2001 - Court-appointed lawyers are siphoning off millions of dollars in fees from the assets of helpless elderly New Yorkers they are sworn to protect.
Nine years after a legislative overhaul of the state's guardianship laws, reforms meant to protect the assets of the elderly have had the unintended effect of creating a money trough for well-connected attorneys.
Since 1993, New York-area attorneys have been paid at least $63 million in fees from the assets of mostly elderly people whose money they were assigned to protect, according to a Daily News computer analysis of data provided by the state.
A News investigation into the guardianship system has found:
* Case after case of elderly wards whose life savings have been whittled away. Some lawyers are charging $300 an hour or more to perform routine functions, such as going over bank statements.
* A small cadre of lawyers - party loyalists, former judges and partners in the firms of some of the city's most powerful politicians - who receive the overwhelming majority of lucrative guardianship cases.
* Attorneys and judges who routinely ignore court rules designed to limit the number of guardianship-related appointments to no more than one per year that pays $5,000 or more.
* Judges and lawyers who do not report all guardianship appointments and legal fees to the state's Office of Court Administration. Court officials acknowledge many fees go unreported, a problem they say they are trying to correct.
* Few lawyers who are willing to take on the cases of those elderly people, often in nursing homes and without court-appointed guardians or family, with little or no assets.
Full Article and Source:
SENIOR TAKEN FOR MILLIONS Lawyers rack up fat fees as guardians to the helpless
Nine years after a legislative overhaul of the state's guardianship laws, reforms meant to protect the assets of the elderly have had the unintended effect of creating a money trough for well-connected attorneys.
Since 1993, New York-area attorneys have been paid at least $63 million in fees from the assets of mostly elderly people whose money they were assigned to protect, according to a Daily News computer analysis of data provided by the state.
A News investigation into the guardianship system has found:
* Case after case of elderly wards whose life savings have been whittled away. Some lawyers are charging $300 an hour or more to perform routine functions, such as going over bank statements.
* A small cadre of lawyers - party loyalists, former judges and partners in the firms of some of the city's most powerful politicians - who receive the overwhelming majority of lucrative guardianship cases.
* Attorneys and judges who routinely ignore court rules designed to limit the number of guardianship-related appointments to no more than one per year that pays $5,000 or more.
* Judges and lawyers who do not report all guardianship appointments and legal fees to the state's Office of Court Administration. Court officials acknowledge many fees go unreported, a problem they say they are trying to correct.
* Few lawyers who are willing to take on the cases of those elderly people, often in nursing homes and without court-appointed guardians or family, with little or no assets.
Full Article and Source:
3 comments:
This is a good article that shows the plundering of the elderly and disabled has been going on - successfully - for years.
And what's changed since 2001?
You probably think I'm going to say, "Nothing" but you'd be wrong.
What's changed is the pirates have gotten better at it.
You're 100% right, Anonymous 2, they're just getting better at it.
I am glad NASGA exists to expose the corruption and work for reform.
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