An Excelsior woman joined the ranks of Minnesotans who lose control of their finances to lightly regulated guardians and conservators.
Peggy Greer will be 86 in March. That month will mark the fourth anniversary of her strange journey through the justice system in which she overcame a life crisis but her assets disappeared with the approval of a Hennepin County judge.
For more than two years, Greer was among a growing number of Minnesotans living under the authority of a guardian and conservator. The court- appointed officials had broad power over her life once a judge deemed Greer incapable of making decisions about her housing, health care or finances.
Disturbed by the decisions made on her behalf, Greer repeatedly fought to regain control of her affairs. During that time, the guardian, Professional Fiduciary Inc. (PFI), and the conservator, Wells Fargo Elder Services, spent more than $600,000 of her money, much of it on health care for her that some family members called excessive. Nearly $100,000 went to lawyers.
Greer: "My money was all used up, was all gone, without my knowledge or OK or anything."
In Greer's case, in the spring of 2007, the guardian no longer opposed having her rights restored. The change coincided with the fact that Greer's assets had been exhausted.
Full Article and Source:
2 years, $672,808 gone
Peggy Greer will be 86 in March. That month will mark the fourth anniversary of her strange journey through the justice system in which she overcame a life crisis but her assets disappeared with the approval of a Hennepin County judge.
For more than two years, Greer was among a growing number of Minnesotans living under the authority of a guardian and conservator. The court- appointed officials had broad power over her life once a judge deemed Greer incapable of making decisions about her housing, health care or finances.
Disturbed by the decisions made on her behalf, Greer repeatedly fought to regain control of her affairs. During that time, the guardian, Professional Fiduciary Inc. (PFI), and the conservator, Wells Fargo Elder Services, spent more than $600,000 of her money, much of it on health care for her that some family members called excessive. Nearly $100,000 went to lawyers.
Greer: "My money was all used up, was all gone, without my knowledge or OK or anything."
In Greer's case, in the spring of 2007, the guardian no longer opposed having her rights restored. The change coincided with the fact that Greer's assets had been exhausted.
Full Article and Source:
2 years, $672,808 gone
There is only one good thing to this story and that's that Mrs. Greer got to keep her home and live there.
ReplyDelete"Got to" -- isn't that awful phrasing?
It's her home, her money, and should be her decision. But once the predators got a hold of her, they just helped themselves.
May they all rot in hell.
As Blogmaster for http://www.greatplacesinc.com, I read this article in today's Minneapolis newspaper, and immediately recalled Ms. Renoire's
ReplyDeletewarnings about the subject of guardian and conservatorship abuse in the blog she wrote for our website
(http://www.greatplacesinc.com/Blog/EntryDisplay.aspx?EntryID=490). Front-page coverage of this subject, as happened in the Minneapolis newspaper will, hopefully, focus more attention on this extremely important, mostly overlooked, subject.
"Money Used Up" indicts a system in which there appears to be massive fraud, theft and collusion, all of which are blithely approved by an unwary judicial system.
Kudos to this website for your continued vigilance.
The following file will show you who are the lawyers and referee for this case:
ReplyDeleteREGISTER OF ACTIONS
CASE NO. 27-GC-PR-04-292
In re the Guardianship and/or Conservatorship of Peggy Greer, Ward §
§
§
§
§ Case Type: Guardianship/Conservatorship
Date Filed: 07/02/2004
Location: - Hennepin Probate Mental Health
RELATED CASE INFORMATION
Related Cases
27-MH-PR-04-1197 (Administrative)
27-GC-PR-04-564 (Administrative)
27-GC-PR-06-709 (Administrative)
27-GC-PR-07-10 (Administrative)
PARTY INFORMATION
Lead Attorneys
Conservator WELLS FARGO BANK
Minneapolis, MN 55402 MCLEOD, ROBERT ANTHONY
Retained
Guardian Professional Fiduciary, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN 55418 OSTROM, RUTH YUUKO
Retained
Petitioner Greer, Peggy
Excelsior, MN 55331
03/20/1923 PONCIN, ALLAN R
Court Appointed
Petitioner Wyrk, Judith
Edina, MN 55410 AMUNDSON, LUTHER M
Retained
Ward Greer, Peggy
Excelsior, MN 55331
03/20/1923 PONCIN, ALLAN R
Court Appointed
EVENTS & ORDERS OF THE COURT
DISPOSITIONS
03/08/2005 Guardianship/Conservatorship (Judicial Officer: Wolfson, Richard)
The facts of this case are outrageous, bordering on criminal. This case shows the ward was a source of money and set free when her assets were exhausted.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone believes otherwise, they are fools, fooling themselves.
Most of us fortunately are not fools.
At least the guardianship case files are "open" in MN with available court events for review.
In the STATE OF WISCONSIN, all guardianship case files are: CLOSED / SEALED.
Why?
In addition, guardianship case numbers in the STATE OF WISCONSIN or court events are not available via the Internet.
Interestingly, all other WISCONSIN case numbers and court events web pagees including civil, criminal, family court, DUI's etc are available to the public via the Internet.
Why?
This article is very well done and shows clearly that guardianship is all about protecting the Ward's money for the benefit of the guardians.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the reporter and to the Greer family.
Mrs. Greer is a class act.
Excellent article.
ReplyDeleteGuardianship racket is run like organized crime nationwide with the only light shining on these greedy criminals is by the press and the media.
Thank You! for your hard work and efforts to educate society. Knowledge is power.
And, to the Greer family, I am so sorry that you were forced into the pool of sharks.
You are very fortunate that your mother survived, I believe that is a miracle.
I think all of these crooks need to be locked up now; they need to be prosecuted without mercy.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Greer is entitled to have all of her stolen money returned to her and more.
These financial predators in their color of law costumes need a harsh punishment, like working on a prisoner road gang 7 days a week, 12 hour days with all of their earned income as prisoners turned over to Mrs. Greer.
And, I have other creative ideas/suggestions to send a strong message to others who are doing this right now, nationwide, as I write this.