Guardianship system in N.M. remains in crisis

By David Heeter, Lorraine Mendiola and Jorja Armijo-Brasher

Despite what the New Mexico judiciary and the Developmental Disabilities Council’s Office of Guardianship have reported to the Legislative Health and Human Services Interim Committee, the guardianship system in New Mexico continues to be in crisis.

Abusive guardianships continue to occur, sponsored by predatory attorneys and sanctioned by District Court judges. The guardianship law, 45-5-101 through 45-5-617, was established in 2012 to protect and preserve the well-being and assets of the incapacitated person. However, this is not what we believe is happening.

Unethical professionals continue to abuse the system. The individuals who control the outcome of the guardianship case are the petitioning attorney and the District Court judge. The judge grants the power to the appointed guardian and conservator who control every aspect of the “protected person’s” life, including where the individual lives, what medication is prescribed and is to be taken, what doctors the person may visit, who can visit and speak to the individual, and, of course — their money and assets.

Additionally, some New Mexico courts have disregarded the legitimate written directives, wills and trusts that have been prepared. For true guardianship reform to occur, judges must appoint guardians and conservators who understand, respect and advocate for the wishes and best interests of the “protected person.”

This is exactly why family members and guardianship advocate groups must be recognized as the experts when it comes to hearing and understanding our loved ones. Family members must also have an “equal voice” at the decision-making table. We are the eyes and ears on the ground. We have the day-to-day experiences with our loved ones. We know the individual, his/her likes, dislikes, triggers, medical history, hopes and dreams.

A corporate guardian and conservator are complete strangers who are involved for profit. Our state leaders must address these injustices to ensure our most vulnerable population’s human rights, civil rights and protection of their financial assets are respected and protected. The media must continue to report on these concerns — the public has a right to know.

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Guardianship system in N.M. remains in crisis

VULTURE GUARDIAN MARY ROWAN KIDNAPS AGAIN, THIS TIME A YOUNG BLIND WOMAN, KRISTINA BROCKINGTON

Rowan assistant Katie McDonald

VOD Editor: This is one of a series of stories VOD has done on what amounts to vicious abuse by guardian and attorney Mary Rowan. Her usual M.O. is to wrangle guardianship papers from the many Wayne County Probate Court judges who appoint her, then immediately proceed to seize the ward from their current residence, without a court order of removal, without notice, and without bringing their clothing and personal belongings. She and her assistant Katie McDonald then place them in various venues including group homes without notifying their family members of their location.

The next step is to get control of the ward’s finances, and frequently move on to seize real and personal property. Perfectly competent, independent elders such as Gayle Robinson have been seized from their well-tended homes and eventually forced into nursing homes.

U.S.M.C. veteran Gayle Robinson with photo of her late husband Russell, also a veteran.

Today, according to her son Randy Robinson, Wayne County Probate Court Judge Terrance Keith heard arguments on removing Rowan as guardian and possibly placing Robinson with her daughter Kathy, in order to remove her from a nursing home with ties to Rowan allies.  The entire family must agree to this arrangement. The next hearing on the matter is October 12.

Even under her daughter’s guardianship, Robinson would lose her independence and may lose her home of many years, where she raised her 10 children with her husband, both of them veterans.

While held captive in the nursing home Rowan put her in, Mrs. Robinson was drugged and thoroughly traumatized.

During the hearing, Keith first threatened another son, Ricky Robinson,  with arrest for kidnapping for bringing his mother to her own hearing from the nursing home. Rowan had forced her there with no court order from Keith. Rowan had forbidden many of Mrs. Robinson’s adult children from seeing or communicating with her.

At one point, Gayle Robinson fled the state to stay with her brother on the west coast, to avoid forced placement in a nursing home. Judge Keith jailed Randy Robinson indefinitely until his mother returned, although Keith had no jurisdiction over adults living in another state.

Sharmian Sowards with mom Wanda Worley

Meanwhile, Sharmian Sowards, a well-known country singer, has been battling charges brought by Mary Rowan against her in 33rd District Court, Brownstown Twp. The city has charged Sowards with “assaulting, resisting and obstructing” Rowan when she came to seize her mother Wanda Worley from her home.

Rowan had no court order of removal or showed Sowards any court papers at all. Sowards twice denied her entrance to her property. Worley is currently unable to leave her bed due to severe complications from spinal surgery and faulty pain management that followed. At one point she almost died, according to Sowards.

As her sole caregiver, Sowards said she cannot leave her mother’ s side and has asked 33rd District Court Judge Hesson for an adjournment of a trial set for Aug. 30-31, until her mother, her chief witness, recovers and the two can find transportation to the court hearing. The prosecution has complained that the next jury trial is not available until October, but Sowards says that is not a problem as long as her mother recovers.  (Click to Continue)

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VULTURE GUARDIAN MARY ROWAN KIDNAPS AGAIN, THIS TIME A YOUNG BLIND WOMAN, KRISTINA BROCKINGTON

How to Protect Yourself or a Loved One From an Abusive Guardianship

(Editor’s note: This is the final installment of a three-part series on guardianship abuses appearing this week on Next Avenue. Here are Part 1 and Part 2.)

Most of us don’t think we would ever end up in a nursing home against our will. We can’t imagine having our hard-earned savings drained by someone assigned to take care of us. We would never believe that we might someday be kept away from the people we love the most. 

But those are the kinds of nightmares suffered every day by some of the estimated 1 million to 2 million people who have been placed under guardianship or conservatorship in the United States. 

Ordered by a judge, a guardianship or conservatorship is ideally a protection for older adults. But too often, it is a drastic measure often prompted by warring relatives, nursing homes that want to get paid or a “friend” who gains the trust of an older adult in order to take advantage of him or her. It’s based on a legal determination that the person is “incapacitated” and needs someone else to make decisions.
But there are things you can do now to make sure that becoming a victim of guardianship abuse does not happen to you or a loved one.

You clearly don’t want to appoint someone who has had money problems, because that person won’t be able to manage yours.

— Naomi Karp, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Plan Ahead

Not only can guardianships and conservatorships be exploitive, the process is public, expensive and time-consuming, said Naomi Karp, senior policy advisor at the Office of Older Americans of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, D.C.
The key to avoiding an abusive guardianship — which is likely to be extremely difficult to escape from if it happens — is to plan ahead.
Karp and other experts advise taking the following steps (you can find a list of resources at the end of this article):

• Create a durable power of attorney for finances. This is a document in which you name a person to make decisions for you if you cannot. (A regular, or “nondurable” power of attorney ends if you lose mental capacity.) For instance, if you are severely injured in a car accident or incapacitated by a stroke, your “agent” or “attorney-in-fact” will be able to sign financial documents, pay bills and buy things you need.
• Create a durable power of attorney for medical care. With this document, also referred to as an advance directive, you designate a trusted person to make health care decisions for you if you cannot. The “agent” or “health care proxy” can get access to your medical records, talk to doctors about your condition, make decisions about getting you into a hospital or nursing home and grant or withhold permission for tests and treatments.
• Think carefully about whom you appoint as your agent. Said Karp: “You want someone who has common sense and good judgment. You clearly don’t want to appoint someone who has had money problems,” because that person won’t be able to manage yours if he or she has a bad history managing finances.
• Make sure your prospective agent agrees, and give him or her the necessary information to do the job. One excellent resource: a series of guides from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Managing Someone Else’s Money.
• Build in a safety mechanism. “I like to say, ‘Trust, but verify,’” Karp said. You can require in your financial power of attorney document that the person you appoint provide a periodic accounting with a third person you trust, she said. “It’s another set of eyes,” Karp noted.
• Revoke the document if you change your mind. If you decide the person you chose is no longer appropriate or cannot serve for some reason, you can revoke the original power of attorney and draft a new one naming a different person.
• Don’t put it off. Set aside some time for getting these documents filled out, or make an appointment with an attorney. If you plan to have an attorney draft a will, that’s the perfect time to ask him or her to complete the power of attorney forms as well, Karp said.

Karp acknowledged that this is an unpleasant topic. “A lot of people just avoid the planning and avoid discussing it in their families,” she said. But not only does preparing help you protect your interests, it saves your loved ones from confusion, complicated paperwork and heart-wrenching decisions.

Helpful Resources

You can find useful planning information and other resources here:

• Planning for Diminished Capacity and Illness, by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• Giving Someone a Power of Attorney for Your Health Care by the American Bar Association; an easy guide that can be used in all but five states
• Making Medical Decisions for Someone Else: A How-To Guide by the American Bar Association
• Toolkit for Health Care Advance Planning by the American Bar Association
• MyHealthCareWishes smartphone app by the American Bar Association
• The Conversation Project, begun in 2010 by former Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman and others, to help people talk about their wishes for end-of-life care; resources include the Conversation Starter Kit
• Advance Care Planning tips from the National Institute on Aging
• Five Wishes, a living will by Aging With Dignity ($5 charge)
• Living Wills: A guide to advance directives, health care power of attorney, and other key documents by Harvard Medical School (available for purchase)
• Guardianship basics, by Center for Elders and the Courts
• Choosing Your Health Care Agent, by Nolo.com
• Financial protection for older Americans, resources from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

For information on guardianships and efforts against abuse, check these websites:

• Guardianship/Conservatorship Resource Guide from the National Center for State Courts
• National Center on Elder Abuse
• National Guardianship Association
• Center for Guardianship Certification
• National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse

If you or a loved one is being abused, call your local adult protective services agency; you can find the appropriate contact for your area at www.eldercare.gov or call 800-677-1116.

This article was written with support from the Journalists in Aging Fellowships, a program of New America Media and the Gerontological Society of America, sponsored by the Retirement Research Foundation.

Full Article & Source:
How to Protect Yourself or a Loved One From an Abusive Guardianship

See Also:
Next Avenue:  Guardianship Laws Are Improving, Problems Persist

Guardianship in the US:  Protection or Exploitation?"