More than 25,000 Minnesota residents have a court-appointed guardian or conservator to take care of their finances, and the number is expected to rise in the future as more Minnesotans enter retirement age.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., joined Attorney General Lori Swanson and other state officials at the West 7th Community Center in St. Paul to propose ways to implement tougher background checks and electronic monitoring to ensure that court-appointed guardians aren't taking advantage of seniors.
"The last thing that they should have to worry about or that their family should have to worry about is that someone is ripping them off, that's stealing their last money, that's abusing them in some way," Klobuchar said. "It's our obligation as a society to make sure that that doesn't happen."
Klobuchar has sponsored legislation in Congress aimed at helping states beef up background checks and improve monitoring of guardians' financial decisions.
Rep. Debra Hilstrom, DFL-Brooklyn Center, planned to introduce a bill Thursday that would require tougher and more frequent background checks for all guardians. The checks would not only look at criminal history, but would also include whether the individual had been denied a professional license or filed for bankruptcy.
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Vulnerable adults protection: Lawmakers push for tougher background checks
6 comments:
As they should be.
Another thing is just because they call themselves professionals don't mean they are and only in the eyes of the victims are they considered professional as in: thieves, absuers, crooks,criminals, liers and cheats.
I'm all for background checks, but the reality is lawyers are subjected to them and they're some of the worst.
It doesn't address legalized theft.
In general, it does not address ALL ELDER ABUSE. Some of us are NOT vulnerable in the sense of mental disorders, but are absed by family members, and get away with it, because the law is lax, what they call a civil matter.
I feel imprisoned by the judiciary which has allowed fraudulent legal maneuvering by the attorneys over the past 12 years, to dig me in so deep, I find no escape in this legal jungle. They took away my rights, access to my financial resources, won a $55,000.00 "defamation" suit, because I went public with my true story, subjected me to"debtors" examinations, and forcing me to protect my Social Security income from seizure. It is an ongoing physical and intentional emotional harassment, which has destroyed the quality of my life, and left me deflated of energy and piece of mind. I feel like a criminal in hiding at 86 years of age.
Elder Abuse by Fraud, and Fraud on the Courts. Ckackamas County, Oregon
Case: Newton v Boldt CV05120277
Background checks sounds like a good plan for a media event certainly that would be #1 action one with 1/2 a brain cell working would expect would be part of the process.
This goes to show you how backward and slow these people are to address the real issues - actually this is an embarrassment to the state of MN - shame on you - like they're finally coming around to common sense - good grief and we the little people pay these people to be in these positions of power and authority?
I agree with you B Inberg what year is this? Hmmmmmm 2013 by golly now they're waking up in MN? Good Morning MN. I imagine MN isn't the only sleeper on the map. What a sorry state of affairs guardianship strips a person of all of their rights, all they own down to their family photographs, socks and shoes yet no one gives a damn how the process evolves and who is profiting from this takeover. We need a Wall of Shame NASGA.
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