Court-appointed, fee-based guardian Carol Hershey is exposed for having 100s of wards and allowing one of them to remain in conditions that the PA attorney general's office found so deplorable, they filed legal action against them.
Full Article & Source:
Fee-Based Guardian Carol Hershey - Pennhurst Connection
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
When a power of attorney is not enough
The agent might be a spouse or child, a sibling or even a close friend. However, there are many times when a power of attorney falls short of accomplishing what an individual needs, either because of legal requirements that were inadvertently omitted or because of problems with mental capacity.
For example, the Commonwealth of Kentucky requires a specific provision within a power of attorney for an agent to transfer real property. This means that a power of attorney cannot simply rely on a general catchall provision to buy or sell property. In fact, a power of attorney is not required to be filed with the county clerk except for the transfer of real estate.
Likewise, the power to create, revoke, terminate or amend a trust must be clearly specified within a power of attorney document. Trust creation and termination can be crucial if the principal is applying for veteran’s benefits, Medicaid benefits or requires a special needs trust. At the time when a principal most needs the protection of a trust to obtain necessary benefits, the agent often finds his or her hands tied.
A power of attorney also may not be enough to protect the principal if the principal refuses to give up power during incapacity. A statutorily perfect power of attorney will not prevent a principal from making poor choices. Similarly, an individual with a severe mental disorder or dementia may be unable to protect himself or herself from exploitation with a power of attorney.
In these cases, a power of attorney will fail to truly protect the principal. For agents who have lost the mental capacity to sign a new document, it likely is that a guardianship proceeding will be necessary to prevent the principal from acting on his or her own, and to provide a means for the agent to meet the principal’s needs.
To protect yourself or a loved one, review your current power of attorney. Make sure the document includes any provisions that may be necessary in the future, or in case of an emergency. If you do not want an agent to have immediate powers, consider a “springing” power of attorney, a document that would not empower the agent until your disability. To protect yourself against your own future poor judgment, consider placing assets into a trust that includes specific provisions for your impairment.
Take a proactive approach to protect yourself and your family. Review your power of attorney to make sure it will protect you when it’s most needed.
Cynthia T. Griffin is a local attorney for Burnett Casey Griffin, PLLC.
Full Article & Source:
When a power of attorney is not enough
Monday, November 6, 2017
Tonight on T. S. Radio, With Marti Oakley: Abolishing Probate #5 - Congress' Failure to Act
5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST … 7:00 pm CST … 8:00 pm EST
Hosted by Marti Oakley, with Luanne Fleming, Robin Austin and Katherine Hines
Under its duty to the public, Congress has repeatedly failed to act to protect the public from the system of probate in all its forms. Declaring a living, breathing individual dead in the law (civil death) is equal in its consequences to a natural death. They make this declaration of death under the guise of "ward of the state". Once a ward, you have no rights whatsoever. Prisoners who have committed the worst crimes imaginable have more rights [reserved than a "ward of the state". Under this system, the elderly, the disabled and children are trafficked by the government for profit. This system of human trafficking is the result of Congress's failure to act within its duty to the public. As congress is charged under the Constitution for the United States with organizing the courts, it stands to reason these probate courts could not exist without their complicity and their abject failure to act to protect the public from these professional predators.
Inferior Courts Clause Art 111 Sect. 2 Clause 1
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleiii Section 1:
The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. (this bill S 178 relieves congress of its duty to end these administrative tribunals and to make laws protecting the public from professional predators and to organize the courts). (emphasis, mine)
LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later
INOVA GATE: The Abduction of Anastasia Adams
Day 258 – More Weight Loss & New Trailers on INOVA GATE
Manassas, VA
Nov 4, 2017 — It has been 258 days since my sister Anastasia was abducted by Inova Fairfax hospital and their two designated guardians; 258 days since she has known the comfort and security of her family and her own bed.
Anastasia has lost still more weight. She did not have any extra weight to lose. She was rail thin before, now her hands and shoulders are skeletal. You can see and count the vertebra of her spine.
The past couple of visits she has been panting as she breathes. Anastasia watches my every move as I sit next to her and hardly takes her eyes off me. It is as if she is trying to memorize my face. Today she would briefly close her eyes and then quickly open them again to make sure I was still sitting next to her. She was constantly looking me in the eye. If I lowered my head as I took notes she would moan softly. It breaks my heart. She wants to come home.
Anastasia was also burning up today. You could feel the heat coming off her from 6 inches away. She also appeared somewhat dehydrated again. I mentioned it to the nurse after they brought her out to the lobby for our one hour visit. The nurse took her back to her room for 15-20 minutes and when she brought her back said she did not have a fever that she was hot because it was warm in the building and outside. Based on Anastasia’s appearance and her demeanor I’d put money on it that she was in fact running a fever. How can I tell? This is one of those things that I am not at liberty to discuss, but suffice it to say it is almost a sure bet.
I miss my sister terribly and want her home where she will be safe and well cared for, where her life will be valued.
Prayers, prayers, and more prayers.
There are two new trailers out for Inova Gate, a short version 8:18 minutes and extended version 12:36 minutes. Please watch and distribute widely. I can only link one video so will link the extended and post the link to the Short Version:
Full Article & Source:
INOVA GATE: The Abduction of Anastasia Adams
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| Yolanda Bell |
Manassas, VA
Nov 4, 2017 — It has been 258 days since my sister Anastasia was abducted by Inova Fairfax hospital and their two designated guardians; 258 days since she has known the comfort and security of her family and her own bed.
Anastasia has lost still more weight. She did not have any extra weight to lose. She was rail thin before, now her hands and shoulders are skeletal. You can see and count the vertebra of her spine.
The past couple of visits she has been panting as she breathes. Anastasia watches my every move as I sit next to her and hardly takes her eyes off me. It is as if she is trying to memorize my face. Today she would briefly close her eyes and then quickly open them again to make sure I was still sitting next to her. She was constantly looking me in the eye. If I lowered my head as I took notes she would moan softly. It breaks my heart. She wants to come home.
Anastasia was also burning up today. You could feel the heat coming off her from 6 inches away. She also appeared somewhat dehydrated again. I mentioned it to the nurse after they brought her out to the lobby for our one hour visit. The nurse took her back to her room for 15-20 minutes and when she brought her back said she did not have a fever that she was hot because it was warm in the building and outside. Based on Anastasia’s appearance and her demeanor I’d put money on it that she was in fact running a fever. How can I tell? This is one of those things that I am not at liberty to discuss, but suffice it to say it is almost a sure bet.
I miss my sister terribly and want her home where she will be safe and well cared for, where her life will be valued.
Prayers, prayers, and more prayers.
There are two new trailers out for Inova Gate, a short version 8:18 minutes and extended version 12:36 minutes. Please watch and distribute widely. I can only link one video so will link the extended and post the link to the Short Version:
Full Article & Source:
INOVA GATE: The Abduction of Anastasia Adams
A Futuristic Suit That Gives You a Taste of Old Age
An at Liberty Science Center [this past April} in Jersey City answers the question by letting you walk a proverbial mile in your elders’ orthopedic shoes. Slip into the R70i Age Suit, a robotic contraption complete with “augmented reality” goggles, and suddenly you are 85.
It is not very pleasant.
An attendant cranks up a fader and your vision dissolves into melty, grayed-out blobs, like a memorably unvivid psychedelic experience. “This is called age-related macular degeneration,” the suit’s inventor, Bran Ferren, said at a preview on Thursday.
More knobs twiddle, and your hearing is subsumed in a fog of tinnitus, muffling and distortion. A dose of echo is added to the sound mix, interrupting your speaking and simulating the effects of aphasia.
Now it was time to move about. Loaded with hardware and a computer, the suit itself weighs 40 pounds, distributed as uncomfortably as possible. “It’s going to get much worse,” promised Mr. Ferren, a noted special effects designer. “You haven’t lived.”
I raised an arm, as if to reach up on a shelf, and the suit’s system of torquers and electronic disc brakes sprang into action. It felt like my joints had become entirely ungreased. I could barely lift my arm above my shoulder.
Mr. Ferren invited me onto a treadmill. I hobbled up.
“Now let’s start losing muscle strength,” he said.
Why does your grandfather move so slowly? Because, apparently, walking across the parking lot for him feels like hour three of a hike up a mountain, wearing an overstuffed, lopsided backpack. (This may also explain why he’s cranky.)
For an extra frisson, Mr. Ferren set the resistance on one side of my body to a so-called normal level and the other to an extreme. The settings mimicked how he felt while trying to walk just before he had a hip replaced five weeks ago at the tender age of 63.
Full Article and Source:
A Futuristic Suit That Allows You to Experience Old Age
Deer Lodge district court roundup: Woman pleads not guilty to bilking elderly man of $75,886
According to court records, Cynthia Ward, 62, is accused of bilking a 96-year-old man of $75,886. The fraud allegedly occurred between Jan. 1, 2015, and Sept. 26, 2017. The matter came to light when Ward facilitated the purchase of land south of Deer Lodge from real estate agent Tom Rue using $10,000 paid by the elderly man.
The record states that Rue told Sheriff Scott Howard that he was uncomfortable with the sale after he observed what he felt was undue influence by Ward on the man to pay the down payment.
Ward placed the elderly man in a nursing home on May 3, 2017. Suspicion arose regarding the use of the man’s funds, and it was reported to adult protective worker Janel George.
Ward allegedly had the man's debit card and checkbook and used his Social Security funds for her and other family members’ personal benefit, including ATM withdrawals, two road trips, plane tickets for three other trips, and other expenses.
Ward is free on $25,000 bond pending further court proceedings.
In other recent court proceedings:
• Trevor W. Cuchine, 22, of Deer Lodge pleaded guilty to amended charges of two counts of misdemeanor negligent criminal endangerment.
He was given two one-year deferred sentences to run concurrently, fined $600 and $140 in court fees, and ordered to pay $1,239.86 restitution.
According to court records, on Oct. 30, 2016, Cuchine was with the last group of people to be admitted to the Old Prison Museum haunted house. He ran ahead of the group, and as he ran past a woman actor, he punched her in the face with his fist, causing her head to hit the wall. She was escorted to the hospital where a doctor diagnosed her with post-concussion syndrome.
• Tawnee A. Felde, 27, of Deer Lodge pleaded guilty to felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs, methamphetamine, and to violating conditions of her probation by possessing drug paraphernalia.
On each charge, she was sentenced to a five-year commitment to the Department of Corrections to run concurrent, all suspended, and given credit for one day served.
One condition of the sentence is that Felde complete an in-patient chemical dependency treatment program within six months of sentencing. She must also pay $80 in court fees.
Full Article & Source:
Deer Lodge district court roundup: Woman pleads not guilty to bilking elderly man of $75,886
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Appeals judge: Savitt case shows guardianship system in ‘disarray’
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| A panel with the 4th District Court of Appeal hears the guardianship case of senior Frances Berkowitz |
Last year, then-Palm Beach County Chief Judge Jeffrey Colbath handed down guardianship reforms, many of which targeted specific actions by Savitt — such as the taking thousands of dollars in fees prior to judicial approval. Savitt is married to former Circuit Court Judge Martin Colin.
“The reason why we find ourselves in this Byzantine muck, if you will, is because there is no clear strategy on who is ultimately responsible for that dignity of the ward or the preservation of the decedent’s estate,” said Judge Cory Ciklin of the 4th District Court of Appeal at a Tuesday hearing on the Savitt guardianship of Frances Berkowitz.
“Maybe something will come out of this case that, if nothing else, encourages an appreciation of how terribly the system is in disarray.”
Ciklin’s comments during a hearing Tuesday morning were even more remarkable considering the law firm of his brother Alan — Ciklin, Lubitz & O’Connell — recently got hit with a $16.4 million verdict for running up fees in a guardianship in front of Colin.
That federal case has since settled for a confidential amount to avoid a lengthy and expensive appellate process. But the troubled guardianship of Frances Berkowitz, a state case, is on appeal.
The Palm Beach Post’s award-winning investigative series, Guardianship: A Broken Trust, outlined the vast conflict of interest for Judge Colin as a sitting guardianship judge while his wife practiced as a guardian. He was removed from overseeing guardianship proceedings and announced his retirement.
The series also reported numerous complaints from families of Savitt’s wards and forced her cases to be moved. Colbath then announced his reforms.
Victim of fraud
The issue litigated Tuesday at the 4th DCA centered on whether a lawyer who sought a guardianship to protect his client, Berkowitz, could challenge Savitt for her actions and get her removed.
Boca Raton attorney Webb Millsaps claimed in court documents that Savitt squandered Berkowitz’s opportunity to recover as much as $1 million from a bank and a Miami lawyer who assisted a caregiver in defrauding Berkowitz of her life savings. The senior died on Dec. 31 at age 86.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Howard Coates last year ruled Millsaps and his colleague, Donna Greenspan Solomon, had only limited standing to challenge Savitt. Coates ended up dismissing Millsaps’ only surviving claim that Savitt’s appointment was invalid and may have been influenced by Judge Colin.
Millsaps also argued that Savitt failed to account for $400,000 missing from Berkowitz’s bank accounts.
Instead, the former tennis pro turned guardian entered into a settlement that let the bank and other parties off the hook and instead used what was left of Berkowitz’s money to sue Millsaps and Solomon for the fees they took in collecting more than $800,000 from the caregiver.
Solomon, representing Millsaps on Tuesday, told the appellate panel the settlement Savitt made with the bank and caregiver never was formally approved by any court.
Solomon told the appellate panel — which included Judge Mark Klingensmith and Associate Judge Mark Belanger — that Savitt paid off a $308,000 foreclosure judgment on a home she owned shortly after receiving her appointment in December 2014.
Savitt’s attorney previously told The Palm Beach Post that documentation was provided to the Clerk of Court & Comptroller showing the money used to pay off the foreclosure judgment came from Savitt’s personal accounts.
No standing
If the appellate court rules in Millsaps’ favor, Solomon said, the decision would allow the Berkowitz heirs to unwind the settlement made by Savitt. The family members have also indicated they plan to sue Savitt.
John Carter, a Boca Raton lawyer representing the family who was present at the hearing Tuesday, said Ciklin’s questions and comments highlighted the core problem with guardianship in Florida: “The need for protection of the elderly and their assets from all persons with a financial stake in the process.”
Attorney Roger Levine, arguing on behalf of the guardianship on Tuesday, told the DCA panel that Millsaps, despite being the one who sought guardianship protection for his client, had no standing under the law to challenge Savitt’s decisions.
Klingensmith, though, said he reads the state guardianship law as giving broad authority to allow interested parties to intervene if a guardian is “not acting in the best interest of the ward.”
Ciklin also indicated Coates could have acted unilaterally to get to the bottom of Millsaps’ accusations against Savitt.
“The stark reality is whatever judge is assigned to a particular case is the person in charge. Period,” Ciklin said. “This, I would suggest, needs to begin and end with that judge.”
Solomon said she pleaded with Coates to look at the Berkowitz case and “find out what is going in our guardianship system in the state of Florida.”
“The absurdity of all this to some extent is that the ward ends up paying for everybody,” Ciklin said. “And all the while the ward’s estate is just being sucked dry.”
Full Article & Source:
Appeals judge: Savitt case shows guardianship system in ‘disarray’
Supreme Court indefinitely suspends special-needs trust lawyer
Justices on Tuesday issued an order of indefinite suspension against Kenneth Shane Service. The Supreme Court in June temporarily suspended Service from the practice of law after he was charged in Lawrence County with Level 5 felony theft of more than $50,000. He is accused in that case of stealing at least $85,000 from two Bedford-area clients’ special-needs trusts.
But law enforcement investigators and attorneys who intervened in other cases to remove Service as a trustee say that’s only a fraction of the money missing from trusts he established. A state police investigator told the Indiana Lawyer last month he was aware of as many as 17 potential cases where money may be missing from special-needs trusts Service opened in Indiana, Florida and West Virginia. A Fort Wayne attorney who intervened to remove Service as a trustee in five northern Indiana cases said well over $200,000 is missing from those trusts.
Separately, Service was at the center of a civil case argued last month before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The estate of a Missouri woman appealed a ruling in favor of the Carmel-based foundation Service established, the National Foundation for Special Needs Integrity, Inc. The estate argued trust documents Service created for the foundation were intended, by Service’s own admission, to be confusing. Those documents formed the basis for the foundation to take the remainder of Theresa A. Givens’ trust after her death in 2011 — at least $220,000 — in 2013 and 2014. Service was booted from the foundation in 2014, and the 7th Circuit has yet to rule in this case.
In its order Tuesday, the court wrote Service had not responded and failed to cooperate with the Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission’s investigation of two grievances filed against him. Service also was ordered to reimburse the commission $513.12 for costs of prosecuting one of the grievances.
Meanwhile, a pretrial conference in Service’s criminal case in Lawrence Superior Court 1 is scheduled for Nov. 13.
Full Article & Source:
Supreme Court indefinitely suspends special-needs trust lawyer
Pottstown man faces trial for alleged $843K theft from grandmother, famed radio host
Calvin Steven Turner IV, 33, of the 800 block of South Street, through his lawyer, notified Montgomery County Judge Garrett D. Page on Thursday that he wants to go to trial on the 283 theft-related charges that were lodged against him last November in connection with the alleged theft that prosecutors claim left Mason, a former WHAT radio host of “Mornings with Mary,” destitute.
“We will try this case. This case is going to go forward,” said Page, indicating he will schedule a three-day jury trial for the matter.
Addressing the judge, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Daniels claimed that after discussions with Turner’s legal team he had been under the belief that Turner was to plead guilty to some of the charges on Thursday. Daniels said the case has “lingered” for months and he seemed to oppose any defense request for a delay.
“My client has a right to say, ‘I didn’t do it,’” defense lawyer Martin P. Mullaney responded.
During several heated exchanges, Mullaney claimed defense lawyers are still trying to obtain documents related to the investigation that they need to prepare a defense. Daniels countered that prosecutors have turned over all so-called “discovery” and that Mullaney had all documents connected with the investigation.
“I’m ready, judge…to try this case,” said Daniels, who also informed the judge that no plea agreement was on the table.
“The commonwealth will continue to pursue this case against Turner because Mary Mason, while incapacitated, did not save all of this money throughout her life so that her family member could steal it and use it for his own benefit. It was for her benefit and unfortunately, for her, she had to move out of the assisted living facility that she was in because this family member stole her money and was unable to pay the bill,” Daniels added after the hearing.
Turner scurried from the courtroom and did not respond to reporters’ questions after the hearing. Turner remains free on bail pending trial.
“It appears that he had a legitimate power of attorney signed by Mary Mason that gave him the right to invest her funds as he saw fit without consequence,” Mullaney said after the hearing, hinting at a potential defense strategy.
An investigation of Turner began in February 2016 after Whitemarsh Township police received information that Mason’s bills were not being paid at Sunrise of Lafayette Hill, an assisted living facility in the township where Mason, now 86, had resided at the time. Mason, whose real name is Beatrice Turner, “has been diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease,” according to the criminal complaint.
In May 2016, Mason’s account was $55,700 in arrears and no payments had been made on her behalf since August 2015, according to court documents.
“Administration at Sunrise informed me that (Mason’s) grandson was responsible for the payments and numerous messages and letters were sent to Steven Turner about the past due bills of his grandmother,” Whitemarsh Detective Craig Cubbin alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Turner, according to court papers, is Mason’s only living relative and when he placed Mason in Sunrise he gave the facility a copy of his power of attorney for Mason, dated September 2012. Authorities, in court documents, alleged the power of attorney “was missing numerous pages” and that Mason’s signature that appeared three times on the document “appears to be written in different styles and even misspelled once.”
The power of attorney stated that Turner “must use due care to act for the benefit” of Mason and that he was to keep Mason’s assets separate from his, according to the arrest affidavit.
When detectives confronted Turner in June 2016, he allegedly told them he knew his grandmother’s bills at Sunrise were in arrears and that he was trying to get them up to date.
“Steven Turner stated that his grandmother’s money ran out in 2015 and he was trying to pay the bills with his money,” Cubbin alleged.
The investigation revealed Mason at one time had cash and assets valued at more than $1 million, including multiple bank accounts and two condominiums and should have had enough funds to support her care at Sunrise, detectives said.
But authorities alleged Turner used Mason’s funds for his personal gain, making cash withdrawals from her accounts, transferring some of her funds to a real estate company he created and selling Mason’s condominiums for profit. Detectives alleged Turner then bought three other homes in Philadelphia and Pottstown.
“Steven Turner used these funds for his own benefit and lifestyle,” Cubbin alleged.
Turner allegedly used a debit card associated with Mason’s accounts for cash withdrawals and purchases in the amount of $73,282, including food and liquor purchases and “$15,556 of the total charges were to a strip club in Las Vegas.”
In April 2016, a court-appointed lawyer was named guardian for Mason’s estate. That lawyer was able to recover about $62,000 by selling two of the Philadelphia parcels that Turner allegedly purchased with Mason’s funds, according to court documents. At the time of Turner’s arrest last year, that lawyer feared Mason would have to be moved from Sunrise into a facility “where Medicare will take over,” according to court papers.
During subsequent Orphans Court hearings Turner was ordered to turn over the assets totaling more than $1 million or to show an accounting of how those funds were spent on Mason’s behalf.
“Steven Turner has failed to turn over the monies and has shown no accounting of how the funds were spent on his grandmother’s behalf,” Cubbin alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Full Article & Source:
Pottstown man faces trial for alleged $843K theft from grandmother, famed radio host
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