NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Members of the Tennessee Bar Association heard an earful on Thursday from Tennesseans upset over the state law that they say allows unscrupulous people to take advantage of vulnerable adults.
The conservatorship law is meant to protect adults with diminished capacity because of age, disability, mental health issues or addiction. It allows a judge to appoint someone as a guardian to oversee their affairs. But the system does not always work as intended.
At the Thursday hearing in Nashville, Jewell Tinnon, who is 82 years old, said two grandsons took over her affairs through a conservatorship, selling her car and her house and everything in it. She eventually was able to get out of the conservatorship, but only after she had lost everything.
Tinnon begged the panel of attorneys listening to her testimony for help in finding somewhere to live.
"Next month, I'll be outdoors," she said. "I ain't got nowhere to live."
Songwriter Danny Tate told the panel he was placed in a conservatorship in 2007 by his brother, who felt he was a drug addict.
"They had no medical evidence, no police reports, no calls to 911, no complaints from neighbors," he said.
Tate said he was a millionaire before the conservatorship began, with all his bills paid and near-perfect credit. Now he is in bankruptcy and the house where his children were born and raised was sold at auction.
Under a conservatorship, he said, "you cannot vote, marry or enter into a contract. Your signature is not valid.
"A death row inmate has more rights than a conserved ward of the state."
Another speaker, Ginger Franklin, said a conservator was appointed for her in 2008 after she suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall.
Although she recovered, the conservatorship process already was under way.
"I lost my home, my car, my job, the majority of my possessions; my credit was trashed — all because I fell down the stairs at my home. If it happened to me it could happen to you or anyone."
Loretta Threatt and Jeanette Bryant told the panel one of their sisters had taken control of their 88-year-old father's estate and placed him in various nursing homes and assisted living facilities. They said they are only allowed brief, supervised visits with him and that his pastor is not allowed any visits.
"It's been done unfair and inhumane, and I feel like it's unconstitutional," Bryant said.
National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse President Elaine Renoir said problems with guardian and conservator systems are nationwide. Some people really do need a guardian, she said, but there are not enough protections for those that do not.
She said Tennessee needs better due-process protections that would allow someone who is being considered for a conservatorship to fight it. That includes allowing them to use their money to hire an attorney and letting a jury hear their case if they request it.
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State bar association hears horror stories about problems with Tennessee's conservatorship law
