Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Betrayal of trust: Part Three - Section 2

Little Enforcement

A system with no checks and balances

Most private guardians are required to submit status updates and financial reports, but many county surrogate offices — which oversee guardianship cases — simply don't have the manpower to make sure they do, let alone scrutinize the reports that are filed. Since the Beninson scandal, both Monmouth and Ocean counties have hired full-time accountants to keep abreast of the paperwork.

In New Jersey, however, guardianship cases are shrouded in secrecy.

The state's laws shield guardianship financial documents from public scrutiny. The identities of incapacitated individuals and their guardians are kept confidential, even from family members in some cases.



Minnesota has taken a different approach.

The state makes all guardianship documents public. In recent years, it also has created a statewide database to keep tabs on guardians, and in a further bid for transparency, it has given anyone the right to call for an accounting of someone holding a power of attorney.

Yet A. Kimberley Dayton, a Minnesota law professor, says guardianship abuses are still rampant in the state.

The reason? The laws simply aren't being enforced, she says.

One of the perpetrators was an appellate court judge who admitted to stealing approximately $300,000 from a trust fund he oversaw for a friend's incapacitated adult daughter.

Read the full sentencing report.

"They keep holding up Minnesota as a model of post-guardianship monitoring. And I know what's going on," says Dayton, one of the country's leading experts on guardianship abuse and crimes against the elderly.

"I just don't think any state is doing a good job," she says.

(Continue to Section 3)

Full Article & Source:
Betrayal of trust: Part Three

4 comments:

StandUp said...

All states should have open records. The public has the right to know that the state is doing its job and taking care of their citizens.

Laura said...

It's so easy to steal when they turn their heads on purpose!

Brenda Johnson said...

We went to the court administration office many times asking for a report on our mother that Cynthia Delaire was supposed to do monthly from my understanding...we just got we haven't rec. it yet...it is water under the bridge..like I told her "No, it's not...it wasn't your mother held captive and sedated in a nursing home where the guardian told them they didn't need to tell us anything". The judges and attorneys that get these crooks are in with them. She didn't pay my mother's taxes on her place or the house ins. the furnace went out and molded everything..she didn't even give her condolences after my mothers death..they are just a bunch of thieving low life scum bags...we had 6 people willing to take care of my mom and they wouldn't let us..guardian lied..she wasn't and still isn't trustworthy along w/crow wing counties judges and low life so called elder attorneys. All for themselves getting rich off people that worked all their lives to have what they have.
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NASGA said...

So sorry Brenda. You're not alone. Please consider joining NASGA.