Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Al Katz, Part Two: Road to Perdition

The story begins on December 11, 2008, when Al Katz is put into a Bradenton nursing home against his will by his girlfriend. Upon hearing of this, his daughter Beverly Newman on December 15th legally files for guardianship of her father in Indiana because her father always stated that he did not want to be placed in a nursing home. Up until that time Beverly and her husband Larry had been Al’s sole familial caretakers through numerous medical crises since 2002.

From December 2008 through August 2009, Beverly constantly contacts her brother Louis H. Katz, Executive Vice President and Treasurer of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who has Power of Attorney for their father to help Beverly get him back home to Indianapolis, where he had been domiciled since 1946.

In the interim, Al Katz is repeatedly hospitalized by a Dr. James Hanusa. Unbeknown to Beverly, Dr. Hanusa contacts Louis to give guardianship of his father to Ashley Butler, Public Guardian of Manatee, Sarasota, and DeSoto Counties. This is done even though Al (a) is not indigent; (b) has his daughter ready to care for him; and (c) has never been domiciled in Florida, all 3 of which are mandatory before placement in public guardianship.

In September 2009, Al was hospitalized with breathing problems. Inexplicably, Dr. James Hanusa orders that no information about Al be given to his daughter Beverly.

On September 17, 2009, Beverly Newman receives a phone call from an anonymous third party that someone is trying to improperly put her father into guardianship in Florida, but no details are given.

Without ever listing Beverly on court documents as next-of-kin and without notifying Beverly, who is in Indianapolis, of the guardianship hearing scheduled for the very next day, September 18, 2009, Ashley Butler is given guardianship of Al Katz.

Immediately, Ms. Butler attaches all of Al’s assets (bank accounts, Social Security, Holocaust reparations), changes the locks to his house, and takes boxes of legal documents, jewelry, financial data, and valuables from the home, while keeping Mr. Katz in a nursing home against his oral and written wishes.

After the guardianship is granted, Al Katz’s former attorney tells Beverly that Ashley Butler has guardianship of her father in Bradenton.

Full Article and Source:
Al Katz Story, Holocaust Survivor, Part 2

3 comments:

Thelma said...

Road to perdition?

Not for Al Katz.

The fiduciaries are headed there.

StandUp said...

Right, Thelma! The fids are feasting at Al Katz's expense!

Monica said...

Interstate guardianships are the absolute worse. It should have been so easy. Al Katz should have been sent to Indiana with his daughter, but there was too much money involved and the vultures smelledit.