Holocaust Survivor's Guardianship Saga NEVER STOPS

In August, 89-year-old State Ward and Holocaust Survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Marie Winkelman got another bill. This time, Marie owes her attorney, Audrey Bear of Sarasota more than $17,000.00 for services she provided to Marie from before she became Marie’s attorney until January 2014Amongst the multitudes of charges claimed by Bear are over $1,600.00 for the hours Bear, Marie, and Beverly Newman, elder advocate, spent together on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, reviewing Marie’s case of gross guardianship abuse.

For four hours on December 31, 2013, Bear, Marie, and Newman discussed Marie’s appeal of the court order that ended her freedom as an independent woman and seized all of her bank accounts, investments, and a trust worth millions, pursuant to a mediated settlement agreement signed by Bear’s friends and fellow attorneys, Rebecca Proctor and Christopher Likens, in addition to attorneys Kimberly Bald and Barry Spivey. On November 25, 2013, these attorneys had signed the mediated settlement agreement without Marie being present or even seeing the agreement, without any record being made of the secret mediation meeting held at attorney Gary Larsen’s office, and without Marie’s consent to its terms or her signature upon the document.

The secret meeting produced an agreement that was subsequently adopted by Probate Judge Deno Economou on December 3, 2013, without holding the mandatory incapacity evidentiary hearing, thus denying Marie her Constitutionally-guaranteed rights to due process.

Although Bear charged Marie over $1,600.00 for the time she spent telling Marie about her rights to appeal the court order that stole her freedoms, Bear never filed the notice of appeal that she promised would be filed with the court that same day, when Marie gave Bear $400.00 in checks to pay for the appeal.

Now, hundreds of thousands of dollars later, dozens of attorneys, guardians, psychiatrists, physicians, and other service providers have reaped windfall benefits from Marie’s guardianship.

To support Marie Winkelman at her guardianship trial, please pray and come to:
Courtroom 8B
Lynn N. Silvertooth Judicial Center
2002 Ringling Blvd.
Sarasota, FL  34237

Judge Deno Economon
Monday, September 22, 2014 at 10 AM 

Source:  Email notification from Beverly Newman

"Am I Free? Am I Free?" ... Pleads Holocaust Survivor Marie Winkelman

Why is Florida resident and Holocaust survivor Marie Winkelman still in guardianship?

This is the sixth in a series of articles about the landmark guardianship of Holocaust survivor, Marie Winkelman, in Sarasota, Florida, established by a mediated settlement agreement without any evidence presented or records made.

After dozens of tests administered to her, dozens of hours of examinations and multiple positive evaluations of her capacity, 89-year-old Holocaust Survivor Marie Winkelman is still steel-trapped in Florida’s black-hole guardianship system, with her life in limbo and her assets at stake.  Every court hearing costs Marie’s assets thousands of dollars.  Every mediation costs Marie’s assets thousands of dollars.  And every day costs Marie heartache as she aches to be free.

Why were Marie’s positive evaluations withheld from the court?  Why did Marie’s attorney, Audrey Bear, not file the first positive evaluation of Marie with the court until May 30, 2014, almost four months after its completion in early February?

Why was Marie’s second positive evaluation from another psychiatrist not filed with the court until May 28, 2014, when the report was already signed by the psychiatrist nearly one month earlier on April 30?  Under Florida law, a positive evaluation from a physician can restore a Ward’s rights, but Marie’s rights are not restored despite positive evaluations from two psychiatrists.

To date, Marie Winkelman’s assets mean gainful employment for:

1. Attorney Rebecca Proctor and at least one other attorney from her firm, Kirk Pinkerton
2. Attorney Audrey Bear
3. Attorney Christopher Likens
4. Attorney Kim Bald
5. Attorney Barry Spivey
6. Attorney Erika Dine
7. Nurse Lori Gaetano
8. Psychiatrist Miguel Rivera

Full Article and Source:
Florida: "Am I Free? Am I Free?... Pleads Holocaust Survivor Marie Winkelman

See Also:
NASGA - Marie Lubowski Winkelman, Florida Victim

Marie Winkelman's Guardianship:  A Test Case to Lower the Bar for Capacity in Florida

Florida Guardianship Ward, Marie Winkelman, Attends Holocaust Remembrance

We are deeply proud of our beloved Survivors and hope that you will cherish this article (Bradenton Herald, April 28, 2014, Page A1) and pass it along to all of your contacts!  Especially significant is the fact that the article features our dear Marie Winkelman, who was placed into an illegal guardianship in Sarasota County via a mediation agreement amongst multiple lawyers (without due process of law), through which she was made a Ward of the State of Florida. 

In truth, Marie is extremely bright and articulate, as we all  witnessed at the AL KATZ Center Yom HaShoah observance on April 27, when Marie was handed a microphone and extemporaneously gave a penetrating, emotive speech to the rapt audience.  Please note that Marie's continued fate in guardianship is before Manatee and Sarasota County Probate Judge Deno Economou on June 3, 2014. 

Please pray for her immediate release from state guardianship and the return of her freedom and dignity, which she feels she has lost due to the legal actions taken against her by her stepson-in-law, Robert Szychowski (of the Rutgers University administration), whose wife and sister-in-law are the primary beneficiaries of Marie's multi-million-dollar Trust (now controlled by the guardianship stipulated mediation agreement, signed by Attorneys Christopher Likens, Kim Bald, Barry Spivey, Gary Larsen [mediator], and Rebecca Proctor, without Marie's knowledge or consent).

~Beverly Newman

See Also:
NASGA:  Marie Lubowski Winkelman, Florida Victim

Free Marie Winkelman: Pray for Justice Now

Marie Winkelman’s guardianship has a large cast of characters who benefit from her status as a Ward of the State of Florida, including family members and quasi-family members, as well as a host of attorneys and numerous service providers that were unknown to Marie before she was forced into guardianship.

A Large Cast of Attorneys
Marie’s first guardianship attorney, Erika Dine, was appointed by Judge Deno Economou, who single-handedly presides over the probate courts in Manatee and Sarasota Counties, Florida. Dine was also the attorney who represented the guardian (Aging Safely, Inc.) of Al Katz, who was an 89-year-old Holocaust Survivor, as is Marie. See this writer’s previous investigative series on the Al Katz guardianship.

Barry Spivey, Marie’s next attorney, prepared and signed a mediated settlement agreement that he asked Judge Economou to adopt in his incapacity and guardianship order, which declared Marie to be incapacitated and made Sabal Trust Company her Trustee. Spivey never showed the Agreement to Marie before or after it was signed and never told her he had a closed hearing with the Judge to declare Marie incapacitated and put her into guardianship, losing all control of her millions of dollars in trust.

Also attending the secret hearing on December 2, 2013, was Rebecca Proctor, the attorney for Marie’s two guardians, Raymond Millman and Alina Koren, Marie’s sole blood relative, who was rescued by Marie from Poland as a toddler after the Holocaust. Attorney Proctor is a Director of Aging Safely, which is the agency that was Al Katz’s guardian for two months, during which time he went from fully verbal and mobile to “imminent death” status.

Both Proctor and Alina Koren (plus her husband, Dr. Yoram Koren) signed the Mediated Agreement that made Marie’s trust part of her guardianship and transformed it from revocable to irrevocable, thereby sealing the beneficiaries of the trust forever, including Alina Koren. Thus, its primary beneficiaries, Marie’s stepdaughters – Corinne Szychowski and Diane Winkelman – are set to inherit millions of dollars each from the trust.

Full Article and Source:
Free Marie Winkelman: Pray for Justice Now

See Also:
Marie Winkelman Guardianship:  A Test Case to Lower the Bar on Incapacity in Florida

Marie Winkelman Guardianship: A Test Case to Lower the Bar on Incapacity in Florida

At least 100 pages of Florida law, Chapter 744, are devoted to “Guardianship,” which may or may not be imposed upon a person who is determined to be incapacitated.

Holocaust Survivor Marie Winkelman is now a Ward of the State of Florida, based upon the order of the Sarasota County Probate Court, which adopted a mediated settlement agreement that denied Marie her due process rights. This is the fourth part in an investigative series on the involuntary guardianship of author and acclaimed painter Marie Winkelman.

What is incapacity supposed to be?
According to the Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act (1997), an “Incapacitated person” is an individual who, for reasons other than being a minor, is unable to receive and evaluate information or make or communicate decisions to such an extent that the individual lacks the ability to meet essential requirements for physical health, safety, or self-care, even with appropriate technological assistance.

So what was Marie’s status before she was put into State guardianship?
Until July 2013, Marie lived independently in a lovely residence in Sarasota, Florida, where she cleaned her apartment immaculately everyday, organized her papers and closets effectively, dressed herself beautifully, prepared her meals, entertained guests frequently, did all of her own shopping, talked with her bankers and financial advisors regularly in person and by telephone, made and received calls multiple times per day, read the daily newspaper, paid her own bills by check and by telephone, and carried on conversations for hours, switching from Polish to English, depending upon the recipients with whom she was speaking.

Why Marie Winkelman’s guardianship is a test case …
Can Marie receive and evaluate information? Absolutely. Can Marie make and communicate decisions? Assuredly. Does Marie have the ability to meet essential requirements for physical health, safety, and self-care? Yes. By lowering the bar of “incapacity,” the State of Florida has created a substantially larger pool of affluent persons whose lives and fortunes are under the authority of the probate courts that increasingly operate in secrecy by closing hearings to the media and the public and removing court records from the public sphere.

Full Article and Source:
Marie Winkelman Guardianship:  A Test Case to Lower the Bar on Incapacity in Florida

See Also:
The Taking of Marie Winkelman 1-2-3

NASGA:  Marie Lubowski Winkelman, Florida Victim

The Taking of Marie Winkelman 1-2-3

Who is Marie Winkelman? Marie is the author of a book about her experiences as a Holocaust survivor in Poland titled "Keeping a Promise:  To Tell My Story of Survival in Warsaw During WWII."

“On December 4th, 2013, a beautiful and brilliant 88-year-old Holocaust Survivor named Marie Winkelman was put into guardianship in the Sarasota, Florida Probate Court – without a hearing – based upon a mediation agreement,” states Beverly Newman, President of the Al Katz Center.
Marie is the second victim of elder abuse in Sarasota County, Florida. The first was Al Katz, the father of Beverly Newman, another Holocaust Survivor.

The similarity of the two cases is striking and presents a pattern of what some believe constitutes “judicial cronyism.” It is a system that takes the liberty and property of its victims – usually the elderly.

“Marie is a recent resident of Bird Key who still lives independently and keeps her home in immaculate condition. The mediation agreement was prepared by Federal Mediator Gary H. Larsen, which Marie did not see until after the mediation. Her fortune of many millions, which she earned through decades of hard work and prudent investments, is now in the hands of a company named Sabal Trust Company with which she has never had any contact. Through the mediated agreement, she is given a monthly allowance of her own money, despite the fact she has always spent her money judiciously,” notes Newman.

What makes Marie’s case different is the possible collusion to have Marie found incompetent not by strangers but by Robert Szychowski who is married to Marie’s step-daughter Corinne. This is the highest form of betrayal by the one person Marie trusted the most. She trusted Szychowski so much she signed a Durable Power of Attorney (POA) giving Szychowski control over every aspect of her life and wellbeing.  Marie made Szychowski her “attorney-in-fact” (my Agent) granting him “The power to exercise or perform any act, power, duty, right or obligation whatsoever…”

Full Article and Source:
The Taking of Marie Winkelman 1-2-3

See Also:
NASGA:  Marie Winkelman, Florida Victim

The Secret meeting that changed Holocaust Survivor Marie Winkelman’s life – Hopefully not Forever!

 

Cloaked in secrecy, a mediation meeting in a lawyer’s office was held on November 25, 2013, under order of the Sarasota County Probate Court, to determine whether or not 89-year-old Holocaust Survivor Marie Winkelman was or was not capacitated and if or if not she needed to be put into Florida’s vast guardianship system, which controls the lives of scores of thousands of elders. This is the third part of an investigative series on Marie’s guardianship case. Please go here to read Part I and Part II.

Although Marie escaped death in the Warsaw Ghetto, where everyone in her large family (except one baby) was murdered, she has thus far not been able to be freed from a guardianship where most believe she never belonged.

What could possibly go wrong with court-ordered mediation?

The litany of answers to this question is nearly endless, beginning with something akin to “blackmail,” as one of the participants in Marie’s mediation described the circumstances under which the fateful Mediated Settlement Agreement was signed after hours of lawyer talk. Unlike litigation in an open courtroom, with a precise record made of the day’s actions and discussions, under oath or not, mediation is the antithesis of due process. There is no record even allowed of the mediation proceedings. A confidentiality statement must be signed by every participant. No judge is present, and the public is excluded. No witnesses testify. No evidence is presented. No appeal is possible once an agreement has been signed by all of the participants.

So how can you mediate someone’s incapacity, which, of necessity, requires due process protections?

Full Article & Source:
The Secret meeting that changed Holocaust Survivor Marie Winkelman’s life – Hopefully not Forever!

See Also:
Marie Winkelman's Case Demands Litigation, Not Mediation, To Protect Her Life, Liberty and Property

Marie Winkelman’s Case demands Litigation, not Mediation, to protect her Life, Liberty and Property?

This is the second column I have written about Marie Winkelman. Read the first column by clicking here. Marie is the author of a book about her experiences as a Holocaust survivor in Poland titled “Keeping A Promise: To Tell My Story of Survival in Warsaw During WW II.”

Marie is another victim of financial guardianship abuse.  The first I wrote about was Al Katz, the father of Beverly Newman, another Holocaust Survivor.

What is at stake here? A woman’s life, liberty and her property valued in excess of $3 million… in this case, a Holocaust Survivor who in childhood was robbed of her property and stability and now is re-living the traumas of betrayal and asset seizure.  Who benefits from Marie’s guardianship? Robert and Corinne Szychowski and the State of Florida’s guardianship system.

What is happening? The systematic financial abuse of an elder.

Audrey Bear

Audrey Bear, Marie’s lawyer, at a court hearing before Sarasota County Probate Court Judge Deno Economou on January 8, 2014 agreed to “mediate her clients capacity” with lawyers representing Robert Szychowski. This is not what Marie wants according to Beverly Newman, Director of the Al Katz Center.

Full Article & Source:
Marie Winkelman’s Case demands Litigation, not Mediation, to protect her Life, Liberty and Property?

Upcoming Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing: Aging in Comfort: Assessing the Special Needs of America's Holocaust Survivors

Providers with Holocaust survivors will find special value in an upcoming hearing held by the Senate Special Committee on Aging. “Aging in comfort: Assessing the special needs of America's Holocaust survivors” is the title of the Jan. 15 hearing. It begins at 2:15 p.m. (Eastern) in Room 562 of the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington and will feature testimony from some of the nation's top experts on this caregiving challenge.

For up-to-date information on participants and testimony, frequently check the committee's website here.

Source:
Caring for Holocaust Survivors the Focus of Senate Hearing

See Also:
NASGA:  Marie Lubowski Winkelman, Florida Victim
NASGA:  Al Katz, Indiana/Florida Victim

ABC Action News I-Team: Al Katz Center Educates and Fights Against Abusive Professional Guardianships.

Last week, the I-Team was there when 99-year-old Willi Berchau was released from Florida's guardianship program after a three-year court battle.

The I-Team has learned that a local non-profit group has been established to assist other families in avoiding or getting out of court-ordered guardianship.

“It is vast and it is deep,” Beverly Newman said, when asked about how big of a problem was posed by Florida’s professional guardianship program.

“It is an industry with layers of individuals who are profiteering from elders,” she said.

Newman reached out to the I-Team after our investigation into Florida's professional guardianship program.

We've uncovered instances in which judges disregard written wishes of families, then gave control over their lives and finances to professional guardians.

Newman said the same thing happened to her.

“I walked into a land mine I did not imagine,” Newman said.

In 2009, Newman's father Al Katz became sick and was admitted to a Sarasota hospital.

Katz, a Holocaust survivor, was  a snowbird from Indiana.

Newman and her husband left Indianapolis and drove straight to Florida as soon as they heard Katz had become ill.

“We assumed, as his family and his caretakers for eight years, that we should be able to pick him up. No way,” said Newman.

Katz, instead, was appointed a professional guardian by the courts.

Records show the guardian sought and received a "no contact order" preventing Katz's family from taking him home.

“We had no ability to speak to him, visit him. So my father, of course, thought he was abandoned,” Newman said.

Full Article, Video, and Source:
Sarasota non-profit educates, fights against abusive professional guardianships

See Also:
NASGA - Al Katz, IN/FL Victim

NASGA - Debbie Woodward, FL Victim>/a>

NASGA - Marie Lubowski Winkelman, FL Victim

Holocaust Survivor Guardianized in Florida

On December 4th, a beautiful and brilliant 88-year-old Holocaust Survivor named Marie Winkelman was put into guardianship in the Sarasota, Florida Probate Court – without a hearing – based upon a mediation agreement. Marie is a recent resident of Bird Key who still lives independently and keeps her home in immaculate condition.

The mediation agreement was prepared by Federal Mediator Gary Larsen, which Marie did not see until after the mediation. Her fortune of many millions, which she earned through decades of hard work and prudent investments, is now in the hands of a company named Sabal Trust with which she has never had any contact. Through the mediated agreement, she is given a monthly allowance of her own money, despite the fact she has always spent her money judiciously.

The numerous attorneys involved in her case, including Barry Spivey, Christopher Likens, Kim Bald, Rebecca Proctor, and Thomas Shults, will collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Survivor's assets, even though she was denied her due process rights.

Source:
NASGA Marie Lubowski Winkelman, Florida Victim

SURVIVOR MADE WARD, AS AL KATZ

COMMUNITY ALERT

 

Last month, July 2013, one of our precious Survivors heard a knock on her door and was surprised to find a stranger who wanted to ask her many questions.  She had thought that he was an administrator from her Sarasota housing complex, but he turned out to be a psychiatrist who was surreptitiously conducting an examination of her in order to put her into emergency temporary guardianship, which did occur just a few days later (without notification to her closest family members).  

 

As many of you know, my own Father, Al Katz, a Holocaust Survivor, was likewise put into emergency temporary guardianship here without any notification sent to me as his next-of-kin, which notification is required by law.  My Father’s emergency temporary guardianship was court ordered on Erev Rosh Hashonah 2009.  

 

Today, another Holocaust Survivor would have been similarly forced into permanent Florida State guardianship shortly before Rosh Hashonah; however, Jews from across the United States worked for many days to prevent this unnecessary confinement of a Survivor, separation from her beloved family members, and isolation from the Jewish community.

 

The attorney that was appointed by the court to represent the Survivor was the same attorney that was responsible for my Father’s placement into the Baker Act illegally for three weeks without any court hearing, his lockdown for three additional weeks in an abusive nursing home, and his inability to come home from the nursing home, which traumas and medical neglect nearly cost my Father his life.

 

I urge you to be very careful when you encounter anyone or any experiences that could pose a risk to you in terms of elder abuse or exploitation.  In today’s case, the Survivor lives in a luxury housing complex and has very significant assets.  Once a person is forced into guardianship, all of his or her assets are under the control of someone appointed by the court, who may not have any relationship with the Ward at all, in other words, a total stranger.  The results to the person and property (asset seizure) of the Ward can be disastrous.  I ask you to begin this Rosh Hashonah safely and please feel free to contact The Al Katz Center any time you are faced with a troubling situation in which we can assist you.  

 

At The Al Katz Center, Survivors are treasures, the backbone of the Jewish people, to whom we all owe an inestimable debt of gratitude for their extreme sacrifices.  The Al Katz Center is a refuge and resource for Jews young and old, observant and non-.  

 

L’Shana Tova,

 

Beverly Newman, Ed.D.

The Al Katz Center

713 South Orange Avenue

Sarasota, Florida  34236

(941) 313-9239

helpelders@hotmail.com