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AN OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS AND THE WHITE HOUSE – 4

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Judicially Sanctioned Financial Exploitation
of
Vulnerable Elderly and Disabled Citizens
by Non-Family Court-Appointed Fiduciaries

The recent MetLife study[1] on the comprehensive subject of elder abuse once again focuses on theft by family members rather than by court-appointed fiduciaries[2] who too freely liquidate entire estates by means of exorbitant or fraudulent billings and proceedings.

The cold reality is that keeping the focus and the spotlight on families[3] enables the continued milking of the helpless by “professionals” appointed by the courts to protect them. How can MetLife and others almost completely overlook this entire category of elder abuse? How can Congress continue to ignore it, especially after GAO’s[4] September 2010 report[5] clearly substantiating this growing problem?

“Most of the allegations we identified involved financial exploitation and misappropriation of assets. Specifically, the allegations point to guardians taking advantage of wards by engaging in schemes that financially benefit the guardian but are financially detrimental to the ward under their care. Also, the allegations underscore that the victim’s family members often lose their inheritance or are excluded by the guardian from decisions affecting their relative’s care.”

NASGA has addressed guardianship[6] abuse by fiduciaries in three previous white papers to Congress and the White House[7]; yet, when any legislator has come forward to champion the cause of guardianship reform and propose legislation, the focus of said reform continues to concentrate on family members as guardians and is limited to suggestions of grants for certification, training, background checks – none of which addresses the growing threat of professional for-profit and “not-for-profit” fiduciaries freely bleeding their victims into indigence and onto Medicaid, at the expense of the currently unsuspecting taxpayers.

We reiterate: while training and certification may help courts operate more efficiently and will certainly be profitable for those providing the training and certification, neither even begins to address court-sanctioned exploitation and abuse (financial, emotional, and/or physical) of guardianship wards – not by family members appointed as guardians, but by nonfamily fiduciaries – “persons of trust,” including attorneys. We continue to ask: How are thieves “trained” not to steal other than by enforcing existing law and sending them to jail?

Who is going to speak up and protect vulnerable persons from potential court-sanctioned plunder in 50 different states with 50 different laws? Several states have recognized the need for and have begun to take baby steps toward reform, but victims have been waiting too long already!

In Elmira, NY, NASGA member Sara Harvey has been battling her husband’s guardian[8] in state court for six years, trying to protect her disabled husband from abuse and neglect.[9] Her efforts have been in vain and very costly. Sadly, Gary Harvey, a Veteran, remains virtually isolated,[10] languishing behind closed doors[11] at St. Joseph’s Hospital since 2009, when he could and should be spending his final days in the familiar surroundings and comfort of his own home, under his wife’s care.

Allowing Gary Harvey to go home would place him in the least restrictive environment, an objective of positive guardianship. Additionally, taxpayers would save approximately $20,000 a month or more, in the cost of his hospital room alone.

Mrs. Harvey has turned everywhere she could for help, including to her elected representatives. The responses all follow the same theme and pointed Mrs. Harvey back to the very system she claims is abusing her husband. Claims of abuse and neglect, they tell her, can only be filed by the guardian or the guardian ad litem.

Is it a surprise that the guardian sees nothing wrong with isolating Gary Harvey from family and friends? Is it a surprise that the guardian ad litem, whose first loyalty and duty is to the court instead of the ward, Gary Harvey, stands with the guardian?

With all the court-appointed “protectors” connected in some way to the same law firm, including the judge, who truly is looking out for Gary Harvey’s best interest other than his wife who has been at his side since his debilitating accident?

When the system is as broken as this case illustrates, who will speak up for those without a legal voice who are trapped and suffering at the system’s hands?

Our second Open Letter to Congress[12] highlighted the non-emergency “emergency” aspects of NASGA member musician/songwriter John Daniel (Danny) Tate’s case[13] in Nashville, TN. This poster case exemplifies how the practice of conserving a ward into indigence – contrary to the intent of the protective statutes – has become accepted, perhaps even anticipated, by judges who should be the last line of defense against fiduciaries who bleed estates dry using a pen as their weapon of choice. The Tate case is also a case for “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”

♦ Four days after Tate’s estranged older brother filed a petition for conservatorship[14] (without notice to Tate), claiming a drug-related “emergency” which did not exist, Probate Judge Randy Kennedy ordered a “temporary” conservatorship, naming Tate’s brother as his “temporary” conservator,[15] in direct violation of TN statute, 34-1-108.[16]

The law requires a conservatorship operate in the “best interest”[17] of a ward, but Tate’s temporary conservator diverted all of Tate’s postal and electronic mail; dissipated Tate’s approximate $2.5 million in assets, interrupted his career and plunged him into debt. During this time, Tate’s temporary conservator stopped Tate’s child support payments,[18] homeowner’s insurance,[19] and health insurance, while paying his own lawyer regularly with Tate’s funds. When Tate’s cash assets ran out, his temporary conservator’s lawyer even attempted to put a lien on Tate’s flood-damaged home!

♦ On 5/24/10, thanks to Facebook, friends wearing “Free Danny Tate” tee-shirts showed up for his “final” court hearing,[20] Judge Kennedy “released” Tate from his two-and-a half-year “temporary” conservatorship. At that hearing, when Tate complained of his temporary conservator’s breach of fiduciary duty in open court, court watchers were stunned as Judge Randy Kennedy responded by admonishing Tate for not thanking his conservator “for all he’s done for you.”

The conservatorship had picked Tate’s financial bones clean; plunged him into not only indigence but snowballing debt as well; caused him to be sued by his ex-wife for child support payments, by his own attorney for ongoing fees; and left him without home and health insurance. Tate had no choice but to appeal the conservatorship from its inception, but he was indigent and could not afford to hire an appellate attorney.

Now to the “believe it or not”: Judge Kennedy, the same judge who refused to listen to Tate’s complaints that the conservatorship was devouring his estate and harming him and his young daughters financially, then turned around and approved Tate’s application for pauper status so Tate could file his appeal. From one side of his mouth, Judge Kennedy insisted that the conservatorship “protected” Tate and his estate. From the other side, Judge Kennedy approved Tate’s application for pauper status. Did the conservatorship protect or plunder? The figures don’t lie; Tate’s $2.5 mil estate disappeared under Judge Kennedy’s watch.

What did the conservatorship accomplish other than feed the lawyers? How could Judge Kennedy allow Tate’s temporary conservator and the lawyers to devour Tate’s estate and plunge him into indigence in the guise of protection and under color of law?

The injustice Tate has suffered – and continues to suffer – should be an urgent wake-up call to every American, especially Boomers, and certainly to members of Congress in a coming election year. Who is going to protect wards of the state when they are permanently harmed by the very system claiming to be protecting them? When will it end?

Where are we now, after more than 20 years of study and reports? Clearly, the answer is Americans are in more danger than ever before; and Congress is talking about grants for training and certification and looking the other way, as do the States, while permitting financial exploitation and criminal conversion to continue with little or no accountability.

ONLY CONGRESS CAN MAKE GOOD THE FORGOTTEN PROMISE of 42 U.S.C. 3001 of The Public Health and Welfare Law: “(6) Retirement in health, honor, dignity – after years of contribution to the economy;” and “(10) Freedom, independence, and the free exercise of individual initiative in planning and managing their own lives, full participation in the planning and operation of community-based services and programs provided for their benefit and protection against abuse, neglect, and exploitation.”

Please do not wait until it happens to you or a member of your family to step up and take action. Address this critical need now. Americans are suffering now; they need help now.

NASGA began seeking federal intervention in 2009. With Congress well aware of the aging of the Baby Boomers, and still sitting on the information, we are now shifting our focus to that very group of potential victims and the taxpayers who will have to pick up their Medicaid tab when the fiduciaries are finished with their feeding frenzy. As part of our mission, we will educate the taxpaying Boomers about how these laws are being misused and abused and no longer work in the “best interest” of the people.[21]

Forewarned is forearmed!

It is our continued hope and prayer on behalf of those presently entrapped in unlawful and abusive guardianships and conservatorships and the huge potential victims group nationwide, that Congress will step up and forcefully declare that open season on vulnerable persons (be they elderly, disabled, or children) has ended!

We respectfully ask for your support.

/s/ Elaine Renoire
ELAINE RENOIRE, President

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1 “Elder Financial Abuse: Crimes of Occasion, Desperation, and Predation Against America’s Elders,” June 2011,
http://www.metlife.com/mmi/research/elder-financial-abuse.html

2 Nonfamily members, court-appointed guardians and attorneys

3 NASGA acknowledges that sadly, and perhaps more than ever due to the current economic conditions, some families do financially exploit and abuse their vulnerable elderly and/or disabled through misuse of powers of attorney and other financial controls or even in guardianships and conservatorships, while fiduciary abuse has become an actual industry. We applaud media’s growing attention to the general category of “elder abuse” and increasing response of various state legislators.

4 Government Accountability Office

5 “Guardianships – Cases of Financial Exploitation, Neglect, and Abuse of Seniors,” September 2010, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d101046.pdf

6 ”Guardianship,” as used here, is meant to include conservatorship.

7 “Reform of Unlawful and Abusive Guardianships and Conservatorships and Abuse by Courts and Fiduciaries” http://www.AnOpenLetterToCongress.info; “A Review of Unlawful ‘Emergency’ Guardianships,” http://www.AnOpenLetterToCongress-2.info; and
“The Fleecing of Medicaid and the Taxpayers,” http://www.AnOpenLetterToCongress-3.info

8 Chemung County Department of Social Services, Case number: Index 2006-1578/RJI No. 2006-0275M

9 See http://www.HelpBringGaryHome.com

10 Sara Harvey is permitted a mere six hours visitation per week – under guard. Her husband’s guardian refused to permit visits by friends.

11 Mr. Harvey is unable to ring his call bell should he have an emergency and need help.

12 “A Review of Unlawful ‘Emergency’ Guardianships,” http://www.AnOpenLetterToCongress-2.info

13 Davidson County Circuit Court, Docket # 07P1654

14 Tate’s brother was already in possession of a durable power of attorney (DPoA) which would obviate the need for a conservatorship, but neither he nor his lawyer brought the DPoA to the judge’s attention. Tate claims the DPoA was procured by fraud, was reproduced and altered and would not permit access to all of Tate’s significant assets. While acting in his capacity of DPoA, Tate’s brother wrote a $25,000 “retainer” check to his lawyer from Tate’s account, thereby launching the events that led to Tate’s loss of control of his life.

15 See YouTube videos of the ex-parte so called “emergency” hearing of 10/23/2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUtwQ3-UtPg and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf3FGv9mFXg

16 TN statute 34-1-108 requires notice be given to the respondent for an emergency hearing to be held.

17 “Best interests” is the general language of “protective” statutes.

18 Tate has two young daughters.

19 Tate only learned that his insurance had been allowed to lapse when he filed a claim after his home and much of his remaining musical equipment were destroyed in the 2010 Nashville, TN flooding.

20 Kennedy had been told by a higher court to issue a final order. His earlier failure to do so had prevented appeal.

21 A detailed review of the events in the case can be seen at http://nasga-stopguardianabuse.blogspot.com/2010/11/impeachment-is-not-good-enough.html

22 http://www.BoomersBewareOfGuardianshipAbuse.info and http://www.BoomersBewareOfConservatorshipAbuse.info

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ABOUT NASGA:

NASGA is a civil rights, public benefit nonprofit organization whose members are victims of unlawful and abusive guardianships and conservatorships seeking reform on a national basis.


As we have stated in all of our writings to Congress, the sole purpose of guardianship and conservatorship is to GUARD incompetent wards of the state to keep them from harming themselves or others; CONSERVE their assets; and PROTECT the public from the ward becoming a public charge.


Our mission is:
(1) To engage in outreach, education and advocacy regarding unlawful and abusive guardianship and/or conservatorship proceedings in state courts across the country, and the growing violations of due process, civil and human rights.


(2)  To end the unnecessary and growing Medicaid burden resulting from court-appointed fiduciaries’ use of their wards’ assets for self-profit and unjust enrichment.  Instead of their assets being conserved, the wards are forced into indigence and ultimately relegated to Medicaid services, contrary to law and at the expense of the unwary taxpayer.


(3)  To promote the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable persons subject to damages by unlawful and abusive proceedings; to be a support organization for victims and their families; and to work towards ultimate total reform.

This is our fourth request for Congressional intervention.

Why am I in probate? I’m not dead!

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Across the country an American Horror Story is unfolding as  massive numbers of elderly individuals who have committed the heinous crime of [aging with assets], now find themselves in probate court and officially declared dead in the law by virtue of being declared an incompetent ward of the state.  This is human trafficking sanctioned by not only the courts, but also by congresses, both state and federal who are well aware of these organized criminal activities, but who refused to acknowledge or act to defend the elderly from these predators.

monkeys

probate court oversight

This fictional declaration of death via probate court, is a careful construct patterned after the organized crime rings operating in family courts.  In one court we abduct, sell and trade minor children, and in the other we abduct, sell and exploit the lives and finances of the elderly. Everyone involved, from the so-called protection agencies, judges, commercial predatory guardians, medical providers, hospitals, nursing homes and walls of unethical and immoral attorneys, line up to take a piece of the pie.

The pie can also be comprised of the monetary value in the Medicare/Medicaid system where targeted victims can be worth a million or more in inflated medical charges, padded medical billing, padded bills for doctors, insurance payments, thefts of social security benefits, VA benefits and whatever else may be out there in the way of grants, funding and subsidy.

Many times the “pie” can be comprised of liquid assets, stocks, bonds, property, valuable art and jewelry…..all of which can disappear into the accounts and pockets of the predators just as fast as the facilitating probate judge can declare the individual not only dead in the law, but incompetent as well.

Guardian and ward: legal definition

A guardian must take inventory and collect all the assets of the ward. Where permitted by law, title is taken in the ward’s name. Otherwise, the guardian owns the property “as guardian” for the ward, which indicates that the guardian has the legal right to hold or sell the property but must not use it for his or her personal benefit. The guardian must determine the value of the property and file a list of assets and their estimated value with the court. The guardian must collect the assets promptly, and is liable to the ward’s estate for any loss incurred owing to a failure to act promptly. (emphasis added)

Unfortunately, for those guardianized, the legal right to hold or sell property now claimed by the predatory commercial guardian, is used to benefit the predator personally.  Promptness as described in the legal definitions, is taken to new heights as predatory commercial guardians move at the speed of light to begin re-titling of property, seizure of accounts, transferring of personal funds, liquidation of any remaining assets; all of it ending up in the accounts or in the name of the predator, an attorney and/or a working partner to whom the properties are sold for pennies on the dollar.

This system of legalized grand larceny conducted by state agencies, attorneys, predator guardians, corrupt probate judges and other agencies and actors,  is condoned and covered up by higher court judges and those phony judicial oversight boards that exist in every situation.

In any other situation in your life, if someone you know proceeded to steal all your life savings and property’s, transferred all of what you had accumulated into their accounts and pockets against your objections:  if they had done this by drugging you, isolating you, and misrepresenting you, these people would be charged with federal kidnap and abduction, and grand larceny.

Yet via these phony probate courts and these corrupt probate judges these systems of asset theft, kidnapping, isolation, forced medication and abuse are sanctioned every day of the week.  All to benefit the ward, of course.

Dead men can’t speak

Guardianship is in fact the declaration of death of the still living person.  To become a ward of the state is to become non-existent.  Your existence has been nullified by the label of “ward”.  You have no rights.  You have no protections.  You have no voice!  Once declared a ward of the state, you can no longer “speak” in your own voice to the court.  You cannot defend yourself, express your desires, or object to the diversion of your assets to predators whose sole interest in you is looting your estate.  After all, you are dead!  Probate only becomes active upon producing of a death certificate.  Guardianship is a de facto death certificate, even though the victim is quite alive.

To achieve the label of “incompetent after being declared legally dead”, victims are forcibly drugged with massive doses of drugs such as Zyprexa, Seroquel, Haldol and other like pharmaceuticals.  These drugs can cause the exacerbation of dementia if it is present, or, can cause the onset of dementia, sudden death, and cause the victim to appear dysfunctional, semi-conscious often rendering them unable to speak or to even hold their heads upright.  These drugs also cause episodes of aggression and violent behavior in some victims.  It is in this condition that they are brought before the probate judge who knows full well they have been forcibly drugged to appear in this state.  Even knowing this, they still declare the “dead in the law” victim to be incompetent.

Quote from: Probing Probate: What You Should Know

By N. Brian Caverly, Esq. and Jordan S. Simon from Estate Planning For Dummies

Probate is a term that is used in several different ways. Probate can refer to the act of presenting a will to a court officer for filing — such as, to “probate” a will. But in a more general sense, probate refers to the method by which your estate is administered and processed through the legal system after you die.” (emphasis, mine)

“With a valid will: If you have a valid will, then your will determines how your estate is transferred during probate and to whom.

Without a valid will: If you don’t have a will, or if you die partially intestate, where only part of your estate is covered by a valid will, the laws where you live specify who gets what parts of your estate.”( End quotes)

Dead man statutes

In the law of evidence, a rule that prevents a person making a claim against an estate from testifying about statements, actions, or promises made by the deceased person.

It is a routine matter for corrupt probate judges to discard and declare void any pre-existing directives, wills, trusts, surrogate medical powers, durable powers of attorney, and any other document prepared well in advance of the targeting of the elder with assets.  Of course, to achieve this magical feat of judicial malfeasance, the targeted individual must first be declared a ward of the state i.e., DEAD.

There is no law we will not break

So greedy are these courts and their agents, that it is now routine and common for the business affairs to be audited three years back, just in case something of value was sold, traded or given away.  If nothing is found to have transpired that would have cheated the predator out of more of your assets, the courts will go back six years in some cases.

And just so you know, that declaration of incompetency as the result of massive doses of off-label psychotropic drugs to render you dysfunctional is now obviously retro-active.  This means the court in its efforts to help predator guardians, attorneys and others, steal as much from you as possible has now determined that they can look back three to six years and determine that you must have been incompetent then, also. Apparently, by this magical view into the past, you must also have been dead as much as six years ago.  So whatever you sold, traded and gave away, the  court will move to have returned to the estate.

This is how legalized theft, the commission of grand larceny, operates in the courts.

The only thing that can be concluded is that aging, accompanied by accumulated wealth that should be dispersed to heirs when death occurs, is now a criminal act.  There is no other way to explain the exploitation, the institutional abuse and neglect, the forced medication with off-label drugs and the theft of estates to benefit the financial enrichment of the predators.

See: National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws

An attorney is appointed for you to represent you in court.  This attorney is not likely to do anything other than find ways to file frivolous motions which result in fees assessed to the estate.  In almost every instance, these attorneys are working in tandem with the attorneys who represent the commercial predatory guardian and everyone is making money off the targeted victim. It is a lose/lose situation for the victim and the family.

It has become routine for attorneys to charge massive retainer fees, additional fees for work they supposedly did during their term as legal representative for the families of victims, to then stop at the door of the court room where the case is to be heard, turn to the families and say “I can’t represent you”……..and walk away.

No refunds of the thousands and thousands of dollars the family scrapped together, no apologies for the unethical and unprofessional conduct, and absolutely not so much as a slap on the wrist from the ubiquitous protection racket that is the Bar Association.

This is a true American Horror Story.  The dead do walk among us……we call them wards of the state.

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http://www.uniformlaws.org/

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/national_conference_of_commissioners_on_uniform_state_laws_nccusl

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Guardian+and+Ward

http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/dead_mans_statute

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/probing-probate-what-you-should-know.html

http://ppjg.me/2012/09/16/chemical-restraints-and-physical-abuse-life-at-the-hands-of-predatory-guardians/

http://ppjg.me/2011/01/24/predatory-guardians-how-courts-are-allowing-professional-guardians-to-rob-your-assets/

http://ppjg.me/2012/08/30/elderly-human-trafficking/

Article reprinted here with permission & courtesy of:  Marti Oakley at The PPJ Gazette

GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN TO HEADLINE TERRI’S DAY

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Memorial Mass with Archbishop Chaput and Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network Award Gala/Dinner with Governor Sarah Palin Highlight Day’s Events

Philadelphia, PA – March 4, 2013 – The national controversy that erupted over the court-ordered decision that ended Terri Schiavo’s life by removing her feeding tube in 2005 has been channeled into a positive effort of awareness, education and advocacy through the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network (Narberth, PA) that supports thousands of families worldwide. Terri’s Day, held April 5 in Philadelphia, marks an annual day of recognition and commemoration.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will celebrate “The National Memorial Mass for Terri’s Day” on Friday, April 5th, 2013 at 5:00pm at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, 18th Street & the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. All are invited and encouraged to attend.

Governor Sarah Palin will be the honored speaker at the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network’s Award Gala and dinner following the mass, scheduled to begin at 6:30pm at the downtown Philadelphia Marriott. During the gala, the inaugural “Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Award” will be presented to Moe & Sana Maraachli. The award honors an individual or family that defended the life of a loved one against overwhelming odds. Deborah Flora, actress, producer, radio talk show host and second runner-up to Miss America, will preside as emcee at the gala, which will include addresses from award-winning author and bioethicist Wesley Smith and critically acclaimed author and speaker Brian Gail, plus several celebrity video addresses.

Terri’s Day was established by Terri Schiavo’s family to remember her and foster education, prayer and activism regarding discrimination against the cognitively disabled, and advocacy for people in situations similar to what Terri and her family faced.
“Terri’s life and legacy continue to live on, as our nation is now aware of the immediate threat placed upon the hundreds of thousands of persons with cognitive disabilities,” says Bobby Schindler, Terri’s brother and Executive Director of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network. “We invite churches to hold memorial services and to educate their congregations about the dignity of every human life, despite any disability or disease. We encourage the media and educational institutions to help dispel the myths and inaccuracies about Terri’s life and death by providing accurate, factual information. And we invite all people to reflect on the ethical considerations of caring for the weak and vulnerable.”

For more information, or to purchase tickets for the gala and dinner with Governor Palin, visit Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network’s website at www.lifeandhope.com.

About the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Award

croppedimage593285-Website-PicTerri Schiavo Life & Hope Network was established by the surviving family members of Terri Schiavo to protect the medically vulnerable. It has communicated with and supported more than 1,000 families, and has been involved in hundreds of cases since Terri’s death. Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network was the recipient of the Gerard Health Foundation Life Prizes Award for its efforts in protecting the value and dignity of the profoundly brain injured.

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Editors Note: Photo and interviews available
Media Contact: Ellen Langas, NouSoma Communications, Inc. Office 610-658-5889; Cell 610-256-2946; ellen@nousoma.com