Speakes Family Conservatorship Battle

Larry Speakes had one of those classic Washington careers. A small-town guy with a Mississippi drawl who was promoted amid crisis into a top White House job, he served longer than any other press secretary of the past half-century, wrote a controversial memoir -- then receded into quiet corporate life.

Now 69 and suffering the effects of Alzheimer's disease, the veteran Reagan aide is at the center of a bitter family feud. His third wife is battling two of his children from an earlier marriage over who should oversee his estate and take responsibility for his care -- one side slinging allegations of abduction, the other side claiming neglect.

The two sides faced off in a courtroom, where his wife of eight years, Aleta Sindelar Speakes sought to overturn the conservatorship a judge granted last year to Larry Speakes's daughter, Sondra Speakes Huerta. Not in court: Speakes, who now lives in a nearby assisted-living home not far from his daughter, and 1,000 miles away from his wife. His children, their lawyer Jamie Jacks decided "it was not necessary for him to be present."

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The Speakes Family Battle Goes South

Helping Your Aging Parents

Some 41 percent of baby boomers with a living parent are helping to care for them, according to a recent USA Today/ABC News/Gallup Poll, and nearly half of those who aren't worry about being able to do so in the future.

The price tag isn't cheap: MetLife says the average price for in-home non medical help runs about $20 an hour, an assisted-living residence costs roughly $36,000 a year, and a private room in a nursing home goes for over $77,000 annually.

But you can help aging parents get the assistance they need without burning through family finances.

1. Have the Conversation

2. Get the Right Help

3. What to do if your parents are less independent -- and how to pay for it

4. How to Save Money

5. How to deal with Alzheimer's or Dementia

6. Find out the financial documents and medication information you need from your parents

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How to Help Your Aging Parents Without Going Broke

Still Fighting to Gain Control

In 2006, Sharona Dagani's mother hired a part-time caregiver from an agency. Within two months, Sharona informed her mom in a letter that she was moving out. More shocking was that she decided to leave the Jewish faith. Albstein suspects the caregiver, Ms. Perez, of planting the seeds and for an ancient motive.

A malpractice settlement put nearly $2 million into a trust for Sharona's care. Not long after she moved out with Ms. Perez, Sharona went to court to try and gain control of the trust.

Attorney Scott Cantor: "I think the caregiver was trying to influence Sharona away from her mom with the idea that she would step in as primary caregiver and have access to her money. Because Sharona believed that at 18 the money was going to be handed to her. But there was a guardianship in place. She was telling Sharona that Joan did not have her interests at heart that she was the guardian just for her money, that Joan did not love her."

Joan Albstein says she used cell phone records to find out that, through Perez, Sharona had become deeply involved with the International Church of Las Vegas and was attending services three or four days a week to the exclusion of everything else. When Joan tried to visit her daughter at a residence, she was informed her name was on a no-visit list. Sharona's girlfriends got the same treatment. Sharona was cut off, even when she came to court.

Full Article and Source:
Las Vegas Woman Fights Religious Group to Save Her Daughter

See also:
Battle to Control Money

Judge Sides With Ward

At least 6 Years in Prison

Former Jackson County lawyer Richard McQuillan said he considers it a "lifelong obligation" to pay back the heirs of an estate he said he plundered to help people in the Dominican Republic.

McQuillan earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of embezzling more than $20,000 from the estate of Robert Howard, who died in December 2006 at age 84.

First, McQuillan is to serve at least six years in prison.

Jackson County Circuit Judge John McBain went well beyond state sentencing guidelines, which called for 10 to 23 months in prison or jail, and sentenced McQuillan on Thursday to six to 10 years in prison.

McBain said the guidelines did not adequately reflect the amount of money stolen — more than $800,000 — and McQuillan's abuse of his position of trust.

McBain: "Action of an attorney like you, it damages the reputation of every attorney in the country."

Full Article and Source:
Former Jackson County attorney will serve at least six years in prison for embezzlement

See also:
Estates Bled Dry

Attorney Plundered $1Million Estate

"Easy" For Attorney or Guardian

In-Home Services Cut

Senior citizens who need home care may have to wait. The Passport program designed to keep the elderly out of nursing homes has been cut in the governor's new budget; that could affect 2,000 people in the area.

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Ohio budget restricts in-home services

More information:
Agencies serving older Ohioans say new budget means fewer seniors will receive in-home care

Agencies: Ohio budget restricts in-home services

Lawsuit Against State Facility

A lawsuit has been filed in U.S. Federal District Court alleging abuse at a state mental health treatment facility.

The suit alleges that the Minnesota Extended Treatment Options facility in Cambridge, Minnesota, routinely restrained patients using metal handcuffs and shackles without cause.

The suit also contends the facility secluded patients for extended periods and deprived them of family visits. The facility is run by the state Department of Human Services.

Full Article and Source:
Lawsuit alleges abuse at state-run mental health facility

More information:
Abuses Alleged at State-Run Mental Center

Improper Restraint Common At Minnesota Hospital, Suit Says

Mother Fled With Children

The Sun Valley mother of six who was the focus of an Amber Alert has been involved with child welfare workers since at least 2001, court records show.

Claire Camille Tourand may be on her way to Mexico with four of her six children, authorities said. An arrest warrant has been issued, charging her with unlawful detention, concealment or removal of a child from its lawful custodian.

Social workers declared Tourand a danger to her children, and that they were in an “immediate risk” in her care.

Records show Tourand recently finished a term in the Washoe County Jail related to her 2008 guilty plea to child neglect related to squalid conditions of her home. She pleaded guilty to allowing her children to live in a home where the feces and urine of nine cats and eight dogs saturated her children’s bed and clothing, and where rotted food was scattered around the home. Two rabbits were also in the home.

When she fled the area, her children had been in foster care and social workers were trying to reunite the family, authorities said.

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Amber Alert subject investigated for years

Family Files Suit Against Nursing Home

The family of a disabled man and woman filed a lawsuit against a Norridge nursing home claiming the woman was physically assaulted multiple times during her stay at the northwest suburban facility.

The four-count lawsuit also claims the man was given incorrect medications.

Francisca and Arcadio Arce, both disabled, were both admitted to Central Baptist Village, Inc. in June 2004, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit court by the Arce's guardian Wilfredo Arce.

The lawsuit claims that Francisca Arce was physically abused and assaulted in her room, the shower or the bathroom at various times between December of 2008 and February 2009.

The lawsuit claims Arcadio Arce was given incorrect medication from October 2008 to February.

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Family accuses Norridge nursing home of abuse

Editorial Critical of Report

Grand jury criticism of little-known county agency is itself open to some criticism

An Orange County Register editorial

Excerpts:

Most Orange County residents probably know little or nothing about the county's public administrator/public guardian. So it is odd to have seen this obscure office the subject of various headlines after the Orange County grand jury issued two scathing reports about management procedures there.

Because of the scathing tone of the reports and the nature of the work, which deals with the government's handling of personal assets, we expected the investigation to be filled with allegations of abuse. Instead, the reports focus on detailed complaints about the agency's management structure.

We're not usually given to accepting the "political vendetta" argument, but we do find some things fishy about the double-barreled reports, which complain about excessive management growth, pension spiking and excessively large caseloads by conservators responsible for handling the assets of the clients. For starters, we can't figure out why the grand jury took the unusual step of releasing a second report before the legal deadline had expired for Mr. Williams to respond to the first one.

But how could anything have changed even before the deadline had expired to even respond to the allegations? The second report, which supposedly contained new information, read to us like a rehashing of the first report. Our guess is the grand jury received a leaked copy of Mr. Williams' initial rebuttal to the Board of Supervisors, and lashed out again because they didn't like that he disputed each of their recommendations.

Full Article and Source:
Editorial: The watchdog vs. the guardian

See also:
Senior Tsunami

Egregious Mismanagement at Public Guardian's Office