U.S. Senator Mark Kirk Enters Rehab

Lake County blog Team America 10th has leaked some news that U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk is expected to enter rehab “today." [February 10]

According to the post, Mike Morgan, Kirk’s campaign chairman, said “Kirk’s mental capacity and the right side of his body are as good as ever; Kirk is monitoring what’s going on with his legislative agenda and is very, very pleased that his work is progressing while he is on the mend.”

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Report: Kirk to Enter Rehab Today

Note: NASGA's best wishes are with Senator Kirk for a rapid and complete recovery!

SC: Probate Court Backlog Causing Delays

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Probate Court Backlog Causing Delays

Prosecutors: Woman Moved to Retirement Home to Con Elderly

A transient woman suspected of bilking elderly residents at Seattle-area retirement homes after gaining their trust has been charged with several counts of felony theft.

King County prosecutors claim Fonda D. Michaux conned several residents of a Burien retirement home, where the 52-year-old was living with her father. Beyond those thefts, though, investigators suspect she may have used the same scheme against other elderly people elsewhere in the area.

“While living in retirement communities, the defendant befriended and defrauded a number of elderly and vulnerable victims,” Deputy Prosecutor Celia Lee told the court.

“The state has received additional information concerning identical criminal conduct that has occurred at other retirement homes,” Lee continued. She described the investigation as ongoing, but suggested additional charges may be forthcoming.

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Prosecutors: Woman Moved to Retirement Home to Con Elderly

Nebraska: Guardianship and Conservatorship Changes for 2012

For individuals filing for guardianship starting this year the new law and court rules require the filing of a national criminal history record check, a check of the Abuse and Neglect Registries for adults and children, a check with the sex offender registry, and a credit check, 10 days before the hearing to appoint a permanent guardian of an adult. The information will not be disclosed to non-parties without the court’s written consent. The respondent (proposed ward) is certainly a party and the term party could be argued to include others who participate in the proceeding, e.g. an interested party who objects to a petition.

If the order of appointment is issued this year the new guardian or conscervator much provide a number of forms before getting their letters from the clerk’s office. A Proof of Restricted Account is supposed to be filed within 10 days to prove establishment of any required account. There are information sheets, an inventory with an affidavit of due diligence, and any required bond. The rules also ask for a form from financial institutions holding accounts of the ward showing that the order for appointment was provided to them. The requirement to attend a class within 90 days of appointment remains the same.

All guardians and conservators, even thouse appointed years ago, are now required to gain court approval before making ATM withdrawals or receiving cash back on a debit card. They must also file their Letters with the Register of Deeds in any county where the ward has a real property interest. Reporting forms and requirements have also changed, and all reports will receive some level of third party review.

These, along with other new requirements, are designed to provide additional protection to wards. They will also make the entire process more expensive and time consuming. I know a number of professionals who says that they are either going to stop working in this area altogether or raise their fees substantially, making pre-planning alternatives like durable power of attorney documents even more appealling. Court staff, guardians, wards, and their legal counsel will all be working through the additional guardianship requirements throughout the coming months.

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Guardianship and Conservatorship Changes in Nebraska for 2012

Iowa: Bill to Help Victims of Financial Exploitation

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill to help victims of identity theft and senior citizens who’ve been cheated.

Senate Study Bill 3055 allows Iowa victims of identity theft originating out of state to qualify for the Attorney General’s Identity Theft Passport Program. The Iowa Attorney General will provide victims with a “passport” that can be used as proof to law enforcement and creditors that someone has stolen their identity.

This bill will also allow victims of identity theft and elderly victims of financial exploitation to be eligible for help from the Victim Compensation Fund. Victims can get reimbursed for expenses, such as traveling to and from the courthouse to attend trial or missing work because of criminal proceedings related to the case.

The financial exploitation of senior citizens and identity theft are growing problems.

Full Article and Source:
Helping Victims of Financial Exploitation

MN: Guilty Plea From Former Guardian/Conservator Terri Ann Hague

Last year I wrote about a former professional guardian and conservator named Terri Ann Hauge, who had lost her license as a lawyer but found a new courthouse career overseeing the lives and finances of vulnerable adults, only to find herself in trouble again. Hauge pleaded guilty last week in Hennepin District Court to felony theft by swindle in connection with the theft of $53,000 from the estate of Foster A. Greene, an Edina man who died in 2003. She is scheduled to be sentenced May 21. Her co-defendant, Terrance Larpenteur, is scheduled to appear in court for a plea hearing March 30.

Hauge and Larpenteur ran Estate Resources, Inc., which at one time handled one of the state's largest portfolios of work as guardians and conservators. Hauge still faces numerous charges of theft by swindle, financial exploitation of an elderly adult and perjury in Rice County.

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Guilty Plea From Former Guardian - Conservator

Editorial Lambasts Washington for Ignoring Elder Abuse

An editorial in this week’s Huffington Post from the National Coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition, offered a general summary of the sad state of affairs when it comes to elder abuse identification and prevention. Despite the encouraging signs that more focus is slowly being directed at the plight of so many vulnerable seniors, the fact remains that elders suffer every day without anyone doing anything about it. Certain aspects of the problem have reached epidemic proportions. For example, during the holiday season it is estimated that one in ten seniors fell victim to some form of elder financial abuse. Collectively, this amounts to a loss of more than $3 billion each and every year. In some of the most extreme cases, seniors lose savings that they had built up over a lifetime.

Last year Congress held hearings on the plight of many of these seniors, highlighting the scope of the problem and its various forms. In the past the body has actually worked to enact legislation to tackle the problem—the Elder Justice Act. However, as the editorial points out, for the second year in a row Congress passed a spending bill while failing to fun this piece of legislation—the only federal elder abuse prevention act on the books. The President had asked Congress to authorize $21.5 million in startup funds to get the prevention project off the ground. However, Congress ignored this request and so the measure will remain stalled yet again.

It remains disappointing that so little is being done on a federal level to actually prevent this abuse before it occurs so that victims are spared. Instead, elder abuse lawyers are forced to spearhead the accountability project by seeking to hold wrongdoers accountable after the fact. Ideally steps would be enacted to help stop the problems from arising in the first place.

Full Article and Source:
Editorial Lambasts Washington for Ignoring Elder Abuse

TN: Legislation Could Limit Judges' Power

A Tennessee representative is pushing for reforms to the system that is meant to protect vulnerable citizens, but often leaves them destitute and homeless instead.

State Rep. Gary Odom, D-Nashville, has introduced a bill that provides more protection to those who could come under the control of a conservator. A conservator is someone appointed by the court to oversee the person's personal and financial affairs.

Three Davidson County cases recently profiled by Channel 4 News show the system robs people of their rights and often drains their bank accounts to pay for attorneys they never chose and in some cases, found they could not fire.

People in conservatorships lose all their rights, including their right to handle their own money, their right to make their own medical decisions, their right to vote, their right to marry and their right to decide where to live.

Ginger Franklin fell under the control of a conservator after she fell down the stairs at her home and bumped her head.

While she was recovering, her conservator put her home up for sale, emptied her bank accounts and disposed of most of her personal possessions. A year later, she was broke and homeless.

The same thing happened to Jewell Tinnon. Her furniture, her clothes and even her paid-for home were all sold at auction. Once she won her release from her conservatorship, she had to move into public housing for the elderly.

Songwriter Danny Tate fought to free himself from a conservatorship. He ultimately lost his fortune.

Odom has introduced a bill to better protect people's rights in conservatorships.

"It's wrong. We need a better process. We deserve a better process," Odom says.

Odom's bill would require more medical evidence before a judge appoints a conservator. The person who would be the subject of the conservatorship would have the right to appear in court personally and would have the right to pick their own lawyer. That is not currently the case.

"That's unbelievable to me," Odom says.

The same judge presided over the Tinnon, Franklin and Tate cases - Probate Judge Randy Kennedy. He did not return our calls asking for comment on Odom's bill.

Odom says his bill does not target Kennedy specifically, just the system itself.

"This legislation obviously cannot undo wrongs that have taken place in the past, but it can try to protect people in the future," Odom says.

Full Article and Source:
Legislation Could Limit Judges' Power

MS Lawyer Jailed for Fraud and Contempt

A Rankin County attorney is in the Hinds County Detention Center in Raymond. Hinds County Chancery Judge Dwayne Thomas said Michael J. Brown will stay there until he accounts for and returns a lot of money that belongs to the grandson of a late civil rights legend.

The court found that Brown was supposed to establish a guardianship account for at least $3 million dollars inherited by De Mon McClinton from his mother, Rebecca Henry McClinton.

Brown never did.

His mother, the daughter of the late Doctor Aaron Henry, died in 2000 when McClinton was 16-years-old.

Brown never deposited the funds into a bank as required by a court order 12 years ago.

He loaned out $550,000 of McClinton's money and personally borrowed another half-million dollars from McClinton's funds in 2001.

Additionally, Brown forged two checks totaling more than $230,000.

And in 2001, Brown tried to have a $398,000 fee approved in Hinds County Chancery Court for getting McClinton's funds from his mother's estate.

Judge Thomas ordered Brown's case turned over to the Hinds County district attorney and to the Mississippi Bar.

Full Article and Source:
Flowood Attorney Jailed for Fraud and Contempt