Dorothy Driesen South Dakota Guardianship Victim

Mother of NASGA Iowa Legislative Liaison, Jay Driesen

Dorothy Driesen, a 94 year old widowed Mother, has had her entire estate taken away from her by court decree and forced to reside at the Rock Valley, IA nursing home that has had multiple felony accounts charged against it in 2003. 

The judge took our Mother into his chamber, asked her a few questions, had her read from a prepared statement and then fired both Dorothy and her son as Trustees, appointed a bank to be her new Trustee, appointed an adversarial guardian over her and accepted a purported amendment devising her entire Trust estate the new guardian.  All of this happened within one days time upon the filing of court documents by the wannabe guardian and friend of the court. 

After this drastic and unbelievable event in the local district court, the two sons of our Mother have been falsely accused of various things and arrested and incarcerated on four separate occasions.  To add insult to injury, the two sons of our Mother and their families have not been able to visit their Mother since early 2008. 

The last call that was made from our Mother during New Years weekend in 2009 was a call of desperation in which our Mother claimed her life was in danger and she pleaded with us to get her out of this nursing facility.  Mail that the family tries to send our Mother is received by the guardian and does not appear to reach our Mother.  All incoming calls to our Mother are screened by the front desk and she has no way of calling out. 

Shortly after our Mother was incarcerated in this nursing home, before this disastrous court decision, the family would attempt to visit our Mother and shortly after we would arrive, either the guardian would show up  in the doorway and demand that we leave or the town police officer would show up and threaten us with arrest. 

This case has been heard by the Sioux County, IA District Court in early 2008 and appealed. Jay, as the original trustee, lost this entire first court battle. Then the predators and bank, thinking they had victory, later filed for  perceived monetary damages from Jay, Dorothy's eldest son, in  neighboring Lyon County, IA District Court, where Jay resides.  Jay fought back pro se in attempt to save his incarcerated Mother and her Irrevocable Trust.  For over one year, the predators and bank attempted to gain their loot and then labored to shut this second case  down by way of motion. After the judge initially ruled in Jay’s favor three separate times; for some reason, the bank was finally successful in receiving a judgment against Jay for over $34,000.  This amount was deemed necessary by the court to adequately compensate this bank (was appointed as Trustee in August, 2008), that is highly active in farm land, for their effort in defending the case and to cover their expense in securing the assets of Mother Driesen.   This case had originally been scheduled for a jury trial, including all evidence of the murders in this nursing home during 2003, but the case was shut down by motion for Summary Judgment. 

On appeal, the Iowa Court of Appeals applied the doctrine of “claim preclusion” as an original error was not raised by the defense attorney.

A small victory was gained in the Iowa Legislature in 2010 wherein a guardianship hearing can not take place unless notice of service is served on the proposed ward (protected person) and their present family and / or care taker.  In our Mother’s case, a guardianship hearing took place without advanced notice being served on her nor her present children caretakers.  Notice of what had happened was served on the family over 20 days later. 

Since the initial dramatic events occurring in 2007 – 2009, the family members were forced to retreat into survival mode and tend to numerous legal suits hurled their way….suits aimed at destroying their finances and business. 

During the fall of 2011, Jay was successful in reaching his Mother by a late evening phone call placed to the nursing home.  An unsuspecting nursing assistant brought Mother Driesen to the front desk and gave her the phone to converse with her son Jay.  Very quickly the supposed  “incompetent”  Mother asked Jay about her farm land and etc.  Suddenly there was a scuffling noise as Jay could hear the phone receiver fall to the floor and with a later hang up click.

Further negative action levied against Jay’s business necessitated taking many of the defendant’s to the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. 

Our Mother has now reached the ripe age of 94 years and regardless of the stress placed on her by denial of her civil rights per 42 USC Sec 1395i-3, she remains in good physical and mental health.  Jay has been in to see his Mother numerous times as of late and is continually run out with threat of arrest made regardless of Jay’s Mother expressing strong desire for him to continue with the visit.  Jay then hands them a copy of the quoted Federal Code.  At present, the nephew attorney of the guardian has sent a letter to Jay threatening arrest if Jay attempts to visit his Mother again, in direct violation of this particular Federal Code.  In December, 2013, Jay has filed an Attorney Complaint with the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board on the attorney.  The Attorney Complaint was soon turned down.

On April 19, 2014, a distant relative of our Mother stopped at the Rock Valley nursing home for a visit.  Very happy to see the visitor, Mother soon began reminiscing with him about bygone days on neighboring small family farms. Our Mother was asked if she would like to talk to her son, Jay.  Yes she would, Mother replied, and so the visitor connected Jay and his Mother on the cell phone.  A lengthy visit ensued to the joy of our Mother.  Upon scolding, Jay had to explain why he does not come to see her.  Shortly the call ended as Jay could hear Mother commenting; “they do not like what we are doing”.  Jay felt uneasy and within a period of time the visitor called Jay from the Sioux County, IA jail explaining the events and requesting someone to furnish bail for them in the morning.  Meanwhile, at the nursing home, the guardian of our Mother arrived and ordered the visitor out, explaining that she was the legal guardian of our Mother.  The visitor noted the frightened reaction of our Mother who requested the visitor to remain there with her. The guardian attempted to walk around the visitor in quest for the cell phone still in possession of our Mother which did not happen as the visitor quickly retrieved the cell phone.  The visitor explained that our Mother pointed to the guardian and ordered her to leave her room which was repeated over eight times. The guardian ignored the pleas and soon the local police appeared, ignoring the pleas of our Mother and proceeded to arrest the visitor for Interference with Official Acts and Assault, both simple misdemeanors. 

In June, 2014,an out of state relative stopped by the Rock Valley nursing home to see their cousin, Dorothy Driesen. They were directed down the hallway towards the particular wing of our Mother’s location. The doors to this wing were shut. After securing the attention of the staff on duty, they were told that they could not see their cousin, our Mother.

Our Mother has now turned 95 yrs of age and reportedly doing well. 

A new Elder Abuse Bill has been signed into law in Iowa on July 1^st, 2014. Jay, along with others, worked tirelessly on this bill for over seven years.

February 22, 2015:
Rumors are being circulated that Dorothy Driesen is low and now in hospice care. Jay called the nursing home in Rock Valley and after a few seconds the call recipient hung up. Continuing on from this February date, scattered messages are now sent to various people by the guardian with bits of information that our Mother’s health is on the wane, with no mention made of cancelling the letters of threats to arrest, issued by the guardian’s attorney. 

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