Man charged with financial exploitation of nursing home resident

A man has been indicted on a charge he was taking money from a woman's trust that nearly led to her eviction from a nursing home.

Gary Gaddie, 69, Huntsville, Texas, is charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person over the age of 80, a Class 1 felony.

The woman was found to be a disabled adult on Nov. 13, 2012, and a guardian was appointed.

The original guardian died in 2014 and Gaddie was appointed as a successor on Jan. 6, 2015.

Instead of paying for the woman's care through social security and pension, Gaddie took the money for himself, buying a home and pickup truck instead, according to Effingham County State's Attorney Bryan Kibler.

The indictment alleges the fraud extended from July 15, 2015 until June 14, 2018, when a petition to remove him as guardian was filed.

The deception was discovered when an attorney for the woman reviewed the paperwork, Kibler said.

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Man charged with financial exploitation of nursing home resident

Concern over elder abuse

I think one of the least talked about and one of the most important current problems in this country is elder abuse, in a variety of forms.

If you’re 65 or over, the problems associated with elder abuse should concern you. I didn’t pay much attention to this issue until I read an article about elder abuse in “The New Yorker” magazine recently. The upshot of the article was how easy it is in more populated areas of this country for unscrupulous people to become qualified as a guardian and then to be assigned to an elderly couple with all the powers of a guardian, which includes having people removed from their homes against their will and sent to a nursing home, selling all their possessions, and basically taking away everything they’ve worked hard for all their lives to pay not only the guardian, but for the nursing home care.

What follows, therefore, is some basic information about elderly guardianships from a website called “findlaw.com.”

Here’s a basic definition of what an elderly guardianship is: “Elderly guardianship, also known as elderly conservatorship, is a legal relationship created when a court appoints an individual to care for an elderly person who is no longer able to care for himself or herself.” The problem arises when elderly people are perfectly able to care for themselves but are merely alleged to be unable to do so any longer. “Unfortunately, an elderly person may become unable to care for himself or herself. This could include the inability to remember to take necessary medications, maintain regular hygiene, or properly manage finances. In these instances, it may be in the elderly person’s best interests for a court to appoint a guardian.”

Again, it’s possible that the mere allegation of incompetence may be enough for a court to appoint a guardian without the elderly person even knowing about it. Of course, there are instances when an elderly person really does need a guardian appointed, but the danger arises when then don’t, but a guardian is appointed anyway.

Who can petition the court to have a guardian appointed can include the elderly person himself or herself, the spouse or domestic partner of the elderly person, a relative, a friend, or even a state or government agency. The potential for abuse grows exponentially when the distance, both physical and emotional, increases.

The important thing to remember if you’re over 65 is that a legally appointed guardian gets control of everything, your money, your possessions, and where you live. The guardian gets control, in other words, or your whole life!

Here’s what the previously cited article says about some of the negatives associated with a guardianship: “Guardianship, by nature, requires the elderly person to lose some of his or her rights. For example, the elderly person may lose the right to manage his or her finances, to choose his or her own caretaker, and to decide where he or she lives. There’s also the risk that the guardian will fail to act in the best interests of the elderly person.”

As a practical matter, an elderly person becomes as disempowered over their own life as a minor child would be.

Some alternatives are available to a court appointed guardian. They include creating a living trust, giving one’s power of attorney to another person, or even appointment of what is called a “standby guardianship.” A standby guardianship means that, “the elderly person may designate someone as a standby guardian, in case the person loses the ability to care for himself or herself.” This method at least insures that the elderly person is picking the guardian instead of having someone appointed guardian who the elderly person may not even know. It is important to understand, however, that all these alternatives involve the elderly person willingly assigning his or her rights to another person.

Here’s what the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse says: “Over the years, guardianship law has been misapplied, misused, and sometimes just plain manipulated, until it has become a threat to the health and wealth to our elderly and disabled citizens. [The elderly] in these circumstances, are victimized under the deception of protection. Strangers are often given total and absolute control of life, liberty, and property of their wards, including being left defenseless and subject to neglect, abuse and or exploitation by the very people chosen to protect them; they become invisible and voiceless.”

Here’s what the court said in a 1995 Iowa case, N.W.2nd 567, 573-74: “[The ward] may be deprived of control over his residence, his associations, his property, his diet, and his ability to go where he wishes. With the misconception that guardianship is always a good thing, proposed wards agree to it not understanding that their rights will be restricted.”

Given the potential loss of liberty and freedom which the elderly have enjoyed all their lives, it just makes good sense to consult an attorney about how best to protect yourself from ending up being the ward of a court appointed guardian. We hear horror stories almost every day about child abuse, but precious little is heard about elderly abuse – particularly in light of the fact that a court appointed guardian is supposed to be acting in the best interests of the elderly person.

The risks of elderly abuse in small town America are small, but it just makes good sense to consult an attorney while you still have all your wits about you to avoid ending up with nothing.
That’s – 30 – for this week.

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Concern over elder abuse

Attorney: Elder “Protective Services” is a Racketeering Enterprise Medically Kidnapping Seniors

The real perpetrators of elder abuse & exploitation: Medical kidnapping by state public officials

 

More than 30 years ago, throughout the United States, state governments created agencies known as “elder protective services.”

As seen by such designated titles, these agencies are made to appear as though state governments are helpful resources for citizens.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. 

These so-called protective agencies are, in fact, wolves in sheep’s clothing that I can attest to from not only my direct personal experiences, but also from years of research.

Details of my family’s ongoing travesty of justice can be found at FreeMarvin.com. (See also: Massachusetts Senior Citizen and Attorney Medically Kidnapped – Estate Plundered – Represents National Epidemic.)

Upon years of my reviewing and obtaining voluminous court documentation throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts—particularly, in my professional experience as an attorney, there is no doubt, whatsoever, that public officials have been operating a racketeering enterprise through the probate and family courts, feeding off our most vulnerable citizens, the elderly.

These public officials do so through physical and financial exploitation of the elderly. [1]

In 2015, I filed a federal civil action in the District Court of Massachusetts providing overwhelming and irrefutable documentation that state elder protective agencies is one cog of many in a long-embedded governmental money laundering and embezzlement enterprise.

“Adult/elder protective services” is a money-making industry, which should set off nonstop warning bells to the public—especially, given the revelation of the magnitude of absolute corruption by government officials with hard cold supporting indisputable facts to the credit of our 45th President Donald J. Trump. (Editor’s note – See: National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in Charges Against Over 412 Individuals Responsible for $1.3 Billion in Fraud Losses – Largest Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action in Department of Justice History.)

As laid out in my 2015 federal racketeering complaint, illicit monies are funneled through kickbacks arising from prescribed medications (especially antipsychotics) and fraudulent billings for Medicare & Medicaid services.

The indisputable fact is that these state “protective” agencies have a financial incentive to unlawfully initiate court proceedings in the Probate & Family Courts to have our family members judicially declared wards of the state.

For example, Medicaid services are reimbursable for “all of the activities involved in an APS (Adult protective services) investigations of allegations of abuse.” [2]

The Medicaid program process is called Administrative Claiming. For “non-providers,” funds for APS investigations are provided by Title XIX Medicaid Administration.

UNDER SEC. 2042. [42 U.S.C. 1397m-1], Social Security also provides funds specific to investigating reported elder abuse via the Department of Health & Human Services. In 2011, $3 million dollars from Social Security was funded for “investigative” services, and $4 million each year from 2012-2014.

As evidenced,

medical providers and nonmedical entities receive kickbacks for the mere reporting of elder abuse.

Add to that, medical providers have even more of a financial incentive to facilitate reports of elder abuse where they have a subsequent and additional steady stream of income to be made through providing medical services.

The way to keep that continuous flow of income, people are involuntarily forced into the Probate & Family Courts by state “protective” agencies where they ensue formal court proceedings to declare people “wards of the state” upon which they are then routinely admitted into rehabilitation and/or nursing home facilities against their will.

This is all facilitated by elders being judicially determined to be “incapacitated.”

As shown, the medical community works hand-in-hand with judges and attorneys of the Probate & Family courts to literally abduct our family members by design for pure greed.

These public officials use these court proceedings to do so by claimed “mental health” issues and/or physical illness. Through the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) own published reports, state agencies guised as “protective services” have an established pattern of profiting from dismantling the family unit for more than 30 years nationwide.

Once elders are officially deemed “wards of the state” by Probate & Family Court judges, due to state protective agencies use to hook their claws into our family members, the governmental reign of terror is embedded through these judges appointing guardians and conservators to take absolute control over “the ward.”

At that point, the elder is then stripped of all individual freedoms, including personal decisions involving medical, financial or otherwise.

There is an irrefutable and well-documented pattern of court appointed guardians isolating the ward from family and friends, so as to facilitate involuntary drugging of the ward with antipsychotics and other Big-Pharma medications through subterfuge with the ultimate objective of liquidating the elder’s estate and to use the elder as a means to funnel funds via kickbacks and Medicare & Medicaid fraud.

Do NOT Call Elder Abuse “Hotlines”!

Even more alarmingly, for decades, state Attorney General Offices have continuously bombard citizens with “public service announcements” urging citizens to call “hot lines” to report abuse of elders.

Often times these calls to “elder abuse” hot lines are made “anonymously” with obvious underlying ill-motives, while other citizens are conned into thinking that they are going to be provided help to keep their family unit together when the state government has an established blatant and flagrant pattern of doing the exact opposite—they overtly seek to dismantle the family unit.

Showing the true motives of the offices of the Attorney Generals, they disturbingly blast a narrative that the majority of elder exploitation supposedly occurs by family members. For example, see: Commonwealth of Massachusetts – Elder Financial Exploitation and Fraud: Is it a Problem and What Should Credit Unions Do?

Established evidence shows that governmental abduction of family members involves all ages, all socio-economic backgrounds, and all ethnicities.

My family’s personal miscarriage of justice is a prime example that no one is beyond the clutches of this long-embedded systemic criminal enterprise.

Overwhelming court documentation shows that due process for accused family members is nonexistent.

In fact, it is business as usual for these public officials to fabricate and manufacture information to abduct our family members.

Don’t make the tragic mistake of thinking that state governmental medical kidnapping can’t happen to YOUR family.

Some short & fast tips to help avoid state governmental intrusion into your family:

• Do not initiate any proceeding in the probate & family court system
• Do not use services offered by state protective services
• Do not use services offered by local municipal organizations claiming to help the elderly, such as Council of Aging
• Do not call Abuse Hotlines
• Do not attend “free” publicly offered estate planning seminars

Seemingly, it is human nature for people to want to avoid horrifying topics of conversation like medical kidnapping—not wanting to even conceive of the thought that this could happen to their family.

People tend to bury their heads in the sand, but in reality, such reflex worsens the problem.

A unified and cohesive movement by we, citizens, for accountability, is so needed where the insidiousness in which governmental medical kidnapping is so deep. If not now, when?

Full Article & Source:
Attorney: Elder “Protective Services” is a Racketeering Enterprise Medically Kidnapping Seniors

Anthony Bourdain worth $1.21M at the time of his death

The late TV chef Anthony Bourdain was worth just $1.21 million when he hanged himself last month, new legal filings revealed Thursday.

Previous estimates had pegged his fortune at $16 million.

Bourdain’s will leaves the bulk of his money to his 11-year-old daughter Ariane Busia-Bourdain and the control over his estate to her mother, his estranged wife Ottavia Busia-Bourdain. It was filed in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court.

His assets include $425,000 in “cash and savings,” $35,000 in a brokerage account, $250,000 and “personal property,” and $500,000 in “intangible property including royalties and residuals,” according to court papers.

The documents do not list the East 94th Street condo Bourdain bought with his then-wife in 2014, but the filings do indicate a $1 million mortgage liability for an unspecified property.

The will was written in 2016, shortly before Bourdain and Busia split. He was dating Italian actress Asia Argento when he committed suicide in a hotel room in France amid. He was 61.

The celebrity chef had been working on a new episode of his CNN show “Parts Unknown” at the time of his death.

Bourdain, who traveled the globe for his culinary adventure shows, gave his “accumulated frequent flier miles” to his wife. He asked her to “dispose of [them] in accordance with what [she] believes to have been my wishes,” he says in his will.

He left the same instructions for cars, furniture, books, clothing and other household items.

Ariane, his only child, is set to inherit the remainder of his assets. Had his daughter died before he did the money would have gone to her nanny, Myra Quizon, the will says.

The court will appoint a guardian to protect his young daughter’s interests in the estate because she’s a minor.

The estate’s attorney did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

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Anthony Bourdain worth $1.21M at the time of his death

Feds: Lawyer stole $328,000 from clients, firm

ALBANY – A Slingerlands estate attorney who spent 37 years with one of the largest firms in upstate New York was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court with the theft and concealment of at least $328,000 allegedly taken from clients and his employer.

Albert Hessberg III, 63, a third-generation attorney who has sat on a number of local boards, was fired in March from the firm of Barclay Damon, where he worked since 1981 and handled trusts and estate cases, federal court papers said.

The FBI and federal prosecutors in Albany are still investigating Hessberg's alleged thefts that could be in the range of $1 million to $3 million, according to people with knowledge of the case.

Hessberg is charged with mail and wire fraud. Prosecutors for U.S. Attorney Grant Jaquith say Hessberg stole money from clients and diverted payments to his firm for legal services to himself.

An FBI agent's affidavit said one of Hessberg's former clients, a man identified only as "A.R.," died in 2007 leaving a probate estate of $555,000. The agent said Hessberg was the executor of the estate, the assets of which were to be left in a trust for the man's widow, known as "C.R.," and, after her death, trusts for their three children and grandchildren.

The widow died in 2010, leaving an estate of $314,000. The FBI agent wrote that nothing showed Hessberg ever set up trusts for the children or grandchildren. When one of the children asked about the inheritance, Hessberg explained in emails, voicemails and phone calls that distributing the assets was complicated and he needed more time, the affidavit said.

Hessberg told the person in emails last June that he had hired an accountant to ensure proper distribution of assets, then transferred $10,500 to the late couple's children "in an effort to further conceal and delay the discovery of his thefts," the  agent wrote.

Between Jan. 1, 2013 and May 11, 2015, Hessberg allegedly deposited $328,507 from other Barclay clients into the account for "A.R." He put the money into a bank account under his own name and the name of a family member, then second account under those names, then spent most of the money to "cover his personal and lifestyle expenses," the affidavit said.

Hessberg faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the charges, but could face lesser time depending on sentencing guidelines.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Christian Hummel allowed Hessberg to be free on his own recognizance. The defendant's lawyer, E. Stewart Jones of Troy, said the case is "a long way from being over."

M. Cornelia Cahill, deputy managing partner at Barclay Damon, did not utter Hessberg's name in a statement to the Times Union about the charges.

"When this matter came to light, Barclay Damon immediately terminated the attorney involved and notified the U.S. attorney's office," Cahill stated. "The firm will not comment further while the investigation is pending."

Hessberg's family was once part of the firm of Poskanzer, Hessberg, Blumberg and Dolin in Albany, which merged in 1985 with the Syracuse-based firm of Hiscock and Barclay, which later became Barclay Damon.

The defendant's father, Albert Hessberg II, was a president of the Albany County Bar Association and a referee with the state Commission on Judicial Conduct. When he died at 78 in 1995, an obituary in the Times Union identified him as a "longtime local attorney and a star running back for Yale in the 1930s."

The defendant's sister, Kim Hessberg Taylor, is the wife of musician James Taylor. In January, the couple donated $10,000 to Albany Medical Center Hospital for the Pediatric Emergency Department, scheduled to open this summer.

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Feds: Lawyer stole $328,000 from clients, firm

Legislation needs to help, protect seniors in assisted living

I read the letter from my state Rep.Tama Theis, "Gov. Dayton’s veto hurts vulnerable adults, seniors and their families," that ran May 31, with interest. I had called her concerning this very bill on abuse in assisted living — before this bill was put in the omnibus bill and watered down in that process.

I know members of the Elder Abuse Consumer Coalition, the president in particular, Kristine Sundberg, who told me the House bill was weak to begin with and the Senate version was actually the one watered down to fit the completely inadequate House version. The Coalition had asked the governor to veto the end-of-session mess the Republicans had presented him, including this legislation, which by end of the session was then actually stripping safety measures that were in place, and still are since the veto.

You’ll ask why I would care. I am an elder in my 80s. I am an RN/Nurse Practitioner having spent my life and career caring for elderly, mentally ill veterans. I belong to advocacy groups Greater Minnesota Health Care Coalition and Central Minnesota Senior Federation, both which keep an eye on how our healthcare money is spent by the state and state appointed vendors. I care how people are treated.

You may also wonder about the elder coalition mentioned. Bluntly, most if not all of the members have lost someone at an assisted living facility because the facility did not do a daily welfare check, which they promise they will do.

I say "promise" because there is no law or regulation to make them do a check. In one case it was seven days after the person had died before it was discovered, even though a neighbor warned the facility something was wrong. This is not isolated either. Many “incidents” as they are called are reported. Read the extended expose’ in the Star Tribune.

Back to Theis’ opinion letter. When called, I asked why she hadn’t signed onto the House bill. She hadn’t read it; at least that was the response. As she stated, she is a vice chair of this particular committee. But she hadn’t read it and hadn’t co-sponsored it, yet.

She mentioned how the House bill was giving the residents and their families “additional tools to hold perpetrators of abuse accountable . . .”

One tool used before the bill was the use of hidden cameras. Many abuses were discovered and stopped because the family put a camera in the apartment and proved abuse.

The House bill, however, required the family to tell the facility employees when and where the camera was placed. I suppose this would help the facilities avoid having perpetrators abuse because perpetrators now knew when they were being watched. The head of the AARP in Minnesota, Will Phillips, said this would undermine any ability of seniors and their families to document any abuse.

Because assisted living facilities are actually apartment buildings that promise to do a daily welfare check on occupants, residents may be evicted without notice to the family (if any), without concern where they would go and who would take them and be responsible. The bill Theis praises did not address this.

In assisted living apartments, you are treated as if you were like any other renter, without even low-income housing safeguards. If the elder is not checked on and dies, the family’s only recourse is a civil lawsuit. There are no criminal penalties. No “burdensome regulations” to “lead to significantly higher costs,” as her letter said. Her legislation would have done nothing to help and protect seniors in assisted living.

Charlotte Fisher is an RN/Nurse Practitioner who worked 30 years until retirement at the St Cloud VA. After retirement, she ran for the Sauk Rapids area MN House seat in the 1980s, worked as a nurse consultant for Opportunity Matters, raised her sons and involved herself in many organizations and causes to make healthcare fair and accessible for everyone. She is still advocating for health care as a right.

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Legislation needs to help, protect seniors in assisted living

Gainesville resident charged with financial exploitation of elderly

Amanda Forrest

Gainesville resident Amanda Forrest, 39, was arraigned last week before Circuit Judge Craig Carter on a charge of financial exploitation of the elderly.

The charge stems from accusations that, last December, Forrest made a “false promise” to care for the animals and property belonging to an 80-year-old citizen described as a “Confidential Victim” in the charging document filed by Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney John Garrabrant.

The probable cause statement in the case, filed by Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Cpl. Curtis Dobbs, says that, on April 20, he responded to a report of unknown subjects loading items into a truck at a residence on County Road 511.

The person who reported the incident also said two vehicles – a 1999 Buick Regal and a 1995 Ford Explorer – were missing from the property.

Dobbs learned that the owner of the residence had been hospitalized in Mountain Home, Arkansas, from January to March, and then was transferred to a long-term care facility in Willow Springs. The social service director at the facility told Dobbs the resident had been “in an incapacitated state” since his arrival there, and a Guardian Ad Litem had been appointed for him in April.

When Dobbs arrived at the residence on April 20, he saw tire tracks at the back of the house “and drag marks where someone had recently drug a heavy object and loaded it into a vehicle,” he wrote in the probable cause statement. He also saw that a window had been broken on the side of the home.

While he was at the house, a truck arrived carrying Amanda Forrest and two other occupants. The two other passengers in the truck told Dobbs that Forrest had “promised them money in exchange for helping her load and haul items to another location where a person was waiting to purchase them.” Both of the other passengers said Forrest told them she had permission to be at the residence.

Forrest admitted to Dobbs that she had taken items from the home but said she had the owner’s permission in order to pay for feeding the cats and dogs, according to the statement.

Dead cats and dogs near death

The reporting party had discovered the animals in the residence and reported the situation to the sheriff’s office on March 24. The deputy who investigated the incident then said that between six and nine dead cats were found in the home as well as two dogs that were near death.

Based on information from the reporting party and other witnesses, Dobbs wrote that Forrest “may have had permission ... to feed the animals but not sell any of the items” belonging to the property owner. He added that no evidence indicated that any money received from the sale of the items ever benefitted the owner or was used to feed his animals. “The animals left in her care were abandoned and locked in the home where most died from lack of food and water,” he wrote.

Unpaid bills, missing vehicles

When asked about the two missing vehicles, Forrest said she had wrecked the Explorer and sold it to someone in Arkansas for $200.

Dobbs showed Forrest photos of the household items and appliances reported as missing, “which appeared to be on her Facebook page. ... Ms. Forrest was attempting to sell these and other items for cash on Facebook sites such as Mountain Home Online Yard Sale,” Dobbs wrote.

Forrest said she sold the items in order to pay the resident’s bill at Gainesville Veterinary Clinic. Dobbs contacted the clinic, which told him the resident did have an outstanding balance, but no one had paid on it since the charges were accrued in December.

On April 23, Dobbs contacted someone in Mountain Home who had advertised on Facebook, offering cash for old cars. The man told Dobbs that Forrest had contacted him, and he had driven to the Ozark County residence and purchased the two vehicles from Forrest, paying $200 for each vehicle. The actual value of the vehicles was in excess of $1,000 each, Dobbs wrote. The man said he had already crushed the Buick but still had the Explorer.

In the charging document, Garra-brant accused Forrest of “promising performance that the defendant did not intend to perform or knew would not be performed and thereby knowingly obtained control of two motor vehicles, household appliances and furniture ... with the intent to permanently deprive Confidential Victim of the use of the property.”

Forrest is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 8 for a plea or trial setting.

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Gainesville resident charged with financial exploitation of elderly

Prison-bound lawyer to pay back over $300K he stole from clients

A Woodbridge lawyer admitted to stealing his clients money, and entered into a plea agreement that includes five years in state prison and restitution of approximately $310,000.

Richard Zuvich, 64, of Woodbridge pleaded guilty Monday in Middlesex County Superior Court to thefts that took place between May 8, 2015 and July 2017 according to Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

In the first incident, prosecutors say Zuvich admitted he took the proceeds from a house sale for a client, put the funds in a trust account, then withdrew the funds for himself.

He pleaded guilty to theft by unlawful taking and misapplication of entrusted property.

In another incident, Zuvich stole the insurance settlement money for his client for a house that burned down. Prosecutors say the client had no knowledge that Zuvich had negotiated the settlement.

As part of the settlement, Zuvich pleaded guilty to theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition.

Zuvich has practiced as a lawyer for nearly 27 years.

He is scheduled to be sentenced by Superior Court Judge Pedro Jimenez in New Brunswick on Feb. 22, 2019. 

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Prison-bound lawyer to pay back over $300K he stole from clients

New Mexico Supreme Court: Guardianship System Changes Protect Vulnerable Citizens

ALBUQUERQUE ― Court-appointed guardians and conservators are subject to audits and more extensive reporting requirements under a new state law to help protect vulnerable New Mexicans no longer able to make decisions about their finances and personal affairs.

Friday, Supreme Court Chief Justice Judith K. Nakamura, State Auditor Wayne Johnson, Sen. James White and Rep. Damon Ely along with Second Judicial District Judges Shannon Bacon and Nancy Franchini highlighted changes in state law and court rules for the adult guardianship system. Newly enacted legislation (Senate Bill 19) took effect July 1 along with court procedural rules and forms to carry out the law’s requirements.

“All three branches of government – Legislative, Executive and Judicial – came together and worked cooperatively on guardianship reforms to promote and protect the well-being of New Mexicans unable to manage their own affairs,” Chief Justice Nakamura said.

In addition to new court rules and forms that must be used by guardians and conservators, a pilot project for auditing and reviewing guardianship and conservatorship cases is provided for under terms of amemorandum of understanding between the State Auditor and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC).

“This audit partnership between the courts and the state auditor’s office in the guardianship program is a critical safeguard for people who are relying on strangers to manage their life-savings and expend it responsibly on their behalf,” State Auditor Johnson said. “I strongly believe in openness and accountability in government spending. A similar standard applies when a guardian or conservator is appointed for someone who can’t manage their own affairs. This partnership between our office, New Mexico families, judges, and legislators is a good step towards protecting our seniors and other vulnerable adults.”

“The new law does much to correct problems in our guardianship system,” said Sen. White, who sponsored SB19. “It opens hearings, expands access to records, ensures that protected persons can continue to receive visitors and communicate with others, and prevents guardians from revoking or amending a power of attorney for health care or finances that was previously entered into by a protected person.”

Rep. Ely said, “It has been very impressive to see the partnership between the State Auditor and the Courts. In my view, they are doing an excellent job of working together to solve this problem.”

A steering committee with representatives from all branches of state government was formed by the Supreme Court to assist in the implementation of SB19 and make recommendations about $1 million allocated to the AOC by the Legislature for guardianship reforms. The State Auditor, Sen. White and Rep. Ely serve on the committee. Judge Bacon chairs the committee and Judge Franchini is vice chair. Part of the $1 million will cover the costs of the audits.

Judges Bacon and Franchini said a project manager has been named for a statewide review by the courts of the more than 20,000 guardianship and conservatorship cases filed over the years.

“A review of older case files is critical because it will help the courts identify the guardianship and conservatorship proceedings that require ongoing judicial monitoring,” Judge Bacon said.

Judge Franchini said, “New forms that must be used by conservators and guardians for reports to courts will provide better information to judges about the status of protected persons and provide for more accountability of guardians and conservators.”

Among other changes to the guardianship system:

• Guardians and conservators must keep a protected person’s financial records for seven years and fully comply with the requirements of any audit of the protected person’s account, inventory, report, or property.
• Bonding requirements on conservators to help safeguard a protected person’s assets.
• Additional information about a protected person’s finances and health must be submitted by guardians and conservators in reports to district courts.
• Open court hearings in guardianship and conservatorship proceedings, which were previously closed.
• Expanded access to court records for family members and others entitled to notice of guardianship proceedings under the new statutory requirements.

District courts will be able to refer conservatorship cases to the State Auditor’s Office for a review and evaluation of a protected person’s estate and financial affairs. The Auditor also can randomly conduct financial and compliance audits of guardians for adults served by a publicly funded program administered through the New Mexico Developmental Disabilities Planning Council and Office of Guardianship.

Court-appointed guardians make personal and health care decisions for individuals who are incapacitated. Conservators manage the finances and possibly the property of an incapacitated person, including those who may have dementia, traumatic brain injuries, a developmental disability or mental illness.

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New Mexico Supreme Court: Guardianship System Changes Protect Vulnerable Citizens