Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports on what sounds like a cesspool that may exist in the guardianship process in New York. The story involves a retired judge with a once-sizable estate who was declared incapacitated by a state court and whose estate was placed under the supervision of a court-appointed guardian. Since that time, the retired judge's bones sound like they were picked clean. By the time a Brooklyn, New York District Attorney's criminal investigation found that there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the story reports that "the once-proud judge was left homeless, without the ability to pay his own utility bills."

For more, see Were Funds Pilfered from a Retired Judge’s Estate? (Supporters Say Accounting Should Reopen Criminal Probe).

For story update, see Watchdog Group Looks at Brooklyn Court’s Handling of Retired Judge’s Estate (Brooklyn Daily Eagle - 9-14-07) - which reports:

• A respected judicial watchdog group that maintains a Web site and a paid subscription service has taken on one of the more intransigent cases to have appeared on a court docket in recent years — the guardianship case of retired Civil Court Judge John Phillips, whose supporters have cried foul over the way his once vast estate has been mishandled by a series of court-appointed attorneys, experts and judges over the years. Go here for more.

For additional reporting on the story of the alleged ripoff of the judge's assets by court-appointed guardians, see Fallen Guardian Angels - by Leah Nelson (reported in Judicial Reports).

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NYC Controller Urges All Brooklyn Residents To "Make Out A Will ASAP!" To Avoid Risk Of Getting Fleeced By Public Administrator's Office

In Brooklyn, New York, the New York Daily News reports:

• Brooklyn's scandal-plagued court system gets a new black eye in a scathing audit that found the borough's public administrator's office riddled with "mismanagement and laziness." The city controller's office uncovered shoddy recordkeeping, suspicious real estate deals and auctions run by a shadowy company that vanished when auditors started asking questions.

• "From the time my auditors began this audit, there seemed to be one startling revelation after another with regard to the lack of detail paid to the process of distributing and accounting for the estates of the deceased," Controller William Thompson said.

• Surrogate judges in each borough appoint a public administrator to oversee the estates of people who die without wills. Thompson's auditors found a "culture of mismanagement and laziness" in Brooklyn's public administrator office. Things were such a mess that Thompson urged all Brooklyn residents to "make out a will as soon as possible" - avoiding the risk of being bilked by the office.

For more, including descriptions of a couple of fishy-smelling deals involving real estate owned by deceased property owners, see Audit reveals shady shenanigans in Brooklyn courts.

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For an example of what happened to one alleged victim of the Brooklyn public administrator's office, see:

• Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Were Funds Pilfered from a Retired Judge’s Estate? (Supporters Say Accounting Should Reopen Criminal Probe),
• Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process,
• NYC Lawyer Suspended For Alleged Mismanagement Of Retired Judge's Estate.

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It appears that the Brooklyn office of the public administrator should be getting used to allegations of the "grave robbing" ripoffs of the dead, the near-dead, and others who are otherwise incapacitated, based on an April 8, 2006 story in the New York Daily News (see B'KLYN TOMB-RAID PROBE: EX-JUDGE FOCUS IN THEFTS FROM VICS WITH NO WILLS):

• A WIDE-RANGING SECRET PROBE of the Brooklyn public administrator's office, its booted surrogate judge and contractors hired by the office has uncovered brazen thefts from the assets of people who died without wills, the Daily News has learned.

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Based on the following excerpt from a June 29, 1988 story in The New York Times, shenanigans in the office of the public administrator may have been taking place for decades. See 3 in Surrogate's Office Charged With Thefts:

• Three investigators from the Brooklyn and Bronx Public Administrators' offices were arrested yesterday and charged with falsifying public records and stealing valuables from rooms they believed had been occupied by people who died without leaving a will. The arrests ended an elaborate two-year sting investigation into the city's Public Administrators' offices, said the city Investigations Commissioner, Kevin B. Frawley, who conducted the inquiry with State Attorney General Robert Abrams and State Comptroller Edward V. Regan. An inspector for the Queens Public Administrator's office was arrested in March. The city's Public Administrators' offices handle the estates of people who have died without leaving a properly executed will.(1)

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According to a June 1, 2009 Daily News story, the Bronx public administrator's office hasn't been so hot lately, either. See Audit Court invested Bronx estate cash illegally.

Go here for other posts on the escapades of public administrators' / public guardians' offices when taking over the assets of the dead and incapacitated.

(1) For other stories involving the Brooklyn Public Administrator's office, see:

• New York Daily News (August 18, 2002): WRINGING OUT THE DEAD IN BROOKLYN (If there's no will, court grabs big hunk of estate),
• New York Daily News (May 29, 2002): Spitzer to probe legal fees (Eying payouts to Brooklyn Surrogate Court counselor),
• New York Daily News (October 28, 2005): 31G RAISE FOR COURT OFFICIALS: SOME ADMINISTRATORS UNDER FIRE,
• New York Daily News (May 15, 2002): B'KLYN COURT PANEL CLOSED TO THE NEWS (The oversight commission for state Surrogate Court administrators marked its first meeting in five years yesterday by barring a Daily News reporter from the session),
• New York Daily News (May 9, 2006): L.I. LAND SALE SCANDAL. COURT OKD AUCTION OF DEEDED SITE (Officials in Brooklyn Surrogate's Court improperly sold off a piece of East End real estate - never notifying the property's rightful owners, the Daily News has learned),
• New York Daily News (December 16, 2008): AG seeking payback on estate fees (Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is seeking to reopen 170 estates of deceased people in order to reimburse heirs who were gouged by a greedy Brooklyn lawyer, the Daily News has learned. Legal papers were filed yesterday in Surrogate's Court to recover exorbitant legal fees charged by Louis Rosenthal, former counsel to the Brooklyn public administrator),
• New York Times (February 3, 1988): Wider Inquiry Into Stealing From the Dead (New York State and city investigators, expanding their inquiry into thefts of property from the dead, seized accounting records yesterday from Public Administrators' offices in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx),
• New York Law Journal (July 1, 2005): Judge Loses Seat After Showing 'Shocking Disregard' for Law (New York state's high court finds actions constituted removable misconduct). daily eagle retired judge

NYC Lawyer Suspended For Alleged Mismanagement Of Retired Judge's Estate

In Brooklyn, New York, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports:

• The allegations of fraud that have swirled around the handling of a retired judge’s once-vast real estate empire have finally taken solid form after a blockbuster decision by a Manhattan disciplinary committee leveled serious charges against a lawyer long at the center of the controversy. The attorney disciplinary body of the Appellate Division, First Department, recently rendered a decision condemning the handling of retired judge John Phillips’ assets by court-appointed attorney Emani P. Taylor. The former property guardian was charged with mismanagement of close to three-quarters of a million dollars in cash and real estate during her two-plus year tenure as property guardian. In the Dec. 27, 2007, decision by investigators looking into the case ordered Taylor, “be suspended from the practice of law, effective immediately.”

For more, see Disciplinary Committee Suspends Attorney (Retired Judge’s Former Property Guardian Charged With Improper Handling of Estate Funds).

See also, Judge’s Guardian Suspended For Handling Of Money (North Country Gazette).

For the New York Appellate Court ruling on this case, see In the Matter of Emani P. Taylor, (Supreme Court Appellate Division, 1st Department, December 27, 2007).

For an earlier post on this story, see Retired NY Judge Reportedly Left Homeless & Broke By Guardianship Process.

Go here for other posts on the escapades of public administrators' / public guardians' offices when taking over the assets of the dead and incapacitated. daily eagle retired judge

NYC Controller: Bronx Public Admisistrator's Office Plays Fast & Loose With Dead People's Property

In The Bronx, New York, the New York Daily News reports:

• Bronx court officials broke the law by investing $21 million in risky securities with money from the estates of dead people, a new audit charges. City Controller William Thompson charged the public administrator's office in Bronx Surrogate's Court violated state law three years ago, when it placed 30% ofthe cash it was holding for heirs with a brokerage firm to buy exotic securities said to be "safe as cash."

• The investments turned sour and were worth nothing for much of last year. That temporarily put taxpayers on the hook for paying the heirs their due. The risky investment was outlined in a July Daily News report. Thompson's audit confirmed The News' findings and said the investment decision reflected overall sloppy management that plagued the office.

• Public administrators in each borough manage millions of dollars from estates of people who die without wills. Thompson found "a severe lack of management" in the Bronx. [...] Meanwhile, politically connected lawyers like Michael Lippman, then the administrator's general counsel, earned $2.1 million in fees on the auction-rate securities deals made through a broker.

For more, see Audit: Court invested Bronx estate cash illegally.

Based on the following excerpt from a June 29, 1988 story in The New York Times, shenanigans in the office of the public administrator could potentially have been taking place for decades. See 3 in Surrogate's Office Charged With Thefts:

• Three investigators from the Brooklyn and Bronx Public Administrators' offices were arrested yesterday and charged with falsifying public records and stealing valuables from rooms they believed had been occupied by people who died without leaving a will. The arrests ended an elaborate two-year sting investigation into the city's Public Administrators' offices, said the city Investigations Commissioner, Kevin B. Frawley, who conducted the inquiry with State Attorney General Robert Abrams and State Comptroller Edward V. Regan. An inspector for the Queens Public Administrator's office was arrested in March. The city's Public Administrators' offices handle the estates of people who have died without leaving a properly executed will.

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The BC Public Guardian's Office: A Ruthless Organization Abusing The Rights Of The Very People It Claims To Protect?

In Vancouver, British Columbia, CBC News reports:

• When Winifred Hall entered her friend Sheila Scholnick's home in Vancouver's west side after she was locked out, the place looked as though there had been a burglary. "The house had been ransacked," the elderly B.C. woman told CBC News, her voice shaking.

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• The culprits: British Columbia's Public Guardian and Trustee, a provincial agency set up to protect the financial and legal affairs of those declared mentally incapable of handling it themselves. While the public guardian is supposed to protect society's most vulnerable citizens, Hall and several others are describing it as a ruthless organization abusing the rights of the very people it claims to protect.

• It was late 2007 when Hall came home to padlocks on the door of the Blenheim Street house where she had lived with the owner and her late friend, Sheila Scholnick, for the past two years. The public guardian allowed her briefly back into the building to retrieve her belongings, but that was all.

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• For about six months before being turfed from the home, Hall had Scholnick's enduring power of attorney after Scholnick was admitted to a nursing home following a fall in May 2007. With that enduring power of attorney, she had the ability to act in her friend's name even when Scholnick lost decision-making capacity, but that right was nullified by the public guardian when it assumed control of the elderly woman's finances. In fact, it was Hall who called the public guardian, concerned that Scholnick was being swindled by a man who had begun visiting Scholnick at the nursing home. She alleges the man manipulated Scholnick into withdrawing money from her debit account to give to him.

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• Hall hoped the agency would freeze Scholnick's account to keep it from happening again. But instead, the Public Guardian took control of Scholnick's affairs, emptying all but $50 out of her accounts and informing Hall that her power of attorney had been revoked.

For the entire story, see B.C. public guardian accused of abusing rights (Last months of elderly woman's life made miserable by agency: friends).

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