Chester County Orphans’ Court seeks guardian program volunteers

WEST CHESTER — The Chester County Orphans’ Court is seeking volunteers to serve county individuals who require guardianship — assisting the court in maintaining contact with any person deemed by the court who cannot make decisions about their daily lives, where they live, or medical or financial matters.

The amount of volunteer time for visits to individuals who need guardianship is flexible, and training for the guardian program includes topics such as the guardianship process, individual’s rights, Alzheimer’s disease and information on public agencies that provide the guardianship services.

“Our trained volunteers are the eyes and ears of the Court and help us to be alert to and deal with issues of fiscal safety for those whom we declare incapacitated,” explained Katherine B. L. Platt, administrative judge with the Chester County Orphans’ Court.

Anyone interested in becoming part of the Orphans’ Court guardian program is invited to take part in a free training session that will be held on Wednesday, April 10, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Chester County Justice Center, 201 W. Market St., West Chester. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.

For more information about the program or to request an application for the upcoming training, please contact Kim Bainbridge at 610-344-6484 or email kbainbridge@chesco.org.

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Chester County Orphans’ Court seeks guardian program volunteers

Legal guardian system set to change

WEST CHESTER >> Those who serve as legal guardians for incapacitated persons and their estates will soon have to adapt to a new way of filing annual reports on the physical and financial conditions of the people they are charged with looking after.

According to Terri Clark, the Chester County Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans Court, beginning Aug. 29, guardians will have to submit those mandated reports through an internet-based system with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. Previously, those reports could be mailed or brought into a county’s Orphans Court office for inspection.

And while many of those who look after the well-being and financial resources of incapacitated adults come from professional agencies, Clark said the county does have a significant percentage of family members or close friends who are court-appointed attorneys. She worries that the people may not have the knowledge or resources to keep up with the new regulations.

So Clark said that beginning this month, her office in the county Justice Center will offer free access to computers with which the legal guardians can file the necessary reports. She said the staff at the Register of Wills Office will also be trained to help those filing.

“I want to get this out,” Clark said in an interview Monday in her office overlooking West Market Street. “I think the new system is going to take some getting used to, so my staff will be trained to help anyone who would like to come in and file their reports.”

Clark estimated that there are about 700 non-professional guardians looking after those who have been found in need of care and oversight by one of the county’s three Orphans Court judges.

Those guardians are required to file every year reports that include a daily, weekly, or monthly account of the steps they have taken to insure the well-being of those they are looking after. How many times did they go to the doctor? Did they do the grocery shopping? What other activities did they engage in?

Guardians who are responsible for the person’s estate — their bank account, stock holdings, real estate, etc. — must also file a report detailing what has been happening with those finances.

The new rules, known collectively as the Guardian Tracking System, were put in place this year by a statewide task force looking into elder abuse. Commonwealth Court Judge Paula Francisco Ott, formerly a county Orphans Court judge, was involved in the effort, Clark said.

The system is intended to help cut down on some elder abuse by making it more difficult for a guardian who has been removed from one case to relocate to another jurisdiction and continue their guardianship, she said. It will also track how well a professional guardian is performing, so a judge can decide whether an agency should continue to be appointed to care for a vulnerable person. The system will also make sure that guardians are filing mandated annual reports.

“This process is going to make it harder for elder abuse to happen,” she said. “But change is difficult for everyone, and we’re here to make their job easier.”

The tracking system is available at https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/Guardianship.aspx. For more information contact the county Orphans Court at https://www.chesco.org/168/Register-of-Wills-Orphans-Court.

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Legal guardian system set to change

Lackawanna County Salary Board votes to fund guardianship administrator position

SCRANTON — The Lackawanna County Salary Board on Wednesday voted to fund a new position to perform state Supreme Court-mandated work, an issue that sparked contentious debate at a prior salary board meeting late last year.

Register of Wills Fran Kovaleski — who also serves as clerk of the Orphans’ Court, a division of the county court system — appeared before the board on Dec. 20 seeking a budget amendment to create a full-time guardianship administrator position at an annual salary of $42,000 plus benefits. Tensions rose at that meeting when county officials told Kovaleski the salary board can only vote to fund positions, not create them.

Nonetheless, Kovaleski and the county continued to discuss the issue. On Feb. 1, she raised some fees in both the Register of Wills and Orphans’ Court offices to cover the cost of the position, hoping the salary board would ultimately fund it.

That’s what the board did Wednesday by voting to fund the position at an annual salary of $42,000, with only Commissioner Laureen Cummings voting no. Cummings, who sits on the salary board with fellow commissioners Patrick O’Malley and Jerry Notarianni and county Controller Gary DiBileo, said she doesn’t feel the position is necessary.

The administrator will work for the Orphans’ Court and serve as a coordinator between the courts and court-appointed guardians of senior citizens, informing current guardians of new reporting practices, updating the county’s data on active guardianships and migrating that data into a new computer-based Guardian Tracking System. They would also alert the courts of any potential improprieties in guardianship reports to help protect seniors from fraud, among other responsibilities.

Much of that work is being mandated by the state Supreme Court through the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts and is too much for current staff to manage given their existing workload, Kovaleski said earlier this year.

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Lackawanna County Salary Board votes to fund guardianship administrator position

Chester County Orphans’ Court seeks guardian program volunteers

WEST CHESTER >> The Chester County Orphans’ Court is seeking volunteers to serve as its “eyes and ears” by visiting individuals who require guardianship.

The visits by volunteers assist the court in maintaining contact with any person deemed by the court to be incapacitated. The amount of volunteer time required is flexible, and training for the guardian program includes topics such as individual’s rights, Alzheimer’s disease, and information on public agencies that provide the guardianship services.

“The court appoints a guardian for an individual who is determined to be ‘incapacitated’ within the meaning of the law,” said Orphans Court Judge Katherine Platt. “The standard for that determination is whether the individual’s ability to receive and evaluate information and communicate decisions is impaired to such a significant extent that he or she is unable to manage his or her financial resources, or meet essential requirements for physical health and safety.”

Anyone interested in becoming part of the Orphans’ Court guardian program is invited to take part in a free training session that will be held on Thursday, April 6, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Chester County Justice Center, 201 W. Market Street, West Chester. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.

For more information about the program or to request an application for the upcoming training, please contact Diane Mulhearn at 610-344-5212 or email dmulhearn@chesco.org.

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Chester County Orphans’ Court seeks guardian program volunteers