Nine months ago, Liz Sanders had never been to the State Capitol. She had no idea who her state senator was, or what it might take to enact legislation. What she did know was that she had to do something to protect other families from the abuse that devastated her family. “My mother was preyed upon by her in-home caregiver. She was fleeced out of her life savings,” said Sanders. “I knew I had to do something to prevent another family from suffering this kind of heartbreak, but I didn’t know where to begin.” 
Sanders said she started calling lawmakers. “And Senator Pavley was the only one who listened to me and decided to take action.” Now, due in large part to Liz’s passion and tenacity, Senator Pavley’s bill that aims to crack down on elder abuse is headed to the governor’s desk.“The physical and financial abuse of elder and dependent adults is an insidious and growing problem in California,” said Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills). “When Ms. Sanders called my office and explained what happened to her mother, it just made sense to pursue legislation.”
Sanders has flown to Sacramento several times to testify in support of Pavley’s SB 586, which passed the Senate [8/30/11]. The bill would double penalties for elder and dependent adult abuse and would impose new regulations for the issuance of so called “signature stamps.”
“A $20 signature stamp cost my mother three-quarters of a million dollars and left her in financial ruin,” said Sanders. “It simply shouldn’t be this easy.”
Full Article and Source:
Elder Abuse Bill Sparked by LA Victim Headed to Governor
5 comments:
Good for you, Liz Sanders!
Good work, Ms. Sanders!
Signature stamps? That's an open invitation!
Maybe banks should be made responsible; i.e., a "guardian" at each branch to examine and verify each transaction on a vulnerable elder's account.
Never even heard of signature stamps before. Everything is set up to favor the crooks.
INTERESTING POST:
Thelma said...
Signature stamps? That's an open invitation!
Maybe banks should be made responsible; i.e., a "guardian" at each branch to examine and verify each transaction on a vulnerable elder's account.
WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON THELMA? I think most of us who are truly against guardianship abuse would agree that there is already too much intrusive gatekeeping at banks already. Banks are 99% on the side of lawyers and fiduciaries who want to isolate medicate and steal the estate.
There are some VALID signature stamps. There should be a way to validate and record them so they are valid across state lines so that innocent people with VALID signature stamps don't have their documents thrown out in court and their lives taken over by guardians which happens all the time. The same thing should be happening with Wills and Trusts and POAs, they are being thrown out of court daily because some judge says they were not done when the person had capacity, there should be a way to have them done on video with an MD present and recorded in a central location say Washington DC or in the Internet Cloud. Why doesn't NASGA do something about the capacity issue and signatures? Something needs to be done, enough with the talk, action is needed NOW.
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