‘Long time coming.’ Michigan Senate committee pushes guardianship reform bills forward

By: Heather Catallo , Johnny Sartin

(WXYZ) — Local families have been demanding changes to Michigan’s laws after the 7 Investigators' years-long investigation into the state’s guardianship system. After a vote today, several bills that would reform some of the guardianship rules are as close to becoming law as they’ve ever been.

The bills that moved forward Thursday do not have everything in them that Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Elder Abuse Task Force originally wanted, but experts say the bills are a major step forward in protecting Michigan’s vulnerable adults.

Since 2017, 7 Investigator Heather Catallo has raised the voices of Michigan families who say the state’s guardianship system has devastated them.

“This is not right. This is illegally keeping me. Might as well go to jail, at least I got more people to talk to,” said Gerald Harten, a 77-year-old Vietnam veteran from Macomb County. Harten alleges a court-appointed professional guardian has kept him from his loved ones for months, and says he feels like he’s been kidnapped.

If a judge declares you legally incapacitated, you lose the right to make your own medical and financial decisions.

This is how Gretchen Sommer described losing her aunt and uncle in 2019 to a professional guardian: “Kept them hostage, took them from their families, locked them behind a six-and-a-half- foot privacy fence and just drained their estate.”

 

Today the Michigan Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety sent four guardianship reform bills forward to the full senate.

“Family is always held to a different standard when they’re in these roles. Because I continue to fight, press, retain counsel, I have been retaliated against by the courts – told to schedule visits with my own mother in my childhood home that I grew up in for 21 years,” Roslund Harris told state senators during Thursday’s hearing. “No stranger should have priority over family. I pray your hearts are convicted today to pass these bills and go back and amend what we need to do.”

Elder advocates said the bills will add much more due process and help for those facing guardianship, such as making sure your rights are clearly explained to you if someone’s trying to put you under guardianship. They would also beef up the current requirements that a ward can attend their own court hearings, something legal experts say is often ignored.

“These bills are a very, very, very long time coming. And I know we have people here who have been wronged by our system, we have people who have had family members essentially cut out of their lives because of our guardianship system. We’ve had people lose their homes, their freedoms, all because we have an antiquated system that desperately needs reform,” said Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi). Breen is one of the sponsors of the legislation.

“We require a court to state on record why a sale of a ward’s property is in the best interests of the ward,” said Senator Stephanie Change (D-Detroit), the chair of the Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety, as she pointed out one of many proposed changes.

Despite those reforms, some on Thursday expressed disappointment that the bills do not require professional guardians (guardians with multiple wards who are guardians as a ‘business’) to be certified or have any state oversight.

“The one thing that was probably the most important thing – that should come first -- is these people have to have some place that they register. My gosh, my daughter has to get a license to polish nails. And we’re letting people take over people’s lives,” said Sen. Ruth Johnson (R-Holly).

“The [bills] are not perfect by any means, but they are good and they are absolutely better than what we have. The status quo not acceptable,” said Rep. Breen. 

The Attorney General’s Elder Abuse Task Force had originally introduced a bill to create an Office of the State Guardian to provide oversight and certification of guardians, but that’s been dropped for now. Members of the task force have said they want to get that concept introduced again in the next legislative session.

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‘Long time coming.’ Michigan Senate committee pushes guardianship reform bills forward

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‘I’m kidnapped.’ Vietnam veteran fighting Michigan guardianship system

‘I’m kidnapped.’ Vietnam veteran fighting Michigan guardianship system

By: Heather Catallo , Johnny Sartin

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Prosecutors have called court-ordered guardianship a superhighway that you can’t exit from and that’s exactly what one Macomb County combat veteran says has happened to him.

Gerald F. Harten says he survived the horrors of the Vietnam War only to now feel like he’s been captured by the enemy decades later. But this time, he says the enemy is Michigan’s guardianship system.

Harten admits he’s fully into his golden years and he’s not quite as physically capable as he once was, but he insists he is not mentally incapacitated. Harten says he wants his voice to be heard by the American court system that he fought for so many years ago.

“This is not right. This is illegally keeping me. Might as well go to jail — at least got more people there to talk to. Get three squares there, they'll give you your medicine. I've been in ‘jail’ for a year. That's the way I feel,” Harten told the 7 Investigators.

The 77-year-old Army veteran’s journey into guardianship started last November after he had back surgery and other health complications.

According to court records, his wife, Mary, had power of attorney to make Harten’s medical decisions, but she was hospitalized at the same time, so she could not care for him.

“I was in a hospital and my boy stepped up to be my overseer of the medicine,” Harten said.

Harten’s son became his legal guardian. When a judge approved that petition for guardianship, Harten was declared legally incapacitated.

“The court says I'm not allowed to go to the bank, take any money out or do anything,” Harten said.

If a judge appoints a guardian and conservator for you, you lose your rights, meaning you can no longer make your own medical or financial decisions, you can’t get married, you can't get divorced or decide where to live.

Harten says his son did a good job taking care of him at his home in Madison Heights after his surgery, but as Harten and as his wife both got better, Harten says he started asking to go back to his own home in Harrison Township.

“I was a millwright by trade. Worked seven days a week for 31 years. And I had everything paid for — my house. I have… three motorcycles, the pool in back, jacuzzi. I was made for my retirement. I'm not allowed to go home,” Harten said. “It’s just been a nightmare.”

Things in court then got messy. According to court records, Harten’s wife tried fighting the guardianship, his son hired a lawyer and there are allegations Harten’s wife ignored court orders and refused to pay for Harten's care. The judge later terminated the wife’s power of attorney over her husband.

In May, the judge put Macomb County professional guardian George Heitmanis in charge of Harten’s life.

Harten says he was furious Heitmanis kept him at his son’s house, even though police records show that the family started feuding so much that officers were called to the home repeatedly last summer.

“I'm kidnapped. I am really kidnapped,” Harten said about his guardianship.

Through their attorney, Harten’s son and his family declined to speak to the 7 Investigators, but police records show they alleged that Harten was often the aggressor during their conflicts.

According to court records, the allegation that Harten has dementia has been used to justify the need for guardianship.

The doctor’s note filed with the court that was used to start the proceedings last fall says Harten was suffering from “likely underlying vascular dementia …”

A report later ordered by the court that was conducted by a gerontologist who also works as a professional guardian states Harten’s “need for a guardian and conservator... has been clearly noted by four different evaluators.” For at least two of those evaluations, court records show Harten was on opioid pain killers, and he alleges those were the cause of his confusion at the time, not dementia.

“Do you think you are mentally deficient,” 7 Investigator Heather Catallo asked.

“No! Just no,” Harten said. “I remember everything.”

Whether he’s been talking to the 7 Investigators or the police, Harten consistently insists he’s not mentally incapacitated and he says to anyone who will listen that he just wants to go home.

“Do you remember the last time we talked,” one officer asked Harten while his body camera was recording back in August.

“I sure do. I don't have dementia,” Harten said.

Harten later told the officer while he was in the back of the police car, “It is a real bad situation. I don't want to be there.”

In the police bodycam footage, as officers moved Harten to the hospital, the video shows him remembering the officer who’s a fellow veteran from past police runs to the house.

“You’re the Army guy,” Harten said.

“Yeah, yeah,” the officer said.

After that exchange with police in August, Harten was evaluated by more neurologists at the hospital, and doctors regularly noted in his records that he was alert and oriented to person, place and time. Doctor’s notes indicate there had not been an “outpatient workup for dementia ...”

In September, Harten arranged his own transportation to get to the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Detroit to meet his regular doctor who wrote a letter saying “... Mr. Harten is competent and able to make his own decisions ...” and that Harten understands “the consequences of his actions.”

“Everybody that I know would say that I'm not crazy,” Harten said.

Harten’s guardian eventually transferred him from the hospital to a group home, which he says he’s not happy about. And other than one hearing on Zoom in July, Harten says he has not been allowed to attend his own court hearings.

“They always get me away from court deals. And that's what made me mad. I said, ‘what? I can't see the judge?” Harten said.

Harten has written two letters to Macomb County Judge Sandra Harrison asking to be heard in court, and his fellow veterans have filled the courtroom to support him even though he says he has yet been allowed to attend in person. Instead, his guardian speaks for him.

“Mr. Harten has significant neurological issues,” Heitmanis said at a September hearing.

Regarding a ward’s attendance at court, “It's not up to their guardian. It's not up to their loved ones. It's not even up to their doctors. Only that person gets to make that call," Michigan Elder Justice Initiative attorney Nicole Shannon said.

Shannon says someone who’s under guardianship has the statutory right to attend key hearings, and she’s helped write new legislation to reinforce that right for anyone facing guardianship.

“This is not just a legal technicality. This is a very substantive, important right that folks need to exercise. And if somebody is prohibited from attending their own hearing, it can have devastating consequences,” Shannon said.

“I am really almost crying out for desperation. I want to go home,” Harten said.

On Tuesday, the 7 Investigators reached out to both Harten’s professional guardian and his court-appointed lawyer. Within hours, a new hearing was scheduled on the court docket to discuss a new petition to terminate the guardianship.

Heitmanis told the 7 Investigators, the court wants Harten to go home as long as it can be made safe.

The hearing to terminate the guardianship will be held in December.

On Thursday, the Michigan state senators are expected to discuss proposed guardianship reforms during a committee hearing. Those reforms include increasing access to court hearings for people under guardianship, and other safeguards.

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‘I’m kidnapped.’ Vietnam veteran fighting Michigan guardianship system