Elder Abuse or Slavery

Murray Feingold is old enough to retire. He has been a Postal worker for over forty years. He holds a full time position earning approximately $50,000 a year, in addition to working extensive overtime.

Murray was happy for all those years until he was introduced to the judicial system in 2000. The landlord of the building he had been living in for the prior ten years refused to make what Murray considered necessary repairs, so Murray resorted to self help and withheld a portion of the rent. The apartment that Murray was living in was rent controlled, so it is easy to understand why the landlord decided to start eviction proceedings.

Instead of eviction, Murray was placed under guardianship by Hon. Anthony Cutrona Justice of the Supreme Court in Kings County, Brooklyn, NY in March of 2001 in order to protect him.

This is when, Murray says his life turned into a nightmare. When a guardian is appointed for a person, all their civil rights are lost. Murray could no longer control his own money. The court ordered that all of Murrays salary, including all overtime pay must be sent to the guardian, a company ironically called Self Help Community Services, Inc. Each week, the guardian returns a total of $325 which he and his wife are expected to live on.

A recent copy of payments made by the guardian on behalf of Murray were impossible to decipher. Many of Murrays over due bills to places like cable and cell phone companies, as well as one credit card bill, were in arrears. Some were accumulating interest almost equalling the minimum amounts being paid by the guardian. There was no indication of the amount of fees taken out by the guardianship company as compensation for their services. For the forty years prior to having a guardian, Murray claims, he had no problems paying all his bills, including car payments.

Murray is in dire need of dental work. He is missing a few of his bottom teeth. Murray claims that he had been having dental work done but when the bill became five hundred dollars, the guardian would no longer pay it.

He is more concerned with his loss of hearing which is having a negative effect at his job. He says that his co-workers find it annoying because they have to constantly repeat instructions because Murray cant hear them when they speak. Sometimes people mistake his loudness for aggressiveness. According to Murray, he had a hearing test done last week and he is totally deaf in his right ear and partially deaf in his left. He said that he had ordered three hearing aids from a company called Hearing Aid Express using a personal check, but the guardian cancelled them.

It is hard to believe that a guardian of a person would not immediately address the issues which are negatively effecting the health and well-being of someone under their watch.

Murray has made his problem known to many agencies in New York, has contacted and emailed the first lady, Oprah Winfrey, etc. and has been told that they can not help him. Murray says he has written to Judge Cutrona asking for a hearing in order to get rid of this guardianship so often that recently the Judge wrote back accusing Murray of harassing him.

Question. Why doesn't Murray just retire and quit his job? Answer: The guardian will get his pension.

Being a victim of a guardianship is like being caught in quicksand. You don't realize what you have gotten yourself into, and it is near impossible to get out.