As we move to 2009, remember the lesson from three frail old ladies — Margot Claus, Marilyn Plank and Rose Quattro — who escaped the shackles of probate court-imposed "conservatorship" this year.
Right now, judges from the state's 117 probate courts are considering their own recommendations for reform that they will give to the legislature. Not surprisingly, the judges don't appear too eager: They will not propose consolidating the sprawling court system, let alone requiring that judges be lawyers.
Which is why the cases of Claus, Plank and Quattro must not be forgotten.
These were typical probate cases of three women from very different places: Germany, Michigan and East Hartford. All had strikingly different economic backgrounds. Their cases surfaced in courts in different regions of the state. Without media attention, all might still be conserved.
Each woman was deemed unable to manage her own affairs and, in effect, locked up by probate court. Claus and Plank were conserved under questionable circumstances. Quattro merely wanted to leave a nursing home and live at home with her son.
With Claus and Quattro, even the court-appointed conservators fought attempts to release them from their conservatorship. The judge in Plank's case sat on a plea to free her for a year. How many more cases are there like this, buried within our 300-year-old probate bureaucracy?
Full Article and Source:
Women's Cases Cry Out For Probate Reform
Past Columns Calling For Probate Reform
See also:
NASGA - Connecticut
Right now, judges from the state's 117 probate courts are considering their own recommendations for reform that they will give to the legislature. Not surprisingly, the judges don't appear too eager: They will not propose consolidating the sprawling court system, let alone requiring that judges be lawyers.
Which is why the cases of Claus, Plank and Quattro must not be forgotten.
These were typical probate cases of three women from very different places: Germany, Michigan and East Hartford. All had strikingly different economic backgrounds. Their cases surfaced in courts in different regions of the state. Without media attention, all might still be conserved.
Each woman was deemed unable to manage her own affairs and, in effect, locked up by probate court. Claus and Plank were conserved under questionable circumstances. Quattro merely wanted to leave a nursing home and live at home with her son.
With Claus and Quattro, even the court-appointed conservators fought attempts to release them from their conservatorship. The judge in Plank's case sat on a plea to free her for a year. How many more cases are there like this, buried within our 300-year-old probate bureaucracy?
Full Article and Source:
Women's Cases Cry Out For Probate Reform
Past Columns Calling For Probate Reform
See also:
NASGA - Connecticut
3 comments:
Rick Green tells it like it is once again. Thank heaven he's watching out for the vulnerable elderly because the CT probate court sure isn't!
Thank you Rick Green, for taking on the abuse of the elderly and vulnerable by the CT probate court and never letting go!
Reporter Rick Green is doing a fantastic job with exposing the dangers of guardianship.
Knowledge is power.
Mr. Green continues to give the people more knowledge and the opportunity for the people, potential future victims of the guardianship racket to take appropriate actions to protect themselves from financial predators.
Priceless!
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