Attorneys Tell Judge They are Trying to Settle Case Over Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Care, Finances

Zsa Zsa Gabor’s daughter and husband are attempting to settle a dispute over the 95-year-old actress’ care and finances outside of court, attorneys told a probate judge Wednesday.

The two sides will meet with a retired probate judge in late June to try to mediate their issues without the need for a lengthy court fight.

Gabor’s daughter Constance Francesca Hilton has asked that a conservatorship be created to oversee the actress’ medical care and ensure that her assets are being properly protected. The petition is opposed by Frederic von Anhalt, Gabor’s husband of 25 years and her caretaker.

Hilton appeared for a brief scheduling hearing Wednesday but did not speak. Attorneys said they would report the results of the mediation at a hearing on July 11.

Full Article and Source:
Attorneys Tell Judge They are Trying to Settle Case Over Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Care, Finances

See Also:
Petition Filed to Conserve Zsa Zsa Gabor

>Mental Incapacitation Not a Factor in Signing Nursing Home Arbitration

>A Kentucky federal court ruled Monday that an arbitration agreement signed by a nursing home resident is enforceable, even though the 74-year-old woman said she suffered from a major mental disorder.

The woman, Christine Abell, brought a suit against Life Care Center of Bardstown alleging negligence, gross negligence, wanton conduct, intentional conduct and disregard for her safety. Abell argued that she was mentally incapacitated when she was admitted, but the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky found that she was unable to demonstrate that age, sickness, extreme distress, or debility of the body invalidated her signature on the arbitration form, according to the Bureau of National Affairs.

While a pre-admission screening detected a “major mental disorder,” there was not proof to show that this prohibited Abell from understanding what she signed, the court stated.

Full Article and Source;
Court: Mental Incapacitation Not a Factor in Signing Nursing Home Arbitration

>Mediators Try to Resolve Family Conflicts Over Aging Parents

>The elderly man became increasingly alarmed as the battles among his five grown children grew acrimonious.

His two daughters, worried that he wasn’t taking proper care of himself, wanted him to move to a retirement community. His three sons balked, insisting that he was managing fine in his own home. At a family meeting their father made this jarring announcement: I’m nearing the end of my life, and you are making me so unhappy that it might be easier if I killed myself and ended the fighting.

Unlike lawyers who are hired to advocate for one side, elder-care mediators function as impartial observers in a voluntary process designed to be less adversarial – and cheaper – than a court proceeding. Mediation is increasingly being recommended by lawyers and judges to families for whom a temporary stalemate or long-term estrangement has morphed into a full-blown crisis, often triggered by parental disability. Mediators say their job is not to dictate a solution, but to establish a framework for making decisions and to forge a consensus that is right for a particular family.

Full Article and Source:
Mediators Try to Help Families Resolve Conflicts Over Aging Parents

Mediation Offers Resolution (and Solutions) Without Court

There is an alternative to going to court when individuals or businesses are in conflict. Mediation can be not only less expensive and divisive than traditional lawsuits, but also carry the weight of a court ruling.

Attorney Christine Pate says mediators are not judges.

“If two or more people have a dispute, they may be thinking about taking it to court. Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution. You may have one or two mediators assisting the parties to facilitate an agreement. I think the term is that the ‘mediator owns the process, and the participants own the content.’ So the mediator doesn’t really make decisions for the parties, they just help them reach an agreement.”

Bosman also says mediation can be far less expensive than going to court.

Still, most people who end up in mediation are referred by the court system. There are two mediation programs within the state courts: Child Custody and Visitation, and the relatively new Adult Guardianship and Conservatorship, which is designed to settle disputes involving “vulnerable” adults over the age of eighteen. But Bosman says mediation is useful over a spectrum of issues.

“Almost any type of dispute can be mediated. There are certainly a few exceptions to that. One would be child abuse or neglect; the issue of domestic violence itself can’t be mediated; also criminal guilt cannot be mediated. Beyond that, mediation is used in a broad realm of issues: labor disputes, property disputes, all kinds of domestic disputes.”

[Attorney Corrie]Bosman also says mediation can be far less expensive than going to court. Still, most people who end up in mediation are referred by the court system. There are two mediation programs within the state courts: Child Custody and Visitation, and the relatively new Adult Guardianship and Conservatorship, which is designed to settle disputes involving “vulnerable” adults over the age of eighteen. But Bosman says mediation is useful over a spectrum of issues.

And, according to Christine Pate, people leave mediation feeling better about a decision than they do in a court setting – especially in domestic disputes. Arguments are exchanged in court; in mediation it’s all about dialogue.

“Almost any type of dispute can be mediated. There are certainly a few exceptions to that. One would be child abuse or neglect; the issue of domestic violence itself can’t be mediated; also criminal guilt cannot be mediated. Beyond that, mediation is used in a broad realm of issues: labor disputes, property disputes, all kinds of domestic disputes.”

Full Radio Interview Source:
Mediation Offers Resolution (and Solutions) Without Court

Court Works to Encourage Settlements

When Riverside attorney Joseph P. Myers went to law school in the late 1960s, he recalled there were no courses in mediation. Civil litigation lawyers were expected to be warriors in court.

Now Myers is one of about 90 attorneys in the Riverside County court’s alternative dispute resolution program, committed to getting cases settled by a sort of diplomatic shuttling between parties to see if they can reach an agreement.

“It is not easy, going from protecting clients’ interests and beating the other side to suggesting compromises” when he is called from his trial lawyer work to act as a mediator, Myers said.

While the program is not quite a year old, and not enough numbers have returned to define how it is doing, participating lawyers such as Myers say it is making a big difference in Riverside’s once-jammed civil courts.

The mediation program began in April 2009, just as the Riverside County courts started moving civil cases more quickly to trial after years of backlog while criminal cases were heard in civil courts.

Full Article and Source:
Court Works to Encourage Settlements

County Aims for Dispute Resolution System

Hays County residents may soon have quicker, less expensive and more flexible means of resolving family and civil disputes, even if the change isn’t universally embraced in the local legal profession.

Hays County Commissioners voted 4-1 last week to create an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) system, whereby interested parties would be provided with trained mediators to facilitate mutually agreed upon settlements out of court. The ADR system will be funded with fees collected from everyone who files a case in district, county or justice of the peace (JP) courts, whether or not they use the mediation service.

Full Article and Source:
County Aims for Dispute Resolution System