The Nightmare:
A very real possibility that you or someone you love will be forced to surrender your decision-making powers over almost all personal and financial matters at some point during your senior years. Surrender to whom? Surrender to a friend, a relative or a total stranger who convinces one judge in an unwanted conservatorship or guardianship proceeding that you are no longer managing your affairs in a reasonable manner.
The Book:
Most people do not know that being old in America exposes them to ruinously expensive and patently unnecessary conservatorships and guardianships. In the hands of disgruntled or angry adult children, step-children, nieces and nephews or even by total strangers in the social welfare community, these secretive state laws can strip the elderly of their personal and financial independence for the rest of their lives.
The Laws:
Conservatorship and guardianship codes were developed to help the state safeguard the interests of "infants and lunatics." States now act in their role as "parens patriae," or "parent of the country," to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Over time, however, states have begun to interfere in the lives of people who are simply OLD and who are making decisions about personal and/or financial matters that are different from or less "reasonable" than decisions made by younger people (whatever "reasonable" might mean in a given court on a given day).
The Proceedings:
The system is completely weighted against the elderly. Once in court, you must prove you are not incompetent. You must prove you are capable of providing for your food, clothing and shelter. You must prove that you are capable of making every financial decision without the undue influence of another human being--surely a very artificial definition of autonomy! Yet there is no clear way to prove you are NOT incompetent, and there is a presumption of incompetence and incapacity based on age alone.
The Lawyers:
If the proposed ward cannot afford an attorney, he may or may not be assigned one, depending on the state. Stop to think how ironic this is: a person alleged to be incompetent is then expected to appear in court without a lawyer to defend his/her personal and/or financial freedoms.
How Can it Happen:
An example of this egregious fact drawn from the pages of The Los Angeles Times (November 1997). Glen Hawkins, 89, had bicycled two miles from his Orange County home in Leisure World, California, to confer with his investment counselor. Once there, he was told that the $380,000 in his account was no longer his to control. A professional conservator had been assigned to manage his financial and personal affairs. As Mr. Hawkins soon learned, he already owed almost $1,200 in conservator and attorney fees. How could this be? A social worker at Glen Hawkins' retirement community had filed a petition for an emergency conservatorship over Mr. Hawkins, claiming that he was too ill to attend the required hearing and too addled to understand the legal proceeding.
No One is Totally Safe:
Try to imagine a time when you are over 62 and living alone. Perhaps your spouse has died, you are alienated from your children, and you've moved far away from your relatives. You are aging well, but you finally reach a point when you really do need a little help managing your investments or driving to the stores and the bank. You have just become a sitting duck for anyone who wants to takeover the control of your money and of your affairs for the rest of your life.
Who Pays:
If a judge decides you are not making "reasonable decisions" concerning your life and your money and appoints someone else to control your retirement years, guess what? YOU get to pay for every single expense involved in the conservatorship or guardianship proceeding. YOU will pay for all attorneys' fees for BOTH sides. YOU pay for every expert witness who is called by either side, and YOU pay for all court costs.
Freedom Lost:
Simply put, you are reduced to the legal status of an unemancipated child. You are no longer considered to be an independent adult.
Protect Yourself:
These so-called "protective proceedings" should never be used to control any adult of any age whose decision-making capacity is intact.
Full Article and Source:
Ten Questions - The Retirement Nightmare
See also: The Retirement Nightmare
Dr. Diane G. Armstrong is a clinical psychologist who lives in Santa Barbara with her husband Bruce. They have been married since 1966. Mother of two adult daughters, she works as a writer and consultant specializing in the abuse of involuntary conservatorship and guardianship proceedings in today's courts.
Her breakthrough book was inspired by the million-dollar court battle that ensued when four of her six siblings attempted to establish an involuntary conservatorship over their competent 72-year-old mother. The book exposes a web of state laws that were originally created to protect "infants and lunatics" and are now being used to strip elderly men and women of financial and personal independence during their golden years of retirement.
A very real possibility that you or someone you love will be forced to surrender your decision-making powers over almost all personal and financial matters at some point during your senior years. Surrender to whom? Surrender to a friend, a relative or a total stranger who convinces one judge in an unwanted conservatorship or guardianship proceeding that you are no longer managing your affairs in a reasonable manner.
The Book:
Most people do not know that being old in America exposes them to ruinously expensive and patently unnecessary conservatorships and guardianships. In the hands of disgruntled or angry adult children, step-children, nieces and nephews or even by total strangers in the social welfare community, these secretive state laws can strip the elderly of their personal and financial independence for the rest of their lives.
The Laws:
Conservatorship and guardianship codes were developed to help the state safeguard the interests of "infants and lunatics." States now act in their role as "parens patriae," or "parent of the country," to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Over time, however, states have begun to interfere in the lives of people who are simply OLD and who are making decisions about personal and/or financial matters that are different from or less "reasonable" than decisions made by younger people (whatever "reasonable" might mean in a given court on a given day).
The Proceedings:
The system is completely weighted against the elderly. Once in court, you must prove you are not incompetent. You must prove you are capable of providing for your food, clothing and shelter. You must prove that you are capable of making every financial decision without the undue influence of another human being--surely a very artificial definition of autonomy! Yet there is no clear way to prove you are NOT incompetent, and there is a presumption of incompetence and incapacity based on age alone.
The Lawyers:
If the proposed ward cannot afford an attorney, he may or may not be assigned one, depending on the state. Stop to think how ironic this is: a person alleged to be incompetent is then expected to appear in court without a lawyer to defend his/her personal and/or financial freedoms.
How Can it Happen:
An example of this egregious fact drawn from the pages of The Los Angeles Times (November 1997). Glen Hawkins, 89, had bicycled two miles from his Orange County home in Leisure World, California, to confer with his investment counselor. Once there, he was told that the $380,000 in his account was no longer his to control. A professional conservator had been assigned to manage his financial and personal affairs. As Mr. Hawkins soon learned, he already owed almost $1,200 in conservator and attorney fees. How could this be? A social worker at Glen Hawkins' retirement community had filed a petition for an emergency conservatorship over Mr. Hawkins, claiming that he was too ill to attend the required hearing and too addled to understand the legal proceeding.
No One is Totally Safe:
Try to imagine a time when you are over 62 and living alone. Perhaps your spouse has died, you are alienated from your children, and you've moved far away from your relatives. You are aging well, but you finally reach a point when you really do need a little help managing your investments or driving to the stores and the bank. You have just become a sitting duck for anyone who wants to takeover the control of your money and of your affairs for the rest of your life.
Who Pays:
If a judge decides you are not making "reasonable decisions" concerning your life and your money and appoints someone else to control your retirement years, guess what? YOU get to pay for every single expense involved in the conservatorship or guardianship proceeding. YOU will pay for all attorneys' fees for BOTH sides. YOU pay for every expert witness who is called by either side, and YOU pay for all court costs.
Freedom Lost:
Simply put, you are reduced to the legal status of an unemancipated child. You are no longer considered to be an independent adult.
Protect Yourself:
These so-called "protective proceedings" should never be used to control any adult of any age whose decision-making capacity is intact.
Full Article and Source:
Ten Questions - The Retirement Nightmare
See also: The Retirement Nightmare
Dr. Diane G. Armstrong is a clinical psychologist who lives in Santa Barbara with her husband Bruce. They have been married since 1966. Mother of two adult daughters, she works as a writer and consultant specializing in the abuse of involuntary conservatorship and guardianship proceedings in today's courts.
Her breakthrough book was inspired by the million-dollar court battle that ensued when four of her six siblings attempted to establish an involuntary conservatorship over their competent 72-year-old mother. The book exposes a web of state laws that were originally created to protect "infants and lunatics" and are now being used to strip elderly men and women of financial and personal independence during their golden years of retirement.
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