Political Groups Bilking Elderly for Donations Through Mailers

Mabel, 95, has developed significant memory and cognitive issues. Because of her age and health problems, her niece and nephew believes some charities are taking advantage of her by asking for money.

“I find it despicable. I find it unethical,” said Mabel’s niece, Charlene Cogan.

They are concerned about an endless deluge of mail donation solicitations. Dozens arrived in the last two weeks, the majority of which were on issues important to the elderly.

“Social Security reform, or medical care, those are the things,” said Mabel’s nephew Gralen Britto.
“It was so obvious, the more she paid, the more letters they would send,” said Charlene. For Mabel, it started out small. Her niece said it was small checks at first for 5, 10, 15, 20 dollars. And it quickly got out of hand.

“I looked at her checkbook and that month she had spent about $1000 in contributions,” said Charlene.

Our investigation shows the often highly hyped and verbally supercharged solicitations are rarely tax deductible because they are for political advocacy.

“The language is such that it becomes scarier. It becomes more, ‘if you don’t do this, the outcome is going to be tragic to you,'” said Gralen.

In sorting the bags of Mabel’s mail, we counted sixty-six solicitations from a single group. It operates under a half-dozen project names.

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Political Groups Bilking Elderly for Donations Through Mailers

Nashville Woman, Shannon Hill, is Assigned New Conservator

Following a more than two-hour hearing, a 67-year-old Nashville resident has won a partial victory in her battle to win release from a conservatorship dating back to 2009.

Probate Judge David Randy Kennedy told Shannon Hill Wednesday he would order an increase in her monthly allowance from $200 to $300, but he declined to dissolve the conservatorship due to concerns expressed by one of her doctors that her condition could deteriorate if she did not adhere to her medication requirements.

Kennedy also agreed to replace her current conservator, a cousin, with the nonprofit Guardianship and Trust Co., which regularly handles conservatorships in Kennedy’s court.

Kennedy said he would review Hill’s status at a September hearing and stressed that his goal was to place Hill under the least restrictive conditions as possible and that the conservatorship could be tapered back at that time. He also promised a review of her conservator Kathy Mangrum’s final accounting report.

“This is about what’s in your best interests,” Kennedy said.

Hill testified at length about disagreements with Mangrum, who is her cousin, but Kennedy and others involved in the case said repeatedly they saw nothing wrong in the way Mangrum had performed her duties.

Source:
Nashville Woman is Assigned New Conservator

See Also:
New TN Conservatorship Law Comes too Late

PA: Elder Task Force to Step Up Guidelines

As more Americans worry about financial abuse of seniors, Pennsylvania’s new task force on elder law is stepping up.

The group expects to outline recommendations next year that could make it harder for thieves to prey on older people and drain their bank accounts, its chairperson said.
 

The practice of senior guardianship is “ripe for abuse,” said state Supreme Court Justice Debra Todd, who chairs the court’s Elder Law Task Force.
 

“We need greater monitoring,” Todd said. “It’s really sad when you read their cases. … They’ve lost their life savings or their homes.”
 

Pennsylvania law allows the Orphans Court to appoint guardians to handle living arrangements or financial matters for someone incapable of doing so.
 

Three task force subcommittees will focus on the appointment and qualifications of guardians and attorneys; guardianship monitoring and data collection; and elder abuse and neglect.
 

Financial abuse of the elderly is hard to measure, experts said.
 

“It’s difficult to get a handle on because family members may be involved,” said Richard Schulz, director of Gerontology and associate director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Pittsburgh.

The 38-member task force composed of judges, lawyers and social workers plans to recommend solutions “that will allow older Pennsylvanians to age without worriesthat they will be abused or their money will be taken,” said Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille.

 

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. will chair the subcommittee on elder abuse and neglect. He believes the task force will make a difference.

 

“We’re looking at changing rules, both civil and criminal. … We’re going to change the way we do business,” said Zappala, who formed an elder abuse unit in his office in 2004.

Full Article and Source:

Elder Task Force to Step Up Guidelines

Illinois: Bond Set for Caretaker Charged With Financial Exploitation of the Elderly

Bond has been set for a Villa Park man charged with stealing more than $45,000 from an elderly woman for whom he provided in-house care, according to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.

William Sullivan turned himself in on a $150,000 arrest warrant last week.

It is alleged that in 2006, Sullivan became the caretaker of an 89-year-old woman and obtained access to her checking and savings accounts. From June 2011 to October 2012, Sullivan allegedly wrote himself checks from the victim’s checking account and withdrew money from her savings account for his own use without permission. In all, Sullivan allegedly stole more than $45,000 from the woman’s accounts.

According to the State’s Attorney’s Office, Sullivan’s alleged actions were discovered when the woman’s nephew, who had power of attorney over her affairs, reviewed her bank accounts and discovered discrepancies.

Sullivan has been charged with one count of financial exploitation of a person over 80, a Class 1 felony, and one count of theft over $10,000, a Class 2 felony.

Judge Alex McGimpsey upheld the $150,000 bond when Sullivan appeared in court April 17. He is in custody in DuPage County Jail and scheduled for a May 20 court date.

Full Article and Source:
Bond Set for Caretaker Charged With Financial Exploitation of the Elderly

TN: Conservator Jeanan Mills-Stuart and Judge Randy Kennedy

For Jeanan Mills Stuart, the public guardian for Davidson County, no job is too small.

At rates between $195 and $225 an hour, the costs for Stuart’s personal attention add up.

She billed five hours — $986 — to accompany one of her wards to a performance of Handel’s Messiah. She charged the same woman $1,282 to take her to Dillard’s, Walgreens and lunch, and for the same day, billed her $1,183 for a shopping trip to CoolSprings Galleria, according to a fee affidavit filed in court records.

At least twice, Stuart charged $400 to attend the funerals of her wards.

And in several cases, Stuart billed her wards for Christmas presents she bought for them — blankets, comforters and afghans embroidered with their initials.

Source:
Davidson County Public Guardian Charges Lawyer Fees Just to Run Errands

“The premium on my blanket surety bond is paid for by Davidson County. In exchange, I am the default person selected as guardian or conservator where there is no other party found by the Probate Court Judge to be appropriate or willing to take on the task. I am obligated to provide all the care needed by my wards regardless of the ability of the conservatorship estate to pay my fees, and I am on call 24 hours per day. As a matter of law, I cannot delegate certain of my duties to another person.”

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Jeanan Mills-Stuart’s Written Responses to The Tennessean’s Questions

Davidson Probate Judge David Randy Kennedy says he is sorry if his oversight of the county public guardian has been lacking, and he has temporarily suspended sending her any more conservatorship cases.

“To the extent that my oversight of the Public Guardian is wanting, I am genuinely sorry,” Kennedy wrote in a three page letter  to members of Metro Council.

Kennedy, who had recommended Jeanan Mills Stuart for the guardianship post, said he has begun a “more thorough review” of all her cases “to determine whether or not there appears to be any inappropriate billing practices.”

“To the extent there has been any overpayment to her, it is my responsibility,” Kennedy wrote in the Friday letter. “In other words, the buck stops here.”

Source:
Nashville’s Public Guardian Faces Review Over Fees

Davidson County Probate Judge Randy Kennedy did something almost unheard of in public service:  He apologized.

And he vowed to fix a mess he allowed to happen on his watch. He should be commended for candidly telling the Metro Council, before they had a chance to jump on him, “the buck stops here.”

Source:
Judge’s Apology for Guardian Uproar Merits Praise
Read Judge Kennedy’s Letter to Metro Council Members

Davidson County’s public guardian claims she gave a discount from her usual hourly rate when she accompanied a ward to a Christmas concert at the Schermerhorn in 2011.

Jeanan Mills Stuart made the claim in a letter sent recently to Metro Council in response to a Tennessean report last month on her billing practices.

Stuart also told council members that she was in the process of hiring a non-family member to perform errand-like tasks for the dozens of people whose lives she oversees.

“It has always been my practice to be cost effective for my wards,” Stuart wrote in the two-page letter, adding that she was well aware that the Tennessean article “attempted to make me look like a greedy person.”

Source:
Public Guardian Defends Fees

Note:  Jeanan Mills-Stuart was NASGA Member Ginger Franklin’s court-appointed conservator. 

Read Ginger’s Profile

California Probate Court Judges’ Failure to Protect Vulnerable Elder Abuse Victims

In an unpublished decision in the Conservatorship of Feist case, the California Court of Appeal for the Second District reversed Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert M. Letteau’s “unexplained and drastic reduction of [elder law attorney Marc B.] Hankin’s fee request—from $62,539.75 to $11,134.71.”

The appeals court reversed Judge Letteau’s punitive and arbitrary fee reduction because it found that his decision was “patently an abuse of discretion[,]” the result of “palpable animosity” between Judge Letteau and Mr. Hankin, “inordinately delayed…for a full year[,]” and “tainted by an evident bias against counsel.”

The Court of Appeal for the Second District decided not to publish its decision and instead to keep Judge Letteau’s willful misconduct essentially a private matter outside of public rebuke.

However, on May 20, 2004, the California Commission on Judicial Performance issued a public admonishment against Judge Letteau because of “a troubling pattern of repeated violation of ethical duties that are fundamental to the fairness…of the judicial process” and a “pervasive pattern of bias, prejudgment, ex parte communication, and abuse of judicial authority toward parties and attorneys…” in the Conservatorship of Feist and four other cases.

Source:
California Probate Court Judges’ Failure to Protect Vulnerable Elder Abuse Victims

NY: UAGPPJA Bill Would Ease Guardianship of Out of State Elderly Relatives

The AARP is urging state lawmakers to pass a bill that would make it easier and cheaper for New Yorkers to care for elderly relatives located in another state.

Sen. Kemp Hannon, R-Nassau County, said during a news conference Tuesday that the bill would simplify the process for individuals who act as legal guardians to family members across state lines.

The Senate passed the bill later in the day.

“Right now, if somebody has a guardianship and goes to another state, you have to go through the process all over again,” said Hannon, who is also chairman of the Senate Health Committee. “It’s the same as if you come in to New York or if you go to another state.”

New York would become the 37th state to adopt the measure. Current law dictates that state residents comply with other states’ court systems for elderly care.

Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, D-Brooklyn, said New Yorkers often move to another state while their parents remain home, needing help with health-care management.

“It allows the guardianship to travel with the individual instead of a new procedure having to be started,” Weinstein said. “It is one of these proposals that makes so much common sense, you kind of wonder why we haven’t had this in place before.

AARP said it is pushing the measure nationwide in order to create a uniform standard that allows individuals to file a registration form in other states where their relatives live.

AARP said the person’s home state would have primary jurisdiction.

Full Article and Source:
Bill Would Ease Guardianship of Out of State Elderly Relatives

Florida Attorneys Embarrassed and Disgusted Over Peer’s Actions

 The case against a local attorney accused of grand theft and exploitation is alarming members of the local legal community.

“It’s never a good thing when you’re moving money from one place to another,” say Sarah Sullivan, Associate Professor of Professional Skills at the Florida Coastal School of Law.

Sullivan says local attorneys are embarrassed and disgusted that their peer, Cynthia Nichols, is accused of scamming her elderly client, Mary Vest, out of $100,000.

Action News went to Sullivan to find out how this could happen. She says guardians are court appointed, and must follow strict rules.

“Every year, [guardians] have to go back to the court and do a fairly detailed record of accounting that talks about everything that’s come in, and everything that’s gone out of their clients accounts.”

But in this case, Sullivan says something looks wrong.

“It sounds like there’s a bunch of money moving around that did not have the courts attention.”

According to Nichols arrest report, she regularly transferred small amounts of money out of Vest’s account and into another clients account. From there, police say, Nichols withdrew the cash.

Sullivan practices in the same court as Nichols, and believes the checks and balances are there. She’s not sure how those small transactions went unnoticed.

“If anyone is going to have an evil intention they’re going to find a way around it.”

Full Article and Source:
Attorneys Embarrassed and Disgusted Over Peer’s Actions

New TN Conservatorship Law Comes Too Late for Some Wards

Shannon Hill says much of the past two years of her life has been unbearable. Even the most basic of decisions about her daily life were taken away.

Hill, 67, was placed in a court-ordered conservatorship in 2009, although she says she had never set foot in the Nashville courtroom where her fate was decided.

Her attempt to regain control of her life comes amid increased public attention on the Tennessee law governing conservatorships. A major rewrite of the statute was approved by the legislature and now awaits Gov. Bill Haslam’s signature.

The bill sets new notification and hearing requirements for conservatorships, meaning someone like Hill would have to be given an opportunity to be heard in the courtroom. The new provisions won’t affect Hill’s case, however. They apply only to cases initiated after July.

Hill, who lives at an independent living facility, complains that her life “has been one misery after another.” Her condominium and two cars were sold. And she said all aspects of her life are controlled by her conservator and cousin, Kathy Mangrum.

Mangrum has filed a request to be removed as Hill’s conservator, and a hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in Probate Judge David Randy Kennedy’s court.

Full Article and Source:
New Conservatorship Law Comes Too Late for Some Wards

Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital Aims To Shorten Hospital Stays For Patients Needing Guardians

What happens when a patient is medically ready to leave a hospital, but is not mentally capable of making decisions?

Ideally, they have designated a proxy or guardian to help guide the way. But if they haven’t, finding a legal guardian can take weeks or months, while the patient is taking up bed space needed by others.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is trying to streamline that process.

Jasper Chen is a resident psychiatrist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, and also part of an allied residency program to improve health care delivery.

When he got to Dartmouth, he noticed that a handful of patients were lingering in the hospital long after their medical procedures were finished.

Some have brain injuries, or Alzheimer’s, or dementia. Others have psychiatric conditions that make living alone unsafe—but lack family members able to care for them after they leave the hospital.

“They have actually completed their acute medical care and they are waiting for the next disposition to happen, waiting for the court to appoint a guardian so they can move onto the rehabilitation facility or the skilled nursing facility,” Chen explained.

But that legal red tape can take time to cut. So Chen and others are trying to speed up the guardian search—and free up beds.

[H]ospital’s risk manager, Jim Gregoire, reported that New Hampshire probate judges are starting to streamline the guardianship process.

“They allow us to have either telephone testimony or live video testimony so we don’t have to have the doctors often traveling an hour each way to court,” Gregoire said.

Source:
Dartmouth Hitchcock Aims To Shorten Hospital Stays For Patients Needing Guardians