcement authorities, as well as federal resources such as the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.gov/complaint) or to the Senate Special Committee on Aging at www.aging.senate.gov/fraud-hotline.

According to the National Adult Protective Services Association, only approximately 1 out of every 44 cases of financial abuse even gets reported. Policy makers and regulators are trying to ramp up the focus on financial elder abuse. New legislative efforts at the state and federal level, new proposals by state and federal securities regulators are aimed at helping to prevent financial exploitation of seniors. Insurance companies and broker-dealer firms all seem to acknowledge and agree with the goal of protecting seniors from abusive sales practices when it comes to financial services products. However, the same firms also lobby to prevent real change such as a fiduciary standard, and also voice concern that any material change from the status quo in terms of new regulations will add costs to their business.

The Investment Fraud Lawyers and Annuity Fraud Lawyers at Haselkorn & Thibaut, P.A. can handle these cases nationwide. Please call them today for a free consultation 1-800-856-3352 or visit us at www.investmentfraudlawyers.com. With over 40 years of combined experience, these former bank and broker-dealer attorneys are available now to for you, the investor.

Full Article & Source:
Elder Financial Fraud Reaches $1.7 BILLION

Florida Congressmen Champion the Senior Guardianship Social Security Protection Act

Three members of the Florida delegation are championing a proposal to have state courts notify the federal government when guardians are removed in order to keep them from collecting Social Security benefits.

At the end of last week, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., introduced the “Senior Guardianship Social Security Protection Act” which will direct “state courts to notify the Social Security Administration (SSA) when a court-appointed guardian is removed for cause, so they can be blocked from collecting Social Security benefits on behalf of the seniors under their care.”

Two other members of the Florida delegation–Republican U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis and Democrat U.S. Rep. Darren Soto–are cosponsoring the proposal.

When the congressmen showcased the bill on Monday, Crist pointed to reports about guardians who have raided the assets of the seniors they are supposed to be taking care of, including a case in Pinellas County where a guardian of more than 30 seniors is accused of stealing more than $500,000 from one of them.

“Abuses within the professional guardianship system are finally coming to light, and it’s abundantly clear that the system, and oversight of it, is broken,” said Crist. “This legislation is another way we can help crack down on abusive practices and better protect our seniors from bad actors in the guardianship system.”

“This important bill provides one more layer of protection to ensure our most vulnerable citizens do not become victims of exploitation,” said Bilirakis.

“I am proud to co-lead the Senior Guardianship Social Security Protection Act. This is the first step in ensuring the reduction of the increasing cases against those elderly and vulnerable from abuse and fraud,” said Soto. “It is imperative that there is open communication between Social Security Administration and state government in order disable those with negative intentions. There must be accountability for guardians deemed unfit but continue to abuse the system because of the lack of communication between SSA and state governments.”

Crist’s office noted that the bill would increase communication between state courts and the SSA to make sure former guardians do not have access to the Social Security funds of their former charges.

The bill was sent to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee last week. So far, there is no companion bill over in the U.S. Senate.


Full Article & Source:
Florida Congressmen Champion the Senior Guardianship Social Security Protection Act

Durable Power of Attorney: Is yours "Hot" Enough?

Many states, including North Carolina, allow people to execute certain legal documents called Powers Attorney. In a Power of Attorney, a person, called the Principal, can appoint other trusted individuals, called Agents, to make financial transactions and decisions for the Principal. The purpose of a Power Attorney is so that an Agent is appointed and legally permitted to access and manage the Principal’s property on the Principal’s behalf. Powers of Attorney are heavily relied upon when a Principal becomes unable to manage their affairs or finances due to age or declining health. When a Principal is no longer able to manage their assets, then an Agent’s ability to handle the Principal’s assets is limited only to the specific legal permissions granted within the Power of Attorney.

Not all Powers of Attorney are created equal, however.  Powers of Attorney can vary in terms of scope and complexity.  The specific language used in a Power of Attorney can impact whether an Agent can use or access the Principal’s assets to maximize asset protection. The permissions granted within a Power of Attorney can often ensure that the Principal’s estate plans are followed even if the Principal needs long-term care.

Some Powers of Attorney are very simple and may only permit an Agent to access and manage money, accounts, or property. Under these basic Powers of Attorney, an Agent may pay bills, make investments, and even sell property if necessary.  With a simplified Power of Attorney, an Agent may only be obligated to use the Principal’s money for the Principal’s needs.  The North Carolina Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney, which many people still use today, is an example of a simplified Power of Attorney that grants the most basic permissions to an Agent to handle the Principal’s property or finances.  A short form Power of Attorney may avoid the need for a court-appointed guardianship while offering an Agent the ability to access and use the Principal’s assets for the Principal’s needs. In most cases, however, a short form Power of Attorney is deficient in authorizing an Agent to engage in any asset protection or to make critical financial, legal, or long-term care planning decisions for the Principal. In fact, under such circumstances, a short form Power of Attorney can detrimentally impact not only the Principal, but also a Principal’s spouse—particularly if they share ownership of certain assets.

Some Powers of Attorney can also grant extraordinary powers to an Agent that provide for significant asset protection or allow for more complex planning. These powers are commonly known as “hot powers” and need to be specifically stated in a Power of Attorney as giving the Agent permission to conduct such transactions. These hot powers are well-named, since they give an Agent considerable power to create or modify the Principal’s financial and estate objectives. Among some of the hot powers that could be considered in a Power of Attorney are the following:
  • The power to create, amend, revoke or terminate a trust during the Principal’s lifetime. Trusts can be effective tools to avoid the public process of probate. The hassles and the expenses of probate can be avoided with a trust. Trusts may also be effective tools for providing for loved ones in blended families, with real estate owned in other states, or in providing for minors or disabled beneficiaries.  With the proper limitations, an Agent under a Power of Attorney may fulfill the Principal’s estate planning objectives and asset protection goals by creating and funding certain kinds of trusts for the Principal. 
  • The power to create or change rights of survivorship. This powerful tool could allow the Agent to maximize the Principal’s estate planning goals for assets ranging from real estate to bank or investment accounts.  Significantly, this hot power can protect assets for long-term care planning.
  • The power to create or change a beneficiary designation. With the right limitations, this hot power could allow an Agent to update beneficiary designations on certain assets, again for the purposes of fulfilling estate planning goals and asset protection objectives. 
The most popular hot power is the power to make a gift of money or property. This power is often used to continue a plan of gifting or to protect money or property from having to be spent entirely on long-term care. A gifting hot power could be beneficial to provide for a spouse who remains at home when the other spouse enters a care facility.  The power to gift can be limited to a dollar amount or unlimited in scope. The power to gift can also be restricted to certain recipients like a spouse or family members.

Executing a Power of Attorney with these hot powers requires careful decision making and discussion with an attorney to decide if hot powers are appropriate for each person’s unique circumstances.  Many hot powers are practical to have if a person is concerned about asset-protection for long-term care planning. However, great consideration needs to be given as to who will be given the powers and under what terms.  An Agent needs to understand the responsibilities owed to the Principal by using the hot powers.

Critically, a Power of Attorney—with or without hot powers—is not a document that a Principal should attempt to download from the internet to execute on one’s own.  Aside from concerns that the document may not be validly executed or recorded properly, Powers of Attorney found online are largely deficient in offering the specific hot powers necessary for asset protection planning. Online forms are often not state-specific. An attorney can and should advise a client as to whether hot powers are appropriate for the client’s needs.  Additionally, the attorney should advise the client whether the Agent or the hot powers should have any necessary limitations that are appropriate for the client’s needs.

Further, a Principal can only execute a Power of Attorney—with or without hot powers—when the Principal has the cognitive capacity to understand what the document can do.  Many families who are seeking to protect assets for loved ones may find out too late that an existing Power of Attorney lacks the specific hot powers needed to conduct any meaningful planning. At this same time, a Principal’s cognitive decline would prevent the Principal from executing a new Power of Attorney with hot powers. For this reason, it is beneficial to meet at least annually with an elder law or estate planning attorney to review existing documents, discuss any changes in the law, and discuss plans for an Agent’s responsibilities.

Adding an inexpensive durable Power of Attorney that contains hot powers to an estate documents, while a person is still healthy to sign such documents, can offer critical opportunities for long-term care and financial planning.


Full Article & Source:
Durable Power of Attorney: Is yours "Hot" Enough?

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Miles City woman sentenced in elderly exploitation case

Del Linda Frost ordered to pay $94K in restitution


GREAT FALLS — Del Linda Frost of Miles City, who recently pleaded guilty to exploitation of an older person, received a suspended sentence and was ordered to pay more than $94,000 in restitution to her victim’s estate.

Frost, 60 years old, was charged with theft of property by embezzlement and the exploitation of an older person, both felonies, on January 3, 2019. According to a news release from the Montana Department of Justice, at a change of plea hearing on October 28, Frost pleaded guilty to the exploitation charge involving the now-deceased victim, Arthur Yamada, in Custer County between March 10, 2014 and March 14, 2018.

At a sentencing hearing on December 16, Judge Michael Hayworth ordered Frost to pay $94,075 in restitution and sentenced her to 10 years in prison, with all time suspended.

The Justice Department press release says that Frost was appointed temporary full conservator of Yamada on March 10, 2014; she became his permanent co-conservator on January 22, 2016. On August 23, 2017, the business manager of the nursing home where Yamada lived informed Miles City police that an $8,400 check from Yamada written by Frost had bounced.

Frost wrote two more checks totaling $14,382 to the nursing home; those checks also failed to clear. Additionally, Frost wrote several checks from Yamada’s checking account for cash, which emptied the account and left Yamada unable to pay for his care.

Frost also closed two certificates of deposit totaling almost $40,000. To cover the loss, Frost transferred funds from Yamada’s other bank accounts. To explain the checks issued for cash, Frost claimed they were for Yamada’s monthly allowance and items for his personal use. Frost was unable to explain why nearly $94,000 was missing, and resigned as Yamada’s co-conservator on March 14, 2018.

Yamada died on August 2, 2018 at the age of 97.

The investigation by the Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation began on October 17, 2017, when the Miles City Police Department requested assistance from DCI’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

“This case was especially troublesome, given that the defendant worked in a law office and should have had the best interests of Mr. Yamada in mind when she was appointed as his conservator,” Montana Attorney General Tim Fox said. “Instead of acting conscientiously, Ms. Frost viewed Mr. Yamada as a tempting target and began embezzling his life savings almost immediately. Financial exploitation of seniors is a serious crime; one we must all guard against. I commend the nursing home business manager who alerted authorities when she suspected something was wrong, as well as my Division of Criminal Investigation’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Custer County Attorney’s Office for their diligent work on this case.”

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Miles City woman sentenced in elderly exploitation case

Parenting Your Aging Parents When They Don’t Want Help

Relationships between adult children and their parents can fray with age. Experts offer help on how loved ones can preserve the love and negotiate those tension-filled final years. (iStock/Getty Images)
By Judith Graham

David Solie’s 89-year-old mother, Carol, was unyielding. “No, I will not move,” she told her son every time he suggested that she leave her home and relocate to a senior living residence.

And it didn’t stop there. Although Carol suffered from coronary artery disease, severe osteoporosis, spinal compression fractures and unsteady balance, she didn’t want assistance. When Solie brought in aides to help after a bad fall and subsequent surgery, his mother fired them in a matter of days.

“In her mind, she considered it a disgrace to have anybody in her home,”
Solie said. “This was her domain for over 50 years, a place where she did everything by herself and in her own way.”

Conflicts of this sort often threaten relationships between aging parents and their adult children just when understanding and support are needed the most. Instead of working together to solve problems, families find themselves feuding and riven by feelings of resentment and distress.

Solie got so worked up, he considered going to court and asking for a conservatorship ― a legal arrangement that would have given him control over his mother’s affairs. (The situation was complicated because Solie’s brother, who has Down syndrome, lived at the family home.) But Solie’s lawyer advised that this course of action would destroy his relationship with his mother.

Today, Solie, a health care consultant and writer with a well-regarded blog about aging, sounds the same theme when he consults with adult children caring for parents. Make preserving trust and keeping your relationship intact ― not winning arguments ― a priority, he suggests. What your parents most need is confidence that you’ll listen to them, take their concerns seriously and stay by their side no matter what happens, he says.

How adult children communicate with parents can go a long way toward easing tensions, Solie says. Instead of telling your parent what to do, ask how they’d prefer to solve problems. Elicit their priorities and recognize their values when making suggestions. Give them choices whenever possible. Be attuned to their unexpressed needs and fears.


When Dr. Lee Lindquist, chief of geriatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, asked 68 older adults in eight focus groups why they resisted help, the answers varied. They said they were afraid of losing their independence, becoming a burden on loved ones, being taken advantage of and relinquishing control over their lives.

Asked what might make a difference, the older adults said they liked the idea of “interdependence” ― acknowledging that people need one another from childhood to older age. And they found it helpful to think that “by accepting help, they were in turn helping the person providing the help,” according to Lindquist’s study, published last year in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Unfortunately, no amount of patience, compassion or forbearance will work in some conflict-ridden circumstances. But here’s some of what experts have learned:

Be patient. Give your parents time to adjust. At first, Jane Wolf Frances’ 87-year-old mother, Lillian Wolf, wouldn’t consider moving with Jane’s father from New York City to the Los Angeles area, where Frances, her only child, lived.

Although Lillian had Alzheimer’s disease and Frances had planned to give her one-story house to her parents, “I deferred to my mother’s fear that she was going to be losing something essential,” she said.


Jane Wolf Frances (center) with her parents, Jack and Lillian Wolf, in 1963(Courtesy of Jane Wolf Frances)
 
During three years of caregiving, Frances had learned to not rush her parents. She knew they had slowed down and needed time to process change.

So Frances waited until her parent’s home health aide called with concerns about their ability to live independently. After discussing the situation with their physician, Frances approached her mother again. A move to assisted living would be a fresh start, allowing the family to spend more time together, she said. After several conversations, her mother finally agreed.

Frances, a psychologist, is the author of a new book, “Parenting Our Parents: Transforming the Challenge Into a Journey of Love” and founder of  www.parentingourparents.org. Stay calm when disagreements arise with your elderly parents and tamp down your emotional reactions, she tells families. Listen carefully to your parents’ concerns and let them know you’re trying to help them accomplish their goals, not impose your agenda.

“It’s often helpful to say to your parents ‘I’m doing this for you; I’d like you to do something for me,’” Frances said. “People who are good parents perk up on that one and will ask, ‘OK, what can I do for you?’ Then, you can tell them, ‘You can let me help you more.’”

Let them know you’re on their side. Denise Brown was convinced her parents, Roger and Sally Loeffler, were making a terrible decision. In the previous year, Roger, 84, had been diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer and undergone extensive surgery. Sally, 81, had suffered three internal bleeds and had one-third of her stomach removed.


Denise Brown (center) with her siblings and parents, Sally and Roger Loeffler(Courtesy of Denise Brown)
 
Brown didn’t think they could live on their own anymore, and her parents had moved into a retirement community upon her recommendation. But then, at a family meeting, her mother stood up and said, “I’m not dying in this dump. I hate it here.” As Brown and her siblings turned to their father, he said, “I’ll do whatever your mom wants.”

When her parents decided to move to an apartment, Brown was confrontational. “I raised my voice and said, ‘This is not good, this is terrible,’” she said. “They were shocked, but they said ‘It doesn’t matter; this is what we’re going to do.’”

As Brown thought about her reaction, she realized she thought her parents would be safer and have a more “gentle” death in the retirement community: “Then it occurred to me ― this wasn’t what my parents wanted. They valued their independence. It’s their decision about how the end of life plays out.”

Brown let her parents know she’d respect their wishes but would need to set limits. Her work ― Brown is the founder of http://www.CareGiving.com ― had to be a priority, and her parents would need to arrange other assistance if she couldn’t be available. (Brown’s two brothers and sister help out.) And they’d have to be willing to talk openly about how their choices were affecting her.

What doesn’t work: trying to communicate when any one of them is tired or angry. “We never get anywhere,” Brown said. “Everybody gets defensive and shuts down.”

What does work: “asking them questions like how do you think we should try to solve this problem? It’s interesting to hear their answers, and it makes working together so much easier.”

Stop expecting your parents to be as they used to be. After her father’s death, Loi Eberle was distraught when her mother, Lucille Miller, became involved with a man she and her siblings didn’t like. With his encouragement, Miller invested in real estate and lost a great deal of money.

But nothing Eberle or her siblings said could convince her mother that this relationship was destructive.

Eberle struggled with resentment and anger as her mother’s needs escalated after a heart attack and a diagnosis of myasthenia gravis, a severe neurological disease. “Mom and I had this love/hate relationship all my life, and there was a huge need for healing in this relationship,” she said.


Loi Eberle and her mother, Lucille Miller, in 2012(Courtesy of Loi Eberle)
 
In 2012, Eberle moved Miller, then 89, from her longtime home in Minneapolis to a nursing home in northern Idaho, near where Eberle lives. Gradually, she realized that her mother “had transitioned to being someone else” ― someone who was vulnerable and at her life’s end.

“I think for a long time I had this idea that I was going to help Mom come back to who she was, and I spent a lot of time trying to do that,” Eberle said. “I finally had to forgive myself for failure and understand that this is the life process.”

With this shift in perspective, emotional tension dissipated. “When I’d visit, my mother was always so happy to see me,” Eberle said. Miller died in March 2017 at age 94.

Letting go of unrealistic expectations can defuse conflicts. This is the final stage of your journey with your parents. Try to put angst to one side and help make this time meaningful for them and for you. Most of all, your parents want to feel emotionally connected and accepted, even in a diminished state.


Full Article & Source:
Parenting Your Aging Parents When They Don’t Want Help

Britney Spears Conservatorship Wins Court Battle ... In Free Britney Movement



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Britney Spears Conservatorship Wins Court Battle ... In Free Britney Movement

Friday, December 27, 2019

Reversal: Court wrongly denied evidence alleging guardianship mismanagement

A Boone County trial court wrongly rejected a husband’s effort to show that the guardianship for his wife was being financially mismanaged and should be terminated, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Thursday, finding the judge overseeing the case failed to properly notify him of regular accountings.

A few years after Gwendolyn M. Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, her daughter, Mary Elizabeth Spaw, was appointed as her sole guardian in September 2014. Reagan moved from Lebanon to live with Spaw in her home in Kendallville from November 2014-March 2015, at which time she returned to Lebanon to live with her husband, Thomas Meranda, who had retired and could care for her at home, according to the record.

“At that time, Reagan’s monthly allowance was increased to allow for eating out and hairdresser appointments, while Meranda was reimbursed for medical expenses he paid on behalf of Reagan after providing the receipts to Spaw. On September 16, 2016, Spaw filed her verified guardian’s second amended inventory, with notice to Reagan. Three days later, the trial court approved the filing without a notice or hearing,” Judge Patricia Riley wrote.

“On June 8, 2017, Spaw filed a petition for authority to clean-up and sell Reagan’s real estate … . In her petition, Spaw noted that the property had been empty for years and had deteriorated as a result.  The trial court granted the petition without notice, hearing, or service of the order.

“On June 21, 2018, Meranda filed a pro se letter with the trial court advising the court that because Spaw had not been paying Reagan’s medical bills, he had been forced to pay them and was falling in debt,” Riley continued. “Meranda requested that Spaw find Reagan another place to live due to the possibility of Meranda’s mortgage being foreclosed. A month later, on July 18, 2018, Spaw submitted a status report to the trial court, advising the court ‘that the medical bills are being paid by the Guardian herein.'”

Again, Boone Superior Judge Matthew Kincaid approved Spaw’s report and accounting without notice or hearing.

“On February 11, 2019, Meranda, represented by counsel, filed an emergency petition for termination of the guardianship and for succession of guardianship. In his petition, Meranda asserted that Spaw had mismanaged Reagan’s estate and failed to provide for Reagan’s physical and mental needs. In addition, he claimed to have incurred more than $40,000 of unreimbursed medical and personal expenses in his care for Reagan. On February 13, 2019, Spaw filed her response to Meranda’s emergency petition contending that the accountings ‘were approved [by the court] and none of which were appealed by Meranda’ and ‘no objections were raised at any time until the recent filing.’”

The trial court held a hearing on Meranda’s petition about a month later, finding it was “substantially a rehashing of issues previously decided.” The trial court denied Meranda’s petition and awarded Spaw attorney fees, finding his petition frivolous.

The COA reversed and remanded in Thomas Meranda v. Mary Elizabeth Spaw, 19A-GU-1218.

“Meranda’s main argument focuses on the trial court’s refusal to admit evidence of Spaw’s financial mismanagement of Reagan’s estate and the unreimbursed medical expenses incurred in his care for Reagan. The trial court denied their admission because the issues had been ‘previously decided’ and the trial court was ‘not going to revisit any of those.’ … (Meranda) now contends that because the trial court’s orders, accepting Spaw’s accountings and inventory, were decided ex parte, the issues are not definitely concluded and can still be challenged in the current proceedings,” Riley wrote.

“… Here, Spaw’s accounts of administration and inventories were not filed as part of a final settlement and discharge, but amounted to intermittent financial reports of the guardianship. The record is silent as to any evidence that the trial court notified Reagan, or in case of waiver, Meranda, of the filing and the subsequent court hearing.  As no notice was given — and according to the record, no hearings were held — the trial court’s orders were issued ex parte. While an ex parte order is permitted, it is not binding on Meranda and can still be challenged and reviewed ‘at any subsequent time.’ See I.C. § 29-3-9-6(f).

“… Accordingly, because the trial court issued ex parte orders on Spaw’s interim accountings, Meranda may still challenge these findings,” the panel concluded. “While we acknowledge the discretionary power of the trial court of its subsequent review of the ex parte orders, here, the trial court erred by declaring the ex parte orders to have been conclusively decided and by denying admission of evidence purporting to establish financial mismanagement of Reagan’s estate and unreimbursed medical invoices.  We reverse the trial court’s Order denying Meranda’s petition and remand for a new hearing.”

In a footnote, the panel also reversed the grant of attorney fees to Spaw.

Full Article & Source:
Reversal: Court wrongly denied evidence alleging guardianship mismanagement

Year in Review: Several attorneys’ lawlessness, recklessness gave lawyers a bad name in past year

Most Hoosier attorneys will never face a formal disciplinary complaint for misconduct. But in 2019, the bad behavior of a few lawyers resulted in professional sanctions or criminal charges. Here is a look back at some of the most egregious professional lowlights from the past year.

Schererville attorney Raymond Gupta was suspended in an emergency order in June, after which he was indicted in federal court for tax evasion and failing to file tax returns. The Internal Revenue Service alleges Gupta owes more than $2 million.

Gupta also is accused of paying personal expenses from his law firm’s bank accounts. The expenses include the purchase of vehicles, rent for a downtown Chicago apartment, furnishings for two homes, monthly mortgage payments, a $150,000 payment for an option to buy a personal residence and the purchase of a personal residence for nearly $1.1 million.

Gupta faces 22 disciplinary counts, including failing to maintain trust account records, commingling his funds with those of his clients, failing to promptly deliver client funds, charging and/or collecting unreasonable fees or expenses, and failing to explain to clients their options when an associate attorney left his firm.

Suspended South Bend attorney Sven Eric Marshall was arrested in Florida in January after the FBI launched a nationwide manhunt. Marshall was accused of defrauding elderly investors of more than $2.5 million.

Marshall abruptly closed his office – where he ran an enterprise called Trust & Advisory Services of Indiana – in 2017 and stopped communicating with clients. He was believed to be living in South Carolina.

After his return to federal district court in northern Indiana, Marshall pleaded guilty this spring to charges of mail fraud, securities fraud and bank fraud. He is still awaiting sentencing, according to online court records.

Suspended Indianapolis attorney Raymond Fairchild made news in recent years when he was disciplined for exposing himself while driving alongside a bus carrying members of a girls high school basketball team. After pleading guilty to public indecency in 2018, Fairchild was charged this year with Level 5 felony theft, accused of stealing more than $50,000 from the proceeds of a client’s settlement in a wrongful death case.

Fairchild resigned from the bar a little more than a month after his latest criminal charge. His trial on the felony theft charge is currently scheduled to begin in February.

Warsaw attorney Scott Joseph Lennox was suspended in November for noncooperation with an Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission investigation. While the contents of the four grievances against Lennox were not disclosed, the former partner in the Warsaw firm of Lennox, Sobek & Buehler LLC was charged in April with six counts of Level 6 felony theft and two counts of Level 5 felony fraud on a financial institution.

Lennox is accused of stealing thousands from his law firm’s trust and operating accounts. He is awaiting trial in neighboring Marshall County.

Suspended Greenwood attorney Kenneth Shane Service, who was initially charged three years ago in Lawrence County with stealing from his former special-needs trusts clients, is now charged in four counties, three of which have issued warrants for his arrest after he failed to appear for court hearings.

Service has yet to stand trial on felony theft charges he faces in Delaware, Franklin, Lawrence and Marion counties. He is criminally charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from disabled former clients around the state. Coupled with civil complaints on behalf of other former clients whose special-needs trusts he administered, Service is suspected of taking a total of more than $300,000.

Former Brownsburg attorney Scott C. Cole was sentenced in September to 2½ years in prison after he pleaded guilty to federal charges of income tax evasion.

The Internal Revenue Service charged Cole, who resigned from the Indiana bar in 2014, with failing to report more than $1.5 million in income for the 2001 and 2002 tax years. From 2012 through 2017, when the IRS sought to collect the money, he took extensive steps to evade paying, according to Cole’s plea agreement.

Indianapolis attorney Brent Welke was suspended from the practice of law for three years after he hired a convicted killer in 2010 to persuade a defendant charged with murder to ditch his public defender and instead hire Welke to represent him. The client’s family paid Welke $6,000, but the Indiana Supreme Court found that Welke was unprepared for trial and never provided an interpreter for his client, who had a language barrier.

The client eventually accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to 45 years in prison, but after his plea was vacated on post-conviction relief, he was convicted at retrial and sentenced to 55 years.

The Indiana Supreme Court concluded in a September disciplinary order that Welke had provided a “woefully inadequate” defense. Justice Steven David dissented from the three-year suspension and instead would have disbarred Welke.

Former Johnson County Prosecutor Bradley Cooper was suspended from the practice of law in August after he pleaded guilty in a domestic violence case and was sentenced in July. Cooper confessed at sentencing to allegations he struck his fiancee, confined her and pretended to be her in text messages. (More here.)•


Full Article & Source:
Year in Review: Several attorneys’ lawlessness, recklessness gave lawyers a bad name in past year

Miles City woman ordered to pay $94,000 restitution in elderly exploitation case

A Miles City woman who recently pleaded guilty to exploitation of an older person received a suspended sentence and was ordered to pay more than $94,000 in restitution to her victim’s estate.

Del Linda Frost, 60, of Miles City was charged with theft of property by embezzlement and the exploitation of an older person, both felonies, on Jan. 3, 2019. According to a press release from the Montana Department of Justice, at a change of plea hearing on Oct. 28 Frost pleaded guilty to the exploitation charge involving the now-deceased victim, Arthur Yamada, in Custer County between March 10, 2014 and March 14, 2018.

At a sentencing hearing on Dec. 16, Judge Michael Hayworth ordered Frost to pay $94,075 in restitution and sentenced her to 10 years in prison with all time suspended.

“This case was especially troublesome, given that the defendant worked in a law office and should have had the best interests of Mr. Yamada in mind when she was appointed as his conservator,” Montana Attorney General Tim Fox said. “Instead of acting conscientiously, Ms. Frost viewed Mr. Yamada as a tempting target and began embezzling his life savings almost immediately. Financial exploitation of seniors is a serious crime; one we must all guard against. I commend the nursing home business manager who alerted authorities when she suspected something was wrong, as well as my Division of Criminal Investigation’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Custer County Attorney’s Office for their diligent work on this case.”

The Justice Department press release states Frost was appointed temporary full conservator of Yamada on March 10, 2014; she became his permanent co-conservator on January 22, 2016. On August 23, 2017, the business manager of the nursing home where Yamada lived informed Miles City police that an $8,400 check from Yamada written by Frost had bounced.

Frost wrote two more checks totaling $14,382 to the nursing home; those checks also failed to clear. Additionally, Frost wrote several checks from Yamada’s checking account for cash, which emptied the account and left Yamada unable to pay for his care.

Frost also closed two certificates of deposit totaling almost $40,000. To cover the loss, Frost transferred funds from Yamada’s other bank accounts. To explain the checks issued for cash, Frost claimed they were for Yamada’s monthly allowance and items for his personal use. Frost was unable to explain why nearly $94,000 was missing, and resigned as Yamada’s co-conservator on March 14, 2018.

Yamada died on August 2, 2018 at the age of 97.

The investigation by the Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation began on Oct. 17, 2017, when the Miles City Police Department requested assistance from DCI’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Full Article & Source:
Miles City woman ordered to pay $94,000 restitution in elderly exploitation case