Friday, December 31, 2010

"Granny Snatching" Expected To Soar As A Prime Form Of Elder Abuse, Allowing Perpetrators To Hijack Control Over Aged Relatives' Assets

The Connecticut Watchdog reports:
  • Granny Snatching. What is it? It’s an ugly phrase and an uglier practice and it is increasingly affecting more and more American families. Granny Snatching occurs when younger family members take custody of an elder relative under false pretenses, convince a judge to declare the elder person incompetent, allowing them to then force their aged relative into a nursing home or similar institution, and strip them of their assets. In the coming decades trillions of dollars will be at stake as America’s population ages, and we must prepare now to defend ourselves and our finances in the future.
  • We hear about these incidents when they involve rich or famous people with lots of money at stake, but not the day-to-day incidents involving regular folks with modest incomes or nest eggs. Yet according to advocates for the elderly, incidents of Granny Snatching are growing exponentially across the US and in Canada. With the first Baby Boomers turning 65 in March 2011, Granny Snatching is expected to quickly become one of the prime forms of elder abuse.(1)
For more, including an account of the author's experience with his own siblings' attempt to "snatch" their own mother by attempting to commit her to a nursing home and hijack control over her assets, see GRANNY SNATCHING: Ron Winter’s New Weekly Blog.
(1) For other resources on "granny snatching," see:

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:00 AM

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Bklyn Judiciary, Guardianship System Strike Again; Hijack Supervision Over Elderly Widow, Control Over Her Assets; Victim "I Was Sold Like A Slave..."

In Brooklyn, New York, the The Washington Examiner reports:
  • Ella Card had it made in America. After emigrating to the United States from her native Belize, she earned a masters degree and taught third grade in the New York City Public School system for three decades.


  • She and her late husband Raymond, who died as a result of taking the recalled painkiller Vioxx, had saved and invested their money wisely, so Card was looking forward to a comfortable retirement.


  • But her well-laid plans took a terrible detour when she suffered temporary dementia after being struck by a car in 2010. Her two sons, whom she says lost their jobs as corrections officers due to drug abuse, petitioned the Brooklyn Supreme Court for guardianship over her affairs.


  • And after recovering from her injuries, the 73-year-old widow -- a naturalized U.S. citizen who retains dual citizenship in Belize -- finds herself in an ongoing guardianship nightmare that has now gone international.


  • On March 16, Brooklyn Judge Betsy Barros held one of five ex parte hearings on Card, appointing a temporary guardian. On April 26, Barros ignored Card's durable power of attorney, irrevocable trust, and two quit claim deeds and read the still-very-much-alive woman's will in open court before declaring her "incapacitated."


  • The court transcript obtained contains this Kafkaesque passage: "... the Incapacitated Person, Ella Card, vigorously contested the proceedings." "It felt like a hanging. I was the only one sticking up for my mother," Card's 43-year-old daughter Cindy told us. "Every one of them standing there and allowing it knew my mother was not incapacitated."


  • Card was then placed under the near total control of a court-appointed guardian, The Vera Institute of Justice, located in the same Brooklyn courthouse. The Vera Institute of Justice's website describes it as "an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit center for justice policy and practice." According to IRS records, $16.7 million of its $24 million annual funding comes from government grants.


  • Card told The Washington Examiner that The Vera Institute of Justice promptly froze all of her assets (valued at approximately $1 million), including her teachers' pension, began collecting rent on the property she owned, and forced her to live in her own home without heat, hot water or access to her own money.


  • Card petitioned the court to remove the guardianship. Her petition was denied. She had to borrow money to travel to Washington where, on June 14, she was one of 40 people from 17 states to tell a congressional listening session chaired by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, about abuses of the guardianship system that strip vulnerable seniors and disabled people of their civil and constitutional rights.


  • Card was the only witness deemed "incapacitated" to testify for herself: "I was sold like a slave to The Vera Institute ... which closed all of my bank accounts, took control of my money, filed a change of address to get my mail, demanded keys to my properties and contacted Belize to try to take control of my property and bank accounts in that country. ..."


  • Card says her niece, who works in the American consulate, told her that the Belizean authorities confirmed she was living there, but refused to give The Vera Institute of Justice any other information.


  • The Examiner has learned that Nestor Mendez, Belize's ambassador to the United States, read a November letter from Card requesting his protection and passed it on to the embassy's legal division for follow-up. Karen Goldstein, the Vera Institute of Justice's general counsel in New York, said she would look into the matter. We're still waiting for her response.


  • Meanwhile, the feisty Card -- who clearly demonstrated her mental and verbal acuity in an interview with this newspaper -- continues to fight for her freedom.(1)
Source: Retired NYC school teacher fights for her freedom.

(1) For other posts on the abuse of the guardianship system and 'granny-snatching' incidents, see:

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:00 AM

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Nevada Supremes Begin Serious Effort To End Guardianship-Driven 'Granny Snatching' Rackets, Using Court Orders To Open Door To Drain Vulnerable Seniors, Disabled Of Their Money, Property

In Las Vegas, Nevada, KTNV-TV Channel 13 reports:
  • Amid tears and calls for criminal prosecutions, the Nevada Supreme Court Guardianship Commission took substantial action [].

    Chief investigator Darcy Spears was there to see the unprecedented steps in fixing a broken system.

    When it comes to your civil rights, being put under guardianship is worse than being sent to prison. Those words from a judge who sits on the commission.

    Plus, the state Supreme Court's chief justice called some of what's been going on in our guardianship system just plain crazy.

    One of those crazy things is how people can be deemed incompetent by a physician's assistant. The same physician's assistant whose name appears on case after case handled by private guardian April Parks.

    "Later my aunt was examined by a neurologist who determined she was competent," Brenda Ralphs told the commission, through tears. "My aunt was victimized based on a defective document and incorrect diagnosis by an unqualified person!"

    Brenda Ralphs found our Contact 13 investigation online, then flew in from Seattle to share her aunt's story with the guardianship commission.

    She told commission members she fought to free her 92-year-old aunt, Barbara Lasco, from an unnecessary guardianship, but succeeded only after Parks and her lawyer drained nearly $20,000 from Lasco's accounts.

    "This whole mess was unnecessary and expensive and it was emotionally devastating for my aunt--a proud and competent woman who was reduced to asking for her own money to go to the hairdresser, like a child asking for an allowance!"

    After hearing that, Chief Justice Hardesty addressed what we've been asking about for months--what's being done to hold private guardians accountable for exploiting the people they're supposed to protect?

    The commission unanimously voted to send a letter to all sheriffs and district attorneys in the state, as well as the Attorney General, asking them to prosecute misconduct and seek restitution for people subject to unjust guardianships.

    The commission also voted to establish a bill of rights for people under guardianship and to ensure they have legal counsel.

    They will also create a permanent guardianship commission to keep tabs on reform.
Source: Guardianship Commission to ask for criminal investigations.
---------------------------
(1) Go here for other horror stories on the use of the guardianship process to 'kidnap, hijack, granny-snatch' the elderly, infirm and vulnerable, usually as part of a money grab by relatives, professional guardians, government agencies, and other assorted lowlifes seeking an easy payday. granny-snatching

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:02 AM

Thursday, July 09, 2015

Saga Of 84-Year Old New Jersey Senior Victimized By State-Sanctioned Granny-Snatching, Guardianship Scam That's Left Her 'Incarcerated' In Nursing Home, Broke & Without Personal Possessions Or Contact w/ Relatives, Beloved Pet

In Asbury Park, New Jersey, the Asbury Park Press reports:
  • She has broken no law, committed no crime.

    Yet Helen Hugo, a soft-spoken, grandmotherly, 84-year-old "Wheel of Fortune" fan, is a prisoner of the state.

    Its laws and bureaucracy have forced the retired secretary into a nursing home. Disposed of her antiques and other belongings. Separated her from her cat, Sweetie Pie. Barred her closest relatives from visiting her, and exhausted her life's savings to pay the legal fees of the attorneys involved in her guardianship case.

    In the court's eyes, Hugo is mentally incapacitated and requires a state agency to serve as her guardian and manage her care and finances.

    That's what a judge ruled in 2012, after a five-day trial that Hugo didn't attend, except for a private conversation with the judge. She spent all of 33 minutes in the courtroom.

    A sturdy, brown-eyed woman with warm, silky hands and wavy hair that's still more brown than gray, Hugo says the court ruling three years ago was "a lot of nonsense." "Probably the people calling me nuts," she says, "are crazy themselves."

    The terms of her guardianship aren't so easily dismissed. As a ward of the state, Hugo can't vote, write a check, receive her own mail, or make decisions for herself. Inmates in New Jersey have greater legal autonomy.

    Hugo has lived under those restrictions since the day she first met Barbara J. Lieberman.

    An esteemed elder law attorney and respected member of the New Jersey bar, Lieberman, 63, served as Hugo's court-appointed temporary guardian prior to Hugo's capacity trial.

    At the same time, Lieberman was leading a double life as a thief. Using her legal skills and her status as a trusted insider, she stole millions of dollars in other cases involving 16 seniors in their eighties and nineties.

    Among them was the 85-year-old widow of the former head of the Ocean County Police Academy in Lakewood.

    Lieberman moved some into nursing homes and sold their homes. With several, she manipulated their wills so she could keep stealing from them even after they died, authorities have said.

    More than a year after Lieberman's crimes came to light, Hugo, who never married and was living alone prior to her guardianship, is still fighting to be free again, to go where she wants, when she wants, even to be reunited with her beloved Sweetie Pie.

    The problem is, she can't.

    Like tens of thousands of elderly New Jerseyans, and at least 1.5 million Americans, she's consigned to a guardianship system that's shrouded in secrecy, tangled in red tape, and rife with corrupting temptation.

    Across the U.S., the vast majority of court-appointed guardians do difficult, honest work, providing a critical service for society's most vulnerable citizens. But there are some who have exploited a system with few checks and balances, using the supreme authority the courts grant them over their wards' lives to enrich themselves.

    The lawbreakers have included family members, attorneys, professional guardians, even a high-ranking judge in Minnesota.

    Corrupt guardians have stolen millions in New Jersey in recent years, and perhaps billions across the country. No one knows for sure.

    New Jersey's top judge says these crimes are "deeply troubling."

    "There are simply too many cases in which individuals who've been granted authority, who've been granted responsibility, take advantage of the very people that they have ...promised to assist," New Jersey Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said June 15 at an elder abuse conference at Stockton University in Galloway.

    The crimes are easy to commit and even easier to hide. Few courts across the country have the resources, or will, to police the guardians they appoint.

    At risk is the biggest treasure chest of all: $30 trillion — yes, trillion — that today's graying baby boomers have amassed in assets over the last 50 to 70 years. That's enough money to run the U.S. government for three decades.

    Why does all this matter to you? ...
For more, see Betrayal of trust (An Attorney's Shocking Crimes Show How Easy It Is To Steal Millions From Seniors) (Part One of a Four-Part series).

For Parts Two, Three and Four of the series, see:
  • Easy prey (Elderly And Vulnerable, 16 Men And Women Became Prime Targets For Theft),
  • Broken system (Vulnerable Seniors Have Few Options For Protection. Will This Happen To You?),
  • How to help the vulnerable (Billions are stolen from the elderly and infirm across the country each year. Here's how to stop it).
See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts) (Non-WSJ subscriber? Try here, then click appropriate link).

Go here for other horror stories on the use of the guardianship process to 'kidnap, hijack, granny-snatch' (call it what you want) the elderly, infirm and vulnerable as part of a money grab by slimy relatives, sleazy attorneys, judges and professional guardians, authority-abusing employees of bloated government agencies, and other assorted lowlifes seeking an easy payday. granny-snatching racket

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:00 AM

Thursday, March 03, 2016

Spotlight Gets Brighter On Judicially-Approved Guardianship Rackets That "Isolate, Medicate, [Then] Steal The Estate" Of Vulnerable Seniors, Disabled Who Get Sucked Into Legalized Fleecings Of Money, Property; Nevada Top Judge: Prosecutors & Cops Who Dismiss Guardianship Complaints As Civil Matters Partially At Fault

In Las Vegas, Nevada, KTNV-TV Channel 13 reports:
  • Victims and their families demanded justice and sweeping change [] from the State Guardianship Commission amid tears, raised voices and harsh criticism.

    Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears is here to share the new slogan designed to highlight alleged corruption.

    Isolate. Medicate. Steal the estate.

    That's how critics say private, for-profit guardians operate.

    The state knows it.

    And the public wants to know how and when they're going to stop it.

    "As a steward of the public it is your responsibility to stop this corruption!" admonished Julie Belshe, who fought to free her parents, Rudy and Rennie North from what the family calls a fraudulent guardianship by private for-profit guardian April Parks.

    It's been a year since Contact 13 first reported on the Norths' case as part of an ongoing series of reports on alleged corruption, abuse of power and exploitation of our most vulnerable citizens by private guardians and those in the judicial system who are supposed to oversee them.

    "I ask each of you to put yourself in the shoes of a victim or their family," said Rick Black, fighting back tears.

    His father-in-law, Del Mencarelli, died shortly after a bitter fight by his family to free him from guardianship. "Recognize Nevada laws are being violated to this day," Black demanded of commissioners.

    The Attorney General and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department have launched a criminal investigation into private guardian April Parks.

    Three new laws were passed to protect the vulnerable.

    A new guardianship judge was put in place in Clark County and the Supreme Court formed a commission to pursue reform, but families say nothing has really changed.

    "The issue is isolate, medicate and steal the estate. That's what's happening," said Registered Nurse Fran Grady, who came to Las Vegas from San Diego just to address the commission at Friday's hearing.

    "My idea is guardianship is ownership of a human being. It should be done away with!" Grady said.

    Supreme Court Chief Justice James Hardesty and his panel heard all kinds of suggestions to deal with Clark county's overwhelmed and essentially broken guardianship system.

    But folks are fed up with waiting and want action.

    "At least 12 cognizant people were freed from fraudulent guardianships," said Black, "but none of their money was returned or even accounted for."

    Justice Hardesty asked for case numbers on those guardianships to dig deeper into allegations of corruption as families continued to share their devastation.

    "You promised me until death do us part," a tearful Leonard Stein told commissioners his wife said to him after she was taken away and placed under guardianship. "And I don't know what to tell her."

    Stein told commissioners how his wife was isolated and he was prevented from seeing her during her time as a ward under guardianship.

    She died three weeks ago after he failed in his battle to free her.

    The lawyer involved in the guardianship was Elyse Tyrell--a controversial figure who critics say has no business being a member of the reform commission.

    "Elyse Tyrell, I don't know why she is here. She destroyed my marriage and our lives," said Stein.

    The Supreme Court's top judge blamed lack of action in part on law enforcement, saying they've been dismissing guardianship complaints as civil matters, when there appear to be clearly criminal acts in some cases.

    He promised that will change and asked for optimism from the public through what promises to be a long process.

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:04 AM

New Florida Law To Crack Down On Judicially-Sanctioned Guardianship Rackets That Bleed Money, Property From Incapacitated Seniors Awaits Governor's Signature

In Tallahassee, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:
  • In the wake of numerous reports of abuse of incapacitated seniors by court-appointed professional guardians, the Florida House on Wednesday sent a bill to Gov. Rick Scott that for the first time would exert regulatory authority over a burgeoning industry that some critics dub “elder cleansing.”

    On the same day, protesters marched outside of the Palm Beach County Courthouse in Delray Beach, calling for judicial reform.

    The Legislature’s action follows media reports about professional guardians more interested in draining the savings of incapacitated seniors through fees for themselves and the cadre of elder law attorneys who represent them. The Palm Beach Post’s series Guardianship: A Broken Trust in January brought to public attention the role of the judiciary in guardianship of the elderly — many with dementia — who no longer can care for themselves.

    As a result, Palm Beach County Chief Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath transferred Circuit Judge Martin Colin out of the Probate & Guardianship Division. Colin’s wife, Elizabeth “Betsy” Savitt, works as a professional guardian, compiling complaints from families of taking tens of thousands of dollars in fees without court approval. The chief judge required the south county judges to recuse themselves from her cases.(1)

    Under guardianships, seniors found by the court to be incapacitated often lose all legal rights to make decisions for themselves. When a family member is not available or they can’t agree on what to do, a judge can appoint professional guardians to make decisions on finances, medical care and housing for the senior.
    ***
    The bill, which passed the Senate on Feb. 2, has received support from advocate group Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship, Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida State Guardianship Association. Lawmakers appropriated more than $820,000 to fund it.

    Lidya Abramovici, a co-founder of the advocate organization, hailed the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice.

    “Now Florida is leading the push for reform in order to stop elderly abuse,” Abramovici said. “So many retirees that come to Florida need to feel safe that their estates are not going to dissipate in the hands of unscrupulous guardians and their representatives. At the same time, parents will not be separated from their families.”

    But Abramovici added that real reform will happen only when people committing a crime are prosecuted for financial abuse of the elderly.

    That was the same message of nearly 20 protesters — many of them seniors — in front of the Palm Beach County Courthouse in Delray Beach on Wednesday.

    Carrying signs that said “Jail 4 Judges” and “Guardianship is Big Business,” the protest was organized by Families Against Court Travesties’ Court Watch, which plans similar protests at the other two county courthouses. They handed out a flyer headed “Corruption, collusion and cronyism in PBC Courts.”

    The group included individuals protesting Colin and his wife, Savitt, who were featured in The Post’s series. Others had scarves over their faces because they said they have cases in front of Circuit Judge David French. French is a friend of Colin’s who was also featured in The Post’s investigative series.

    “I think it is about time that it is being exposed,” protester Gloria Stein said. “I’ve sat in many a courtroom and seen the judges just sign every paper for every request for every appointed professional for fees. No questions. It’s all about the money and the families sit there and cry because everything is out of their hands.”

    Nearby protester Eliot Bernstein said senior citizens should think twice before retiring to Florida because of predatory professional guardians.

    “This is going to take federal intervention,” he said. “When there is this much money and profit in elder cleansing, in a state like this, it is going to take a lot more, like people going to go to jail.”
For the story, see Florida guardianship reform passes; seniors protest at courthouse.

In a related story, see Local 10 News viewer claims guardian not acting in best interest of father (Professional guardianship booming business in South Florida).

Go here for earlier posts on guardianship rackets around the country.
----------------------------
(1) See also All power over adult guardianship severed for Judge Colin. granny-snatching

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:02 AM

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Federal Jury Slams Two West Palm Beach Lawyers For $16.4 Million Civil Court Judgment For Their Roles In "Holding Captive" A Wealthy 97-Year Old Texas Man In South Florida While Fleecing Him For "Unnecessary & Excessive Fees" Of $1 Million In Guardianship Racket

In West Palm Beach, Florida, the Palm Beach Post reports:
  • Advocates for guardianship reform clamored in vain for years that Florida’s system failed to properly protect incapacitated seniors, that its primary purpose had been perverted to line the pockets of greedy attorneys and professional guardians with the hard-earned life savings of the elderly.

    Now they can point to a new federal verdict awarding a whopping $16.4 million in a lawsuit claiming that two West Palm Beach attorneys breached their fiduciary duties while running up “unnecessary and excessive fees” of $1 million.

    “It’s really kind of a landmark case,” said Julian Bivins, who brought the suit as the personal representative of the estate of his father, Oliver, a Texas oil man. “It sends a message to these unscrupulous lawyers and guardians that they are not going to be able to get away with it anymore.”

    The Bivins guardianship case emanates out of the court of Circuit Judge Martin Colin, the subject of an investigation by The Palm Beach Post into the judge’s conflicts of interest because his wife is a professional guardian.

    Colin in open court had heaped praise on the attorneys who lost the case and refused to hold a hearing to decide whether the attorneys had “secretly” kept money from the sale of one of Oliver Bivins’ properties in an escrow account for more than a year, according to court documents.

    The Post’s award-winning series featuring Colin, Guardianships: A Broken Trust, resulted in an overhaul of guardianship rules in Palm Beach County. Colin retired last December after he was transferred from the Probate & Guardianship Division because of The Post’s reporting.

    Weeks after The Post published, Julian Bivins filed a motion to disqualify Colin, saying his concerns about the “close-knit atmosphere of the Guardians, their attorneys” and Colin had been “glaringly brought to light” in the stories.

    Held captive?

    The younger Bivins said he felt his father was “held captive” in South Florida by the guardianship so the attorneys could liquidate real estate assets — including a New York City Upper East Side mansion — and charge more fees. Colin granted an emergency order prohibiting the senior from returning to Texas.

    The jury found on July 28 that attorneys Brian M. O’Connell and Ashley N. Crispin of the Ciklin, Lubitz & O’Connell firm not only breached their fiduciary duty but committed professional negligence.

    The lawsuit claimed they failed to get appraisals on two high-end New York City properties being divided among family. They were not of equal value and as a result, Julian Bivins ended up with one that was worth millions less than other.

    The jury’s decision to award $16.4 million makes up the difference.

    But the fight over the property is far less important to reform advocates than the fact that attorneys who carry out the wishes of professional guardians and are paid with the ward’s money were held accountable.

    “This case in one of the longtime hotbeds of guardianship abuse is a tipping point,” said Sam Sugar, director of Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship.

    “This first salvo sends a serious message not only to the predatory guardians and lawyers who have been exploiting families all over Florida for decades but especially to the probate judges without whose complicity these cases could never happen.”

    Oliver Bivins died at age 97 in March 2015. He ended up in the court-ordered guardianship when he visited his condominium in Palm Beach in 2011 and a social worker became concerned with his well-being, according to court documents.

    Oliver Bivins appeared to be coming to Florida for a weekend vacation, leaving his refrigerator in Texas fully stocked, plaintiff attorneys told the jury. His son said he often didn’t visit his Palm Beach condominium for years at a time.

    The verdict takes a further step toward re-establishing that attorneys are supposed to represent the incapacitated ward, not the court-appointed professional guardian — a position many lawyers have argued in court to thwart families trying to rein in a fee frenzy.

    “If it wasn’t for me, they would have completely depleted my dad’s estate,” said Julian Bivins, who now lives in Palm Beach. “I’ve been fighting them from the beginning to just get him back to Texas. Finally, I got him back there 35 days before he passed away.”

    As with many family members who challenge the status quo in guardianship in Palm Beach County, Julian said he found himself relentlessly attacked in court. He was even sued by one of the guardians in the case, Curtis Rogers.

    The biggest toll, he said, though, was his relationship with his father as Rogers told the elder Bivins that his son only wanted his money. “He turned my dad against me,” Julian Bivins said. “I could never explain to my father how he was being held for ransom, how they wouldn’t let him go.”

    [...]
For more, see Jury hits lawyers with $16.4M for doing senior wrong in guardianship.

See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts).

Go here for earlier posts on the ripoffs of the dead and incapacitated under cover of court-sanctioned guardianship/conservatorship/public administrator systems. granny-snatching ripoff reimbursement

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:06 AM

Wednesday, January 06, 2016

Use Of Guardianship System To Legally 'Kidnap' Elderly Couple Left Them w/ No Home, Property, Or Personal I.D. Documents & Drained Bank Accounts; Victims Describe Their Experience w/ Out-Of-Control, Private For-Profit Guardian

In Las Vegas, Nevada, KTNV-TV Channel 13 reports:
  • Imagine having nothing. Not one single piece of paper to prove who you are. That's the situation a private guardian put a local couple into.

    That guardian is under police investigation and has been censured by the Center for Guardianship Certification, but the damage has already been done. And it's irreversible.

    It's ironic, meeting Bill and Kathy Mesloh at the Boulder City Library. When we interviewed them, the couple couldn't even get a library card because they couldn't prove who they were.

    "Our independence has been stolen," says Bill.

    Kathy's lifetime career was in law enforcement. Bill traveled the world for business. And the couple has been married 40 years. But once the court put them under guardianship, they say they lost everything. They had no cell phones. No birth certificates. No passports. No marriage license. No driver's licenses. No social security cards.

    In Bill's wallet, which is also gone, "I always had a picture of my wife and myself on our wedding day in the backseat of the limo," Bill says as he fights back tears.

    All of it taken, they say, by private, for-profit guardian April Parks, who came into the couple's life in the fall of 2013. "We were vulnerable at the time," says Bill.

    Bill is legally blind, but mentally all there. Multiple health problems put him in the hospital and then rehab, leaving Kathy alone at home with early signs of dementia. Health care workers called Parks, who had Kathy declared incompetent by a doctor from the CareMore Care Center -- a place Parks uses frequently for her guardianship cases.

    All it takes is a two-page form, a few check marks in some boxes and a signature. Shortly thereafter, Bill was declared incompetent not by a doctor, but a physician's assistant named John Reyes. When Parks took Kathy out of the couple's house and put her in a group home, Bill says she wouldn't tell him where his wife was.

    The memory brings Bill to tears. "Not having contact with my wife, I don't know where she is, I pray for her every day, I don't know if she's dead or alive."

    After months, they were finally reunited. But Bill had to explain the bad news to Kathy.

    "First thing she says to me is, 'Bill, I want to go home.' There is no home. 'I want my pets. I want my dog. I want my Trudy.' How do you deal with that?"

    During the guardianship process, the couple lost everything, including their beloved pets. The court never questioned any of it until after Contact 13 got involved. Bill was freed from guardianship and allowed to take over Kathy's care. But the Meslohs believe the entire system failed them, from Parks to every hearing master and judge who sanctioned and allowed her actions.

    They say Parks drained their bank accounts. Their house, clothes, jewelry, keepsakes and treasures from a 40-year marriage are mostly gone.

    "Our Christmases were unbelievable!" Bill recalls. "We were one of those houses that lit up the block."

    They lost cameras, home movies, "even our dentures," says Bill.

    And even Kathy's parents' ashes which were on the mantle of the home April Parks sold.

    "We were her property once she became our guardian," Bill explains. "No different than a slave would have been. She owned and controlled anything and everything."

    Parks sold the Mesloh's home for $130,000. They say they never saw a dime of that money. Court records show everything in the house, from furniture to fixtures, was valued by Parks' appraisers at just under $6,000 and sold at a loss.

    Parks and her attorney charged the couple nearly $50,000 in guardianship and legal fees. Charges include $500 a month for filing, mail and paying bills.

    Before the house was sold, Parks charged the couple $100 to take out the trash and $100 more to bring the cans back inside the next day.

    Bill was even charged $20 when he had to call Parks to ask her to put money in his group home account after she had let it run dry.

    Picking up the pieces of a life lost, Bill and Kathy Mesloh have little more than memories.

    "This is not what the golden years should be," says Bill.

    April Parks did not return calls for comment on this story. After Contact 13 began investigating this case and after Bill spoke to the detective investigating Parks, a box appeared at the couple's group home with all their identification documents inside.
Source: Elderly couple fights guardianship system.

See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts) (Non-WSJ subscriber? Try here, then click appropriate link).

Go here for other horror stories on the use of the guardianship process to 'kidnap, hijack, granny-snatch' the elderly, infirm and vulnerable, usually as part of a money grab by relatives, professional guardians, government agencies, and other assorted lowlifes seeking an easy payday. granny-snatching racket

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:02 AM

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Woman Wins Battle To Escape Legal Grasp Of Guardianship "Kidnapping"; Now Faces Possible Loss Of Home To Satisfy $100K+ In Unpaid Guardian, Legal Fees

In Hennepin County, Minnesota, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports:
  • Isabelle Jessich went to court Friday with two goals: to regain her liberty from a court-appointed guardian and to prevent him from selling her Edina home to pay $100,000 in fees for himself and seven lawyers.
  • Jessich succeeded in getting control of everything but her money, but she now faces the prospect of being sent back to a nursing home while her 17-year-old daughter could be placed in foster care.
  • Jessich, 57, has been battling for 20 months to take control of her life from Joseph Vogel, a professional guardian and conservator appointed by a Hennepin County judge in December 2008 to make decisions for her. Last year, Jessich made major strides to overcome the eating disorder, neurological problems and alcoholism that had made her a ward of the court. But Vogel would not let her leave a Robbinsdale nursing home and rejoin her daughter Allison, who was left to fend for herself.
  • After the Star Tribune reported on Jessich's situation in August 2009,(1) state inspectors investigated and cited Robbinsdale Rehab and Care Center for failing to release Jessich. She moved back home in December. Since then, Jessich testified Friday, she has continued with physical therapy and other recovery activities. She said she is leading a "normal life."
  • But her struggle with Vogel over her finances could bring chaos back into her life. Vogel said he's owed almost $25,000, and lawyers in the case -- whose fees must be paid by Jessich -- have racked up more than $80,000 in bills.(2)
***
  • [Her] house was nearly lost at a foreclosure auction, but Jessich arranged for someone to pay the back mortgage payments. Jessich refused to identify her "guardian angel," and the judge warned that failing to answer the question would hurt her position.
For more, see Edina woman gets control of life, may lose home (Isabelle Jessich got rid of her court-appointed guardian, but her house could be sold to pay legal fees).
(1) See Minneapolis Star Tribune: 'I feel like I'm in jail' (A court is keeping Isabelle Jessich in a nursing home even though a doctor says she's sane, sober and fit to leave. Is this how guardianship laws should work?).
(2) For other posts and links to other media reports on state-sanctioned, court-ordered guardianship ripoff rackets, see:
These guardianship ripoff rackets have been going on for decades, as evidenced by a New York Times story that dates back to June 29, 1988. See 3 in Surrogate's Office Charged With Thefts. granny-snatching

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:00 AM

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

Warrant-Wielding Cops Raid Court-Appointed Guardian's Office Seeking Evidence Of Alleged Abuse Of Power Over Wards; One Victim Who Lost Home To Foreclosure Now 'Serving Life Sentence' In Nursing Home; Another Barely Dodges Foreclosure, But Left Destitute

In Boulder City, Nevada, KTNV-TV Channel 13 reports:
  • Breaking news in an ongoing Contact 13 investigation as search warrants are served at multiple locations.

    Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears has been shining a spotlight on guardianship exploitation for nearly a year. Now law enforcement is taking an unprecedented step.

    ***

    As of this morning, private guardian April Parks can no longer avoid accountability over allegations of double dipping, misspent money and abuse of power. Police served search warrants at Parks' home in Boulder City and also at her office on St. Rose Parkway near the 215.

    The law enforcement activity spearheaded by the Attorney General's office comes about five months after Contact 13 first exposed allegations against Parks for exploiting her wards.

    Rudy and Rennie North. Mrs. Elizabeth Indig. Phyllis Moscowitz-Crowe. They're just a few of the more than 100 people who were made wards of the court with Parks as their guardian.

    Now, police are looking at what Parks did with their money and assets.

    Investigators from the Nevada Attorney General's office, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and Boulder City Police carted out boxes of documents from Parks' office and spoke to her at her home.

    ***

    The joint law enforcement investigation, which includes the Clark County District Attorney, is the first of its kind and, according to affected families, it's long overdue.

    Rick Black, whose father-in-law died under guardianship in July, said last week to the State Guardianship Commission, "When criminal activity is identified in the Family Court historically here in Clark County, that's been ignored when it pertains to the private guardians and their lawyers."

    But with the service of today's warrants, that could be changing.

    Law enforcement's focus on Parks began in June when Boulder City Police began investigating the disappearance of eight of Parks' wards.

    She'd moved them without notice from Lakeview Terrace in Boulder City--leaving a trail of unpaid bills behind.

    Contact 13 also caught Parks double dipping into the bank accounts of Rudy and Rennie North, which she spoke about in May.

    ***

    Just last week, we told the story of Phyllis Moscowitz-Crowe who was left destitute and almost lost her home after Parks became her guardian. "She's so evil and so vicious even the devil wouldn't have her in his zone," Moscowitz-Crowe said.

    Elizabeth Indig's mother did lose her home after Parks let it slip into foreclosure. It was sold for pennies on the dollar and then Parks sold most of Mrs. Indig's clothing and belongings.

    "My mom is now sentenced to a life in a nursing home when we had a trust and we had made plans to keep her in her own home with all of her things until she died," Elizabeth said.

    We've asked the court what will become of all the people April Parks has guardianship over--now that police have seized her files, paperwork and computer equipment. We're still waiting on a response and we will stay on this story as it develops.
For the story, see Search warrants served as police investigate guardianship exploitation.

In a related story, see Families caught up in guardianship system losing their homes.

See generally, See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts) (Non-WSJ subscriber? Try here, then click appropriate link).

Go here for earlier posts on the ripoffs of the dead and incapacitated under cover of the court-sanctioned guardianship/public administrator system. granny-snatching

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:02 AM

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Out-Of-Control Court-Appointed Guardians Strike Again; Racket Yields Big Profits For Unscrupulous Players, While Elderly Victims Fear Losing Everything, Including Homes

In Las Vegas, Nevada, KTNV-TV Channel 13 reports:
  • Some of the people who need help the most are being robbed of their money and freedom.

    Contact 13's investigation of Nevada's guardianship system has revealed double-billing, bank accounts drained and families torn apart. Some have lost even more.

    "Everything in this house is a memory," said Phyllis Moskowitz-Crowe as she looked wistfully around her modest home.

    Moskowitz-Crowe has traveled the world, but for the past year and a half she wasn't allowed to step through her own front door.

    "All of a sudden my whole life just blew up. And to this day I don't know why."

    Spring of 2014 was what Moskowitz-Crowe calls "the beginning of the worst experience of my life."

    The then 76-year-old was recovering in the hospital after a fall when the court granted private, for-profit guardian April Parks absolute power and control over her life and estate.

    The sign Moskowitz-Crowe put on her door says "Let Freedom Ring" but the sign Parks put in the window means quite the opposite.

    In fact, when Parks took over Moskowitz-Crowe's home, at some point she stopped paying the HOA dues so Moskowitz-Crowe says she nearly lost the house and everything in it.

    "I'm alone. I was independently wealthy. I have no bills. Except I have a small reverse mortgage on my house. That was it! Perfect target!"

    The homeowners' association foreclosed on Moskowitz-Crowe's home because the dues weren't being paid.

    But Moskowitz-Crowe had no idea that was happening because at the time, she didn't even know she was under guardianship, claiming she was kept in the dark about her own affairs.

    "My home being seized, my car being seized. My bank accounts being emptied. My mail. 496 days without my mail to date."

    "This is a huge scam!" said senior advocate Rana Goodman, who's also a member of the newly-created State Guardianship Commission.

    "It's morally so reprehensible to me that they literally go in and clean these people's bank accounts out -- leaving them destitute -- and then take their home away from them too," Goodman said.

    With help from advocates and friends, Moskowitz-Crowe paid the past due HOA fees and stopped the foreclosure.

    "It was a blessing when I walked through that front door. I may be destitute. But it was like walking into a castle. That's how much it means to me."

    Elizabeth Indig wasn't so lucky.

    She and her mother share the same name. And the same emotions over what happened to Indig's home.

    "Completely helpless. Depressed. Out of control. Violated."

    While recovering in the hospital from a fall in her driveway in May, 2012, Indig was deemed to be incompetent by the court, and April Parks was made guardian.

    "She took control over the home and everything in the home which were trust assets. And she had no right to!"

    Indig says the family home was essentially stolen.

    Just like in Moskowitz-Crowe's case, the HOA dues weren't paid after Parks took control. The foreclosure went through.

    County records show the house the Indigs paid $320,000 for, was sold at auction in November, 2013 for just $22,000.

    All the personal property in the house should have been protected by the trust.

    "My mom had gold silverware sets. My mom had Hering porcelain, which is hand-painted Hungarian porcelain."

    But that didn't stop Parks from holding an estate sale.

    "A two-day estate sale," Indig said. "Everything was sold. She was even selling my mom's clothes. My mom's nightgowns."

    That might be expected had her mother died. But she's still very much alive. Her daughter said she could do nothing to stop it.

    "She locked me out. She took the keys. Changed the locks. She told the guard gate not to let me in. She told me that I would be arrested for trespassing and never be able to see my mom again if I went near the home."

    April Parks refused to return our multiple calls for comment on this story.

    At the time, we did ask her about family concerns from people like Indig.

    "I don't threaten them to stay out of things." Parks said. "That's not a threat to me. If you say to me, I'm gonna go to court, fine! Please go to court! I need you to have your side heard of this."

    Indig says the court ignored her pleas until after Contact 13's investigation exposed major shortcomings in the system.

    Hearing Master Jon Norheim was booted off all adult guardianship cases and the judge who replaced him signed a court order stating the "court did not give April Parks permission to do anything with trust assets and Elizabeth Indig can file a criminal complaint with the District Attorney."

    As for Moskowitz-Crowe, she wants to know how our state leaders can allow all this suffering.

    "The legislators ought to be ashamed of themselves and I mean deeply ashamed."

    Phyllis was recently released from guardianship and allowed to return to the home she fought for, but ironically, her battle over the house is not over.

    Despite the fact that she was forced into an assisted living facility while under guardianship, her reverse mortgage company now wants to take her house, saying she violated their contract by not using it as her primary residence.

    The nonprofit National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse says these cases are not uncommon. "Unscrupulous guardians 'flipping' wards' homes or properties for profit is a constant complaint" they hear from members across the country.
Source: Families caught up in guardianship system losing their homes.

See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts) (Non-WSJ subscriber? Try here, then click appropriate link).

Go here for earlier posts on the ripoffs of the dead and incapacitated under cover of court-sanctioned guardianship/conservatorship/public administrator systems. granny-snatching

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:02 AM

Sunday, July 06, 2008

No Fee For Brooklyn Attorney, Ordered To Pay Back $400K+ In Allegedly Improper Payments Taken In Guardianship Matter Of Retired Judge

In New York City, the ABA Journal reports:
  • Attorney Emani Taylor apparently was hoping to get $853,000 for three years of work as a guardian for a former New York judge. Instead, the New York lawyer got a lecture on legal ethics from Acting Supreme Court Justice Michael Ambrosio and a $403,000 surcharge for improper payments she had earlier made to herself from selling real estate owned by former Civil Court Judge John Phillips, reports the New York Law Journal. The article was reprinted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.).
***
  • [Judge] Phillips, who suffered from Alzheimer's, died in February at age 83. At one point he reportedly held real estate worth some $10 million. Taylor has been suspended from the practice of law by the Appellate Division, First Department, for, as Ambrosio puts it, "at best, withdrawing funds from the guardianship account for legal fees without court permission, or, at worst, intentionally converting guardianship funds."
For more, see No $853K Guardian Payday for N.Y. Lawyer; Also Hit With $403K Surcharge.
For a more detailed account of this story, see New York Lawyer: NY Lawyer Must Pay Back $403,000, Denied All of $853,000 Fee Request (free registration required).
  • Justice Ambrosio lacerated Ms. Taylor's performance, calling her conduct "egregious" and reflecting "a fundamental lack of understanding of what her role as a guardian entailed." At one point, he called her explanation for not producing time sheets and other records a "dog ate my homework excuse."
For earlier posts on this story, see:

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 5:30 AM

Monday, December 28, 2015

Embattled Vegas Woman Targeted By Police Probe Into Alleged Guardianship Racket Hit With Censure By Nat'l Credentialing Group For Actions That Led To Foreclosure For Elderly Homeowner Under Her Supervision

In Las Vegas, Nevada, KTNV-TV Channel 13 reports:
  • An embattled private guardian under investigation by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is now facing more problems. The guardian's fall from grace all stems from a Contact 13 investigation.

    Private Guardian April Parks has been accused of abusing her power and exploiting the people she's court-appointed to protect.

    While police develop evidence and build a possible criminal case, Parks is now facing disciplinary action for violating national standards.

    The Center for Guardianship Certification, which certifies private professional guardians nationwide, has censured Parks for her actions in the case of Elizabeth Indig.

    Contact 13 first reported on Indig's case in September after Parks failed to pay the homeowner association dues and let the elderly woman's home slip into foreclosure. It sold at auction for $22,000. All without court approval.

    "She took control over the home and everything in the home which were trust assets! And she had no right to!" said Indig's daughter, whose name is also Elizabeth.

    Indig successfully fought to get her mother out of guardianship. But the house was already gone.

    Parks was also censured for failing to file required court documents in a timely manner.

    Clark County Family Court Hearing Master Jon Norheim and some judges were aware of all that, but Indig says they failed to do anything to prevent or rectify Parks' actions.

    Parks continues to provide guardianship services despite the censure and police investigation.
Source: Embattled private guardian censured for violations.

See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts) (Non-WSJ subscriber? Try here, then click appropriate link). granny-snatching

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:00 AM

Sunday, May 10, 2015

91-Year Old Ex-Opera Singer Gets To Go Home, Scores Release From 'Involuntary Detention' In Nursing Home By Defying Order & Serenading Judge In Open Court; Daughter & Attorney Say Sneaky Landlord/Developer Made Anonymous Complaint To City Social Service Agency In Push To Have Senior Granny-Snatched Out Of Her Rent-Controlled Pad Where She's Lived Since 1960

In New York City (where else???), the New York Post reports:
  • She got her home back for a song.

    A 91-year-old former Broadway singer who was declared incompetent and tossed into a nursing home was returned to her Greenwich Village apartment — after wowing a Manhattan judge with her vocal talents.

    Elderly songstress Ruth Berk sang the show tunes “Summertime” and “My Funny Valentine” to help convince Justice Tanya Kennedy that she was still fit to live there.

    At her hearing, “although the justice refused to allow her to speak, [Berk] interrupted the court and told the court that she wanted to go home. She then began to sing for Justice Kennedy,” her lawyer, Arthur Schwartz, recounted in court papers.

    Berk’s daughter, Jessica, said the judge was stunned at the impromptu performance last summer by her mom, whom she called “a cross between Bea Arthur and Elizabeth Taylor” in her younger years.

    “[The judge] stepped off the bench, took [her] robe off and shook her hand and said, ‘Mrs. Berk, that was wonderful. Thank you very much for honoring me with that,’ ” Jessica, 55, told The Post.

    Ruth was finally returned to her home, where she has lived since 1960, earlier this year. But she may still have to update her repertoire with a selection from “Rent,’’ her camp said.

    Landlord and real estate developer Lloyd Goldman has filed an eviction notice to try to boot Berk and her daughter from their rent-stabilized, $700-a-month penthouse. Goldman’s lawyer, Lawrence Wolf, told The Post that Ruth and Jessica — who also resides in the two-bedroom pad at 95 Christopher St. — owe $27,000 in back rent.

    Ruth’s lawyer and guardian, Arthur Schwartz, said the pair aren’t current on their payments because the rent-stabilized unit — in a building where apartments go for $7,000 a month — is like a “slum” with multiple violations. He added that the building owner has brought 21 unsuccessful landlord-tenant actions over the past 20 years.

    Jessica Berk said she believes that their landlord made the anonymous complaint to Adult Protective Services that landed her mom in a nursing home as part of his push to get them out of the cheap pad. “Who else would have a motive to get rid of my mother?” Jessica reasoned.

    The landlord’s lawyer said his client did not make the 2012 call but acknowledged providing Kennedy with information for the case. Berk will be back in front of Kennedy in June for the eviction trial.
Source: 91-year-old sings for judge, gets to leave nursing home (Ruth Berk is back in her Greenwich Village apartment thanks to an impromptu courtroom singing performance).

-----------------------------------

See also, WestView News (The Voice of the West Village): Ruth Berk Must Be Freed! - where Ruth's lawyer and new guardian Arthur Schwartz writes this excerpt of a longer story:
  • [R]uth Berk was a fabulous opera singer, who, with her husband, opened the Waverly Lounge in the Hotel Earl on Washington Square North, where she entertained as a cabaret singer.

    But by 2013, to the landlord at 95 Christopher Street, she was a rent-controlled tenant living in a 2-bedroom worth a lot of money on the open market. So he called Adult Protective Services (APS) and alleged that Ruth was being abused by Jessica. Next thing you know APS arrives, with the police, guns drawn, to interview Ruth.(1)

    They find a messy, cluttered apartment and a 92-year- old woman scared out of her wits, and they run to a judge seeking to have a guardian. The agency appointed as guardian pulled Ruth out of her home and shipped her off to DeWitt [Nursing Home], where she exists in a room with two other non-ambulatory people who wear diapers and are frequently sick with illnesses that could kill a horse.

    The guardian, an entity called “Self Help,” convinced Justice Tanya Kennedy that Ruth Berk was incompetent and didn’t understand that her visits from her daughter were “harmful,” and had Jessica Berk and her domestic partner barred from visiting Ruth in DeWitt.
(1) Go here for other horror stories on the use of the guardianship process to 'kidnap, hijack, granny-snatch' (call it what you want) the elderly, infirm and vulnerable, usually as part of a money grab by relatives, government agencies, and other assorted lowlifes seeking an easy payday. granny-snatching guardianship

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:00 AM

Monday, May 24, 2010

Legalized, Court-Sanctioned Scam Allows For Vulnerable "Senior-Snatching" In Kidnapping, Ripoff Racket Of The Elderly In Arizona???

In Phoenix, Arizona, KNXV-TV Channel 15 reports:
  • Many people move to Arizona for the weather and recreation because it's considered a haven for retirees who want to live out their golden years. But something else is happening here - something haunting. For Clair's mom, Gloria Horrigan, it was a nightmare. Clair said her mother was taken to a nursing home against her will and not allowed visitors, not even family. “It's sickening...It really truly is sickening,” said Clair.
  • It was a struggle for Robert Brown to bring his wife, Rosemary, home. She was also taken and within a matter of weeks, the family wasn't allowed to see her either. What happened in both cases started in a Maricopa County Courtroom - right in front of a judge.
***
  • Both Rosemary and Gloria had health issues that made it hard on their families. Families can't force a loved one to get help, but a guardian can. That's why their cases ended up in probate court, which hears issues on care for vulnerable adults. The court approved a guardian in both cases. And both times, the guardian was Sun Valley Group of Tempe.(1)(2)
For more, see Guardianship in Arizona: Elder care or elder abuse?

 (1) In total, Rosemary's family allegedly spent over a $100,000 for just four months of Sun Valley Group's care, the story states. It ended when the nursing home thought Rosemary was dying. They finally allowed the family to see her. As for Gloria, her daughter said the company seemed much more interested in her mom's money than her health. The final bill being just under $500,000 and included charges for an employee to open her mail at $75 an hour, the story states. The company also allegedly failed to make Gloria's house payments, allowing it to go into foreclosure, according to the story.
According to the story, the ABC15 Investigators have found more issues plaguing Sun Valley Group. Owner Peter Frenette's wife, Heather, is co-owner, but she is being investigated by the Arizona nursing board. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Organized Crime Unit is also reportedly investigating Sun Valley Group. By state law, both investigations are secret, the story states.
The ABC15 Investigators also reportedly discovered three multi-million dollar lawsuits filed this year against the company for fraud and racketeering. Grant Goodman is the attorney for three former Sun Valley Group clients:
  • “It's more of a criminal enterprise,” said Goodman, “They need to be prosecuted.” He claimed to find a pattern with these cases. “They effectively medicate them to such an extent that they really are non-functional,” said Goodman, “And they do that while they're liquidating their assets.” The three lawsuits also blame probate court. “The mob isn't this efficient, nor does the mob have the luxury of having a court rubberstamp these proceedings,” said Goodman.
Reportedly, the Arizona Supreme Court last month issued an Administrative Order to investigate probate court. One of the issues is regulating fees.
(2) The fleecing of the estates of the vulnerable and the dead in probate / surrogate's court proceedings apparently is not all that unheard of. See, for example:
For one New York Times story in this regard dating back over 20 years, see 3 in Surrogate's Office Charged With Thefts:
  • Three investigators from the Brooklyn and Bronx Public Administrators' offices were arrested [] and charged with falsifying public records and stealing valuables from rooms they believed had been occupied by people who died without leaving a will. granny-snatching

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:04 AM

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

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).

Go here for other posts on this story.

Go here for other posts on the escapades of the public administrator's offices in New York City. daily eagle retired judge granny-snatching racket

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 8:37 AM

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

State-Sanctioned Ripoffs Of The Elderly By Government Agencies Running Rampant On Both Sides Of The Atlantic?

In Great Britain, the Daily Mail reports:
  • A secret court that seizes the nest eggs of the elderly and vulnerable has triggered 3,000 complaints in the 18 months since it was set up, it was revealed [last month]. The obscure Court of Protection [of the Office of the Public Guardian] has taken control of £3.2billion in assets from those deemed unable to look after their own financial affairs because they are suffering from dementia or another mental incapacity. It adjudicates on contentious cases handled by the Office of the Public Guardian, a Ministry of Justice department which appoints 'deputies' to act for the mentally impaired when they have not written a living will.
***
  • The OPG often appoints relatives as deputies, but it also gives the role to solicitors or local authority officials if family members are deemed unsuitable. Families of those suffering from dementia complain that they have been treated like criminals and sent bullying letters from the court. The OPG has also charged £23million in fees from the bank accounts of those suffering from dementia to supervise the activities of deputies. The court, which is held in private, also pays just 0.5 per cent interest on savings it has seized, far lower than can be found at many high street banks.(1)
For more, see Anger as court seizes £3.2bn from elderly.
See also:
(1) For similar stories of alleged state-sanctioned ripoffs of the elderly, infirm and others deemed unable to take care of themselves by government agencies from the North American side of the Atlantic, see:

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:02 AM

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Tennessee Woman Victimized By State Guardianship System That Resulted In Her Losing Her Home, Car, Other Belongings Passes Away

In Hendersonville, Tennessee, The Tennessean reports:
  • A Hendersonville woman who lost her home, car and all her belongings in a highly contested conservatorship case has died.

    Ginger Franklin, 58, died Monday [July 3]. Her controversial conservatorship case was one of a handful that sparked a reform effort leading to a 2012 change in Tennessee law.

    Franklin also successfully sued the owner of a group home where she was placed against her will and put to work cleaning and cooking for other residents even as her bank account was being tapped for a monthly fee.

    Franklin's case came to the attention of a national organization established to halt abuse by guardians and conservators.

    "The system didn't just let Ginger down; it used Ginger and exploited her for its own benefit — at her expense and to her detriment, all under the deception of protection and on Judge David 'Randy' Kennedy's watch," said Elaine Renoire, head of the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse, referring to the Davidson County probate judge who presided over Franklin's case.

    Franklin ended up in a conservatorship without her knowledge in 2008 after she fell in her condo and suffered a brain injury. She was shipped to a rehab facility in another state, and when she returned to Tennessee she was told by her court-appointed conservator that her condo was empty and being sold.

    She was placed in a group home and put to work.

    A judge would later rule that Franklin was the victim of "egregious and intentional abuse."

    Salim Homes was ordered to pay Franklin $23,050.

    Franklin's conservator was Jeanan Stuart, then the public guardian for Davidson County. Stuart was eventually forced to resign from her job after a series of articles in The Tennessean raised questions about her billing practices.

    In Franklin's case, records showed that Stuart seized and then abandoned a car Franklin owned. It was subsequently seized by the garage owners and auctioned off.

    Franklin made several attempts to have the conservatorship lifted but was rebuffed by Stuart and Kennedy.

    She wasn't finally released from the conservatorship until 2010.
Source: Hendersonville woman who lost home, car in conservatorship case dies at 58.

See generally, The Wall Street Journal: Abuse Plagues System of Legal Guardians for Adults (Allegations of financial exploitation and abuse are rife, despite waves of overhaul efforts).

Go here for earlier posts on the ripoffs of the dead and incapacitated under cover of court-sanctioned guardianship/conservatorship/public administrator systems. granny-snatching

posted by Home Equity Theft Reporter at 4:00 AM