Guardianship/Conservatorship
can be bad
for your health and wealth!
can be bad
for your health and wealth!
GOOD
LAW – GONE BAD!
The purpose of the law - known both
as guardianship and conservatorship
is to “GUARD” and “CONSERVE”
is to “GUARD” and “CONSERVE”
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* To GUARD “incompetent”* people
against harming themselves or others;
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* To CONSERVE their
assets and property (by means of prudent investment); and
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* To PROTECT the
taxpaying public from those individuals becoming “public charges.”
|
BUT SOMETHING’S GONE
TERRIBLY WRONG!
Over the years,
guardianship law has been misapplied, misused, and sometimes just plain
manipulated, until it has become a threat to the health and wealth to
our elderly and disabled citizens.
Unlawful and abusive guardianships and conservatorships can ensnare the most vulnerable people in a larger and larger trawling net, now including those merely physically "incapacitated"! Adult guardianship has become a feeding trough for unethical lawyers and other "fiduciaries" appointed by the courts to protect, but many of whom become nothing more than predators.
Wards in these circumstances, instead of being protected by the system, are victimized by it. Strangers are often given total and absolute control of life, liberty, and property of their wards, including:
• the right to contract, including the right to choose a lawyer;
• the right to control their assets and make financial decisions;
• the right to remain in their own home and protect it from sale;
• the right to protect and enjoy their personal property;
• the right to choose where to live;
• the right to accept or refuse medical treatment, including psychotropic drugs;
• the right to decide their social environments and contacts;
• the right to assure prompt payment of taxes and liabilities;
• the right to vote;
• the right to drive;
• the right to marry; and
• the right to complain.
Wards are left defenseless and subject to exploitation by the very people chosen to protect them; they become invisible and voiceless.
An uncaring/callous/overworked/dishonest system often misuses the law and engages in blatant due process, civil/human rights violations. Victims aren’t always given notice of hearings at which their competence will be adjudicated, aren’t always allowed to attend, and often don’t have lawyers. If the court does appoint lawyers, often they are too closely affiliated with other professionals who make their living in this special area; and do not properly represent the victims’ interests. In these situations, judges do not apply the required evidentiary standards in making adjudications of incompetency, and frequently fail to obey the protective statutes, or include specific findings of fact.
Homes are sold to insiders at below market! Contents - family heirlooms, jewelry, photographs, etc. - disappear, either stolen outright or sold at auction. Estate assets are rapidly paid out to the fiduciaries in exorbitant "fees" and "commissions" until there is nothing left!
“Fiduciaries” are given power of life and death, burying their wards in nursing homes where they are kept chemically restrained with unnecessary and dangerous drugs; family members are denied any say in their care, and sometimes denied visitation, except under guard at their own expense!
It has become an accepted, yet appalling, practice for guardianships and conservatorships to devour the entire estates the proceedings are (by law) supposed to be protecting. In a shocking twist, the American Taxpayers whom these statutes are supposed to protect, are then forced to PAY THE MEDICAID TAB FOR CONTINUED LIFELONG CARE OF WARDS OF THE STATE "PROTECTED" INTO INDIGENCE while their court-appointed "protectors" enjoy their unjust enrichment. Instead of protecting the public interest, guardianship has indeed become a taxpayer burden… an extremely ironic, costly, and appalling consequence of a good law gone bad! Some dishonest fiduciaries claim that what they're doing (while filling their pockets) is to "spending down" the assets specifically to qualify the ward for Medicaid! That's not what the law intended!
*Note: Over time, states have expanded their classification for guardianship, apparently casting a wider net by lowering their criteria from "incompetent" to "incapacitated," thus causing guardianships in inappropriate situations (i.e., because a person is disabled, doesn't automatically mean he/she is also "incompetent" and in need of guardianship). This change in one word can result in an avalanche of unnecessary guardianships of the Baby Boomers!
Unlawful and abusive guardianships and conservatorships can ensnare the most vulnerable people in a larger and larger trawling net, now including those merely physically "incapacitated"! Adult guardianship has become a feeding trough for unethical lawyers and other "fiduciaries" appointed by the courts to protect, but many of whom become nothing more than predators.
Wards in these circumstances, instead of being protected by the system, are victimized by it. Strangers are often given total and absolute control of life, liberty, and property of their wards, including:
• the right to contract, including the right to choose a lawyer;
• the right to control their assets and make financial decisions;
• the right to remain in their own home and protect it from sale;
• the right to protect and enjoy their personal property;
• the right to choose where to live;
• the right to accept or refuse medical treatment, including psychotropic drugs;
• the right to decide their social environments and contacts;
• the right to assure prompt payment of taxes and liabilities;
• the right to vote;
• the right to drive;
• the right to marry; and
• the right to complain.
Wards are left defenseless and subject to exploitation by the very people chosen to protect them; they become invisible and voiceless.
An uncaring/callous/overworked/dishonest system often misuses the law and engages in blatant due process, civil/human rights violations. Victims aren’t always given notice of hearings at which their competence will be adjudicated, aren’t always allowed to attend, and often don’t have lawyers. If the court does appoint lawyers, often they are too closely affiliated with other professionals who make their living in this special area; and do not properly represent the victims’ interests. In these situations, judges do not apply the required evidentiary standards in making adjudications of incompetency, and frequently fail to obey the protective statutes, or include specific findings of fact.
Homes are sold to insiders at below market! Contents - family heirlooms, jewelry, photographs, etc. - disappear, either stolen outright or sold at auction. Estate assets are rapidly paid out to the fiduciaries in exorbitant "fees" and "commissions" until there is nothing left!
“Fiduciaries” are given power of life and death, burying their wards in nursing homes where they are kept chemically restrained with unnecessary and dangerous drugs; family members are denied any say in their care, and sometimes denied visitation, except under guard at their own expense!
It has become an accepted, yet appalling, practice for guardianships and conservatorships to devour the entire estates the proceedings are (by law) supposed to be protecting. In a shocking twist, the American Taxpayers whom these statutes are supposed to protect, are then forced to PAY THE MEDICAID TAB FOR CONTINUED LIFELONG CARE OF WARDS OF THE STATE "PROTECTED" INTO INDIGENCE while their court-appointed "protectors" enjoy their unjust enrichment. Instead of protecting the public interest, guardianship has indeed become a taxpayer burden… an extremely ironic, costly, and appalling consequence of a good law gone bad! Some dishonest fiduciaries claim that what they're doing (while filling their pockets) is to "spending down" the assets specifically to qualify the ward for Medicaid! That's not what the law intended!
*Note: Over time, states have expanded their classification for guardianship, apparently casting a wider net by lowering their criteria from "incompetent" to "incapacitated," thus causing guardianships in inappropriate situations (i.e., because a person is disabled, doesn't automatically mean he/she is also "incompetent" and in need of guardianship). This change in one word can result in an avalanche of unnecessary guardianships of the Baby Boomers!
Read more: http://stopguardianabuse.org/
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