HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year?

In 1946,3,411,000 babies were born,following the end of World War II.

Here are some of the birth statistics for the next few years:

1947 3,817,000
1948 3,637,000
1949 3,649,000
1950 3,632,000

The numbers increased, going into the '50s.

Every year, starting in 2011, another 3 million or more individuals will become 65 years old.

What's in store for them?

NASGA knows -
Loss of life, liberty, property, and happiness -
if the "fiduciary" tag teams playing in the guardianship and conservatorship courts get ahold of them!

Don't let that happen. Learn your rights and make them play by the rules.

Join and Support NASGA
www.StopGuardianAbuse.org

Impromptu Performance!

An elderly couple walked into the lobby of the Mayo Clinic for a checkup and spotted a piano. They've been married for 62 years and he'll be 90 this year. Check out this impromptu performance. We are only as old as we feel, it's all attitude.



Source:
YouTube

Update : Britney Spears Conservatorship Continues

Guess it’s not coming to an end after all.

Poppa Jamie Spears will still have control over daughter Britney Spears‘ life after a judge ruled to extend the conservatorship.

The judge didn’t say how much longer Jaime will be getting his $16,000 a month paycheck for watching Brit Brit, but lawyers expect it to last anywhere from 6 to 12 months.

Also getting a nice payout from the judge was Britney’s co-conservator Andrew Wallet. From July to November, the judge granted a $174,569.10 payment. The lawyers also got paid as well, receiving $300,000 for legal fees.

That was an expensive trip to court.

Another hearing will take place after the holidays on January 14th.

Full Article and Source:
Britney Stil Not in Control. Conservatorship Extended!

See Also:
Britney Spears Hearing Scheduled for October 14

Disbarred FL Attorney Cops Deal

A disbarred Fort Lauderdale attorney pleaded guilty to a mail fraud charge, admitting he ripped off clients of more than $2.4 million. Joseph Sindaco, who practiced law in South Florida for three decades, stole from four clients' trust funds and used the money to pay personal expenses. He had specialized in estate and trust cases and real estate closings.

Sindaco, 63, now faces up to 20 years in federal prison when sentenced Feb. 24 by U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn. The recommended federal sentencing guidelines call for Sindaco to serve a prison term of at least 41 months, according to his plea agreement. In addition, he agreed to pay $2.4 million in restitution to his four victims. One of them lost $1.8 million.

Sindaco cut a deal in August with the Florida Bar to surrender his law license and be disbarred for five years. He admitted during those proceedings he misappropriated about $445,000 from two clients. The mail fraud charge against Sindaco arose from his handling of the estate of Werner Clauss, an 82-year-old who died at a Lauderdale Lakes nursing home in 2008. Sindaco liquidated Clauss' investment account and transferred the money to his law firm's trust account, according to federal court records.

Full Article and Source:
Disbarred Lawyer Cops Plea in $2.4M + Client/Trust Escrow Funds Swindle; Admits Snatching Closing Cash Meant for Loan Payoffs; Ripping off Dead Client

'Lynched by Court Order"

Today, we revisit "Lynched by Court Order" from 2008...


Source:
YouTube: Lynched by Court Order, Part 1


Source:
YouTube: Lynched by Court Order, Part 2


Source:
YouTube: Lynched by Court Order, Part 3

Website: Courthouse Steps

Taking issues up the courthouse steps!

The rights of Americans are being challenged; the checks and balances envisioned by the Founders has been replaced with judicial activism and regulation that usurps the legislative process. Law is not made by duly elected representatives, it is rendered by decree from appointed judges with little public recourse.

There is a need for Americans to be aware of the Constitutional challenges and erosion of The Bill of Rights that is occurring daily in the courts of our nation. These issues will be covered, analyzed, and brought out in the light of day…at the courthouse steps.

Source:
Courthouse Steps

No Fairy Tale Ending for Walt Disney's Grandchildren

Walt Disney's grandchildren have been entangled in a complex family feud in Maricopa County Probate Court over their inheritance. The controversy was covered in depth by the Arizona Republic, and illustrates the problems that can arise when co-trustees, family and friends fight over an inheritance.

The Money at Stake: Walt made sure his grandchildren were going to be well taken care of financially. Before his death, Walt created a trust which provided each grandchild with an estimated $20 million disbursement at the ages of 35, 40, and 45, in addition to substantial yearly distributions.

Among their duties, the trustees were responsible for evaluating whether the children were competent to receive the monetary distributions. Once the children received the money, they could use it as they pleased.

No Fairy Tale Ending: Although this story didn't have a fairy tale ending, the Disney family fight did end. The family reached agreement when Bill agreed to step down from his children's trust funds.

In a column he wrote for the Arizona Republic, Bill explained, "What has transpired over the past year has been pure torture. I have not been able to speak to my daughter in private for nearly a year."

This was certainly not the fairly tale ending Walt hoped for when he created the trusts.

Full Article and Source:
Walt Disney's Grandchildren Have Been Entangled in a Complex Family Feud in Maricopa County Probate Court Over Their Inheritance.

See Also:
Judge in Disney Case Orders Arrest of Lawyer

Editorial: Death Panels Do Exist...Just Ask Sara Harvey

Do you think the government in Chemung County County should determine your social environment and other social aspects of your life including who visits you and for how often and long and supervised , especially your family and friends if you should become incapacitated with no facts based on innuendos, hear say?

Do you think the government in Chemung County should decide whether you live or die, even imposing a do not resuscitate order (DNR), decide to end your life in the absence of a living will and not knowing what your wishes are?

Gary Harvey is poster ward for “Government Intrusion on Family Lives.” Does Chemung County - who are strangers to Gary Harvey - know his favorite color, his favorite food, his favorite sport and team? Do they know who his likes and dislikes, religion? Well, for Gary Harvey they decide his social life, medical decisions, where his money is spent, and where he resides...all against his wishes.

Full Article and Source:
Death Panels Do Exist....Just Ask Sara Harvey

See Also:
Bobby Schindler Interview on Behalf of Gary and Sara Harvey

HelpBringGaryHome.com

Convicted Embezzler is Charged Again With Theft

Alan R. Jonas, 63, of New Britain, is charged with stealing $72,000 from an 83-year-old Manchester woman who has Alzheimer's disease. Jonas had been appointed her conservator.

Assistant State's Attorney Kevin Shay told Superior Court Judge David P. Gold that Jonas is also under investigation for alleged thefts in Southington and New Britain.

According to the warrant for Jonas' arrest, $107,507 was on hand when he was appointed conservator in March 2009. By February of this year, Jonas had vanished and his wife began divorce proceedings. On Monday, Jonas said he was "out of the country" at the time.

By February, the Manchester Probate Court removed Jonas as conservator and a new conservator determined that Jonas had written $72,000 in checks to himself, but failed to pay the nursing home where the woman lived, the warrant states. At the end of February, the nursing home was owed $65,000, but there was only $21,000 in the woman's account.

In a series of e-mail exchanges with the new conservator, Jonas indicated a desire to repay the woman's account and did send a $35,000 check that cleared the bank. A second check for $38,000 did not clear.

In a June 3 e-mail to the new conservator, Jonas wrote: "I feel terrible about this whole situation, and I would have never done this if I was not suffering from significant physiological issues. I am doing the best I can to resolve this, but I am begging you to please not push me too hard or I am worried it will result in my emotional collapse and then none of this will get resolved for a while and I don't see any benefit to anyone in that."

Full Article and Source:
Convicted Embezzler is Charged Again With Theft

Retired Alabama Judge Under Scrutiny

The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission has filed an 85-page complaint against retired Houston County District Judge John Steensland that accuses him of cursing in court, ridiculing people who appeared before him, and placing a woman in jail even though she had no arrest warrant.

The commission filed the complaint with the Court of the Judiciary, which can discipline judges.

Steensland became a judge in 1996 and retired in May after the Judicial Inquiry Commission began investigating him.

Full Article and Source:
Retired Judge Accused of Cursing in Court

Today's Probate Story is Brought to You by Mary

Every day or two, I hear another story from another person with a loved one who is being “protected” by the probate court. They always have the same theme. Families even have a name for what goes on. Can you guess what it is?

I’ll tell you in a minute, but first, here is today’s letter, which is very much like yesterday’s and, no doubt tomorrow’s.

Today’s probate disaster, submitted to the newspaper as a letter to the editor, comes courtesy of Mary Myers, of Mesa:

“I have been following Laurie Roberts' columns on the probate courts for some time and she is 'right on' "

“I have a 79 year old sister that was placed under the care of a fiduciary and a lawyer by the probate court several years ago.

"She was moved all the way across the city to make it difficult for family visits and placed in assisted living when she required skilled care. My sister is kept sadated as a way to control her movements and spends her days sitting in a chair, often in her own excretments. She was hospitalized three times in six years for dehydration and infections. The fiduciary doubled her fees without notice and I have no way to even prove that she visits the facility to check on my sister's care.

“What happens when the bank account finally does dry? Where does she go then? Will you pay her bills?"

So now, to the mission statement of the probate system -- or at least by the fiduciaries who seem to run the place -- brought to you by the families that have endured it. It’s just three simple words.

Full Article and Source:
Today's Probate Story is Brought to You by Mary

Man Convicted of Defrauding Elderly Faces New Charges

A man pretending to be a contractor – and who had been convicted five times of defrauding elderly people – was arrested in a sixth case, accused of defrauding an 86-year-old man up until about six months before the man died, according to court documents unsealed [12/16/10].

Derron Smith, 43, was charged with one count of exploitation of an elderly or disabled adult. Bail was set at $100,000.

Full Article and Source:
Pinellas Man Convicted of Defrauding the Elderly Faces New Charges

Advocates Set to Sue DC on Behalf of Disabled Confined to Facilities

Vietress Bacon had been living in the Washington Nursing Facility near Skyland Terrace in Southeast Washington for only a few months when she realized she wanted out.

The 46-year-old mother of two has bipolar disorder, is partially paralyzed because of a childhood car accident and uses a motorized wheelchair.

She ended up at the nursing home after she was no longer able to live with her mother. Once at the facility, she discovered that she needed permission from her mother to leave the nursing facility. She was not able to see her son, a musician and rapper, perform. And she missed mundane freedoms such as being able to eat a hamburger and french fries in the middle of the night.

"It's like you're stripped of all your adulthood," Bacon said.

Eleven years after the Supreme Court ruled that state and local governments must provide services to the disabled in the least restrictive settings possible, more than 500 disabled D.C. residents are confined to nursing homes against their wishes because the city has not provided services that would allow them to live independently, according to a lawsuit that disability rights advocates plan to file in federal court.

The lawsuit alleges that the District has failed to provide in-home help with bathing, dressing, transferring people in and out of wheelchairs, and other activities - although such services cost much less than the $60,000 annual price tag of nursing home care, and most of the services are funded under Medicaid. One program to help seniors and the disabled stay in the community has 4,000 slots. As of last week, 1,000 slots were open. Failing to provide such services is a violation of the American With Disabilities Act, the lawsuit argues.

"The whole point of the ADA is to end unnecessary segregation. And that's what nursing homes are," said Marjorie Rifkin, a lawyer with University Legal Services. That group, Arent Fox and AARP Foundation Litigation filed the class-action lawsuit on behalf of disabled residents of D.C. nursing homes. "The District is long overdue in taking steps to transition people into the community."

Full Article and Source:
Advocates Set to Sue DC on Behalf of Disabled Confined to Nursing Homes

CA Class Action Suit: Patients Suffer Sub-Par Care at CA Facilities

A group of California skilled nursing facilities operated by Paksn Inc. has “systematically” failed to meet state minimums for direct patient care and staffing, according to a state court class action.

Maryann N. Valentine says Vacaville, Calif.-based Paksn, Thekkek Health Services, and seven nursing homes and licensees owned by Antony and Prema Thekkek have continuously failed to provide 3.2 hours of daily, direct nursing care to each patient as mandated by Cal. Health & Safety Code § 1276.5.

The complaint in the Alameda County Superior Court asks the court to hold the defendants liable for up to $500 per violation and treble damages because the infractions involve senior citizens and disabled people.

Valentine filed suit as guardian of her ex-husband, George E. Valentine II, 61, who suffered a brain injury and has “extremely limited” mobility. He has lived at Gateway Rehabilitation & Care Center in Hayward, Calif., since 2000, she says.

According to the suit, the level of care that Valentine receives faltered when the defendants acquired Gateway in 2003. Since that time, the facility routinely has failed to meet the state minimum for direct nursing care hours and maintains an inadequate number of nurses on staff.

George Valentine has experienced infrequent and painful turning and repositioning that resulted in pressure sores, and also has experienced infrequent assistance with toileting, frequent urinary tract infections and unsanitary living conditions, the suit asserts.

The facility has also failed to provide Valentine with necessary fluids or assistance with grooming, bathing and eating, and has failed to respond to his medical and dental problems and falls, the complaint says.

Other California facilities owned by the Thekkeks and operated by Paksn have provided similarly deficient care since 2006, according to the suit.

Full Article and Source:
Patients Suffer Sub-Par Care at California Facilities, Class Action Says

Woman Gets 4 Years for Theft

A Vancouver woman who stole more than $300,000 from a 90-year-old man was sentenced Friday to four years and two months in prison.

Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis opted not to give Becky L. Iverson a drug-offender sentencing alternative program instead of prison time, saying the problem wasn’t just about drugs.

The 50-year-old stole from the victim, Lawrence Sieler, over a period of 18 months and later told investigators she used the money to fund her $600-a-week drug habit. But, given the substantial theft — enough for almost 10 years at that rate — the judge wondered where all the money went.

“The part that’s disturbing is the systematic way of victimizing these people,” Lewis said.

Iverson pleaded guilty Nov. 11 to 11 charges, including first-degree theft, five counts of forgery and five counts of second-degree identity theft.

Full Article and Source:
Woman Gets 4 years for Theft