>IL: New Law Will Shield Consumers Against PoA Abuses

>[July 1] a new law takes effect in Illinois that will provide critical protections for thousands of individuals, particularly older adults, who utilize a power of attorney and could fall victim to financial exploitation at the hands of individuals entrusted with making their financial decisions as a power of attorney. The law, Public Act 96-1195, was sponsored by State Representative Emily McAsey and passed unanimously in both houses of the General Assembly before being signed into law by Governor Quinn in July 2010.

“A power of attorney is a responsibility that should be taken very seriously – it is not a license to steal,” said Bob Gallo, AARP Illinois State Director. “Individuals who designate a power of attorney must be able to trust that their financial decisions are in good hands. AARP strongly supported this legislation and we are proud to see it enacted today.”

In Illinois, financial exploitation, including abuse at the hands of a power of attorney, is the most commonly reported form of elder abuse, constituting nearly 60% of all elder abuse reports in the state. On a national level, it is estimated that elder financial abuse costs victims more than $2.9 billion each year.

“Considering the broad authority granted in a power of attorney and the economic impact of financial abuse, it is critical that there are adequate protections in place for both the principal and the agent,” added Gallo.

The new law amends the Illinois Power of Attorney Act to provide greater protections for the individual granting the power of attorney, the agent receiving it, and the persons who are asked to rely on the agent’s authority. Most importantly, the law creates liability for the agent in cases of abuse. If an agent violates the law, he/she will now be required to repay what was stolen (the original law did not mandate repayment). The new law also clarifies to the consumer the guidelines, duties and allowances of the power of attorney and provides clearer guidelines for the agent to act in good faith and in the best interest of the principal.

Full Article and Source:
Critical Consumer Protection Law Takes Effect in Illinois

>Judge Backs Grandson’s Healthcare Proxy

>An Essex County judge has upheld the validity of a health-care proxy for the grandson of an 83-year-old Gloucester man who became gravely ill while under the supervision of SeniorCare, Inc. at the McPherson Park housing complex.

The court action was rooted in SeniorCare’s challenge to the right of Vito Loiacono, 38, grandson of Joseph Judd, to obtain Judd’s medical records from SeniorCare, a Gloucester-based health services.

While SeniorCare has no role in Judd’s care at present, it challenged the validity of Loicono’s durable power of attorney (DPOA) and healthcare proxy (HCP).

Echoing the finding of a court-appointed “guardian ad litem” requested by SeniorCare in January, Judge Mary Ann Sahagian indicated Loiacono’s DPOA was invalid because it had been executed after – although almost simultaneously to — the healthcare proxy, which proffered that Judd, who is illiterate, had dementia, according to court observers.

Technically, that made Judd unable to authorize subsequent legal documents.

But the judge concurred with the appointed guardian that the proxy was valid, and legal experts say should enable Loiacono to obtain the records he has sought from SeniorCare since June.

The guardian, Michelle Azzari, a family law specialist from Saugus, investigated Judd, Loiacono and the case during the past two months.

Announcing her rejection of the SeniorCare argument, Judge Sahagian told the company’s attorney, Lawrence Varn, “you have no horse in this race,” according to court observers.

Loiacono said he will pursue obtaining the medical records, and will formally seek guardianship of his grandfather.

“It’s just one step at a time,” he said.

Full Article and Source:
Judge Backs Grandson’s Proxy of SeniorCare Challenge

>Adult Children Often Step in to Handle Tasks for Parents

>After several years of her aging mother’s hardships — including open-heart surgery, a bad fall down 13 stairs and the death of a close companion — Mary Margaret Esler knew she needed to step in and help her mom, Irene Esler, manage her life.

Esler, of Lower Burrell, has taken charge of her mother’s checkbook and pays the bills. The younger Esler does all of the household chores, like laundry and cleaning, for Irene Esler, 77, who now is staying in a nursing home after falling and breaking her ankle. The older Esler has struggled, at times, as she accepts help from her daughter, with whom she has lived for several years.

“I have to give her a little bit of leeway, but she can’t do it” on her own, says Mary Margaret Esler, 48. “She doesn’t mind the help, but it’s the fact that she can’t do it anymore. She says, ‘I used to do that; why can’t I do it now?’

“I figured, if she kept me for that long, I can keep her,” Mary Margaret Esler says, recalling her childhood.

When an elderly parent or other loved one reaches the point where everyday tasks become difficult — particularly managing finances — adult children need to intervene and take over some responsibilities, experts say. Yet, the situation is delicate; it’s not easy for a parent to deal with what feels like a role reversal. After decades of managing their money and households, when older people can no longer do it without help from their grown kids, it can feel embarrassing and depressing.

One of the most important steps to take when helping ailing relatives, Small says, is giving power of attorney — the permission for someone to act and make decisions on their behalf, financially and in other ways. This can help to protect seniors from their potentially bad choices.

Full Article and Source;
Adult Children Often Step in to Handle Tasks for Parents

>Lt. Gov Encouraged Petition to Guardianize John Q. Hammons

>Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder said that he encouraged friends of John Q. Hammons to file a guardianship petition in Greene County probate court to resolve lingering concerns he had about the hotel magnate’s treatment.

Kinder also said he felt he was being “stonewalled” by Hammons business associates in the fall, when he investigated complaints that Hammons was being blocked from seeing his longtime friends.

“It’s now properly before the court,” Kinder said, referring to the petition filed Friday in Greene County Probate Court.

“I’m delighted to see the involvement of the public administrator as a possible guardian in this case, which is what a public administrator is supposed to do.”

Full Article and Source:
Lt. Gov Says He’s Still Concerned About John Q. Hammons

>Court-Appointed Attorney Soon to be Involved in Hammons Case

>An independent court-appointed attorney will soon talk to John Q. Hammons to assess his well-being and mental status, according to a local attorney familiar with guardianship cases.

If the case follows a typical path, the court appointed attorney, would then file a report with Greene County Probate Commissioner Carol Aiken, who decides whether a guardian should be appointed to handle Hammons’ personal – though not financial – affairs.

Attorney Elise Barker, who specializes in juvenile and adult guardianship cases in Springfield, said an independent attorney is always appointed by the courts when guardianship is an issue.

The action was triggered by a guardianship petition filed Friday by a group of Hammons’ friends.

They say the renowned Springfield hotelier is being prevented from seeing his friends by Jacqueline Dowdy, a longtime associate of Hammons who took over management of Hammons’ company last year.

Dowdy has said Hammons gave her durable power of attorney and medical power of attorney to handle his personal and medical decisions.

Barker said the court appointed attorney, Evelyn Mangan, would meet with Hammons “to talk about the guardianship petition and to see how Mr. Hammons feels about it.”

Full Article and Source:
Court-Appointed Attorney Likely to Check on John Q. Hammons

See Also:
Eight Petition for Guardianship for John Q. Hammons

>Eight Petition for Guardianship for John Q. Hammons

>As KOLR/KSFX first reported Friday, eight people have come forward regarding the care of John Q. Hammons.

They’re petitioning for the courts to intervene and put all health decisions into the care of a Greene County worker.

The petition calls out Jacquie Dowdy, Hammons’ longtime employee and current CEO of John Q. Hammons Hotels. She’s currently in charge of directing Hammons’ healthcare.

The petitioners accuse Dowdy of keeping Hammons in involuntary seclusion in Springfield. It’s a treatment his friends say needs to be evaluated.

The future of Hammons’ health care will go through a probate courtroom. the judge’s main charge: to find out if the 92-year-old is incapacitated.

“If they lack the capacity to be able to make good, informed, safe decisions for themselves, then we get appointed as guardian,” says Christian County Public Administrator Ken Davis.

Davis says a public administrator’s only interest is the well being of a person, which for Hammons, will be heard on March 22nd.

The petition does not deal with Hammons’ finances or his company’s finances — only his healthcare.

Full Article and Source:
Hammons Update: The Ends and Outs of Guardianship

See Also:
Friends of John Q. Hammons File Petition for Guardianship

Hammonds’ Friends Seek Answers on Eve of his 92nd Birthday

Read the Petition for Guardianship

>Al Katz, Part Five: The State of State Elder Abuse

>This is the fifth chapter in the epic saga of an elderly man whose property was taken, he was legally confined (imprisoned), and abused by the state of Florida’s public guardianship and court systems. It is a story that is not unusual.

Many of you do not think about any state, let alone Florida, abusing our elders. Some look to government as the be all and end all to care for us when we grow old and to protect us in our waning years. That is a dangerous and in some cases deadly belief.

Government in the case of Al Katz was the abuser.

I believe that the role of government in a person’s life must be limited. Personal freedoms and property rights are to be protected at all cost. In the case of Al both of these sacred duties of government were violated to perhaps the point of criminality on the part of some individuals. Al’s freedom and property were taken by the State of Florida, in some cases questionably, for the aggrandizement of the state, not the individual or family. What is shocking is officers of the court and judges had full knowledge of this “taking” and either did nothing about it or by their actions facilitated it.

How did this happen, you may ask?

It is quite simple – Florida had an opportunity to gain control over Al, the man, and his property. Florida refused to relinquish control of either back to the family, even though there was a daughter willing to care for her father and manage his estate for the betterment of his heirs. Rather than giving Al back to his family at the earliest opportunity, as required by Florida statutes, government did everything in its power to keep him and his property. Only after a prolonged legal fight was Al, the man, finally released to his daughter. The guardianship is still in the state’s hands, seven months after Al passed away.

Full Article and Source:
Al Katz: The Story of a Holocaust Survivor,Part 5

See Also:
Beverly Newman’s Baker Act Presentation to the Florida Delegation, January 2011

Concurrent House Resolution 323 (2010) Recognizing Need for Holocaust Survivors to Avoid Institution

Al Katz,Part Four: Final Legal Solution

>Son Fights to Bury Mother

>Timothy Adkins wants nothing more than to lay his mother to rest. However, he cannot get to the body. He says he was betrayed by a long time family employee.

Adkins says after his father died in 2007, he relocated from Lynchburg to be care for his ailing mother. That’s when he realized the employee had obtained power of attorney. He worked to get it revoked.

“The power of attorney was not even my mother,” Adkins said. “It said Priscilla Adkins. My mother is Cilla, not Priscilla.”

Cilla Adkins died last week after a long battle with kidney failure and dementia. When her only son was making funeral arrangements, he discovered she was removed from the hospital and taken to Mason Funeral Home on Good Hope Road in Southeast.

A spokesperson from Virginia Hospital Center told 9NEWS NOW a notarized will and proper release authorization were presented: “We followed the policy explicitly.”

However, Adkins believes the will was falsified and is fighting to get custody of his mother’s body. He lost his battle in court Thursday. Now, he is hoping to find a lawyer to continue his fight to get his mother back.

Full Article, Video, and Source:
Son Fights to Bury Mother

>Woman Gets Probation After Stealing Over $330K

>Reno artist Peggy Viola Six, 64, befriended a woman 18 years ago while they were neighbors at a local trailer park.

Six, who described 88-year-old Gayle Savage as a mother figure, helped her buy a home and a vehicle after Savage received a large inheritance in 2004. But once Savage developed dementia in July 2008, Six’s greed “reared it’s ugly head and she took advantage of Gayle Savage,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Karl Hall. As a result, Savage is in a state-run nursing home in Carson City instead of being able to afford home health-care and own pets, he said.

In less than one year, Six and Reno real estate broker Robin Benjamin, 65, stole more than $330,000 from Savage’s bank accounts and unlawfully sold her Southeast Reno home. Six gambled more than $500 a day with Savage’s money, purchased a motor home for her personal travel, and used the rest to invest in her artistry business and other ventures suggested by Benjamin.

Washoe District Judge Janet Berry sentenced Six to probation for her guilty plea of elderly exploitation. Six was facing a term of four to 10 years, which the state parole and probation division recommended. But Berry said prison would not help Six pay back $337,166.58 in restitution for the money she stole. The exploitation increased after Six obtained power of attorney over Savage while she was hospitalized, Hall said.

Washoe County Public Guardian Case manager Pamela Johnston told Berry that the exploitation caused Savage to become a ward of the state, and the money recouped for her will run out next year. That’s when taxpayers begin footing the $8,000 monthly fee for her care through Medicaid.

Full Article and Source:
Reno Woman Gets Probtion in Elderly Exploitation Case After Stealing More Than $330,000

>Al Katz, Part Four: The Final Legal Solution

>This column will establish a pattern of elder abuse and give you an understanding of how a state like Florida and its guardianship system can keep a family at bay while making life-and-death decisions of questionable legal authority.

Beverly Newman in late October 2009 had to hire an attorney, as required by Florida law, to represent her in her highly-contested court fight to obtain guardianship from the State of Florida of Al Katz, her father.

According to Beverly, who had court-ordered visitation rights, her father was begging daily to return home from the nursing facility, which he hated. He appeared broken-hearted, and Beverly noted signs that he was being neglected to the point that he developed pitting edema of the lower extremities and cellulitis, for which he was hospitalized. In December 2008, Beverly had filed a petition in Indiana to care for her Father as his guardian. Until September 2009, no one else ever filed a petition to care for Mr. Katz as his guardian.

However, Beverly’s request to be her father’s guardian was opposed by Ms. Jackie Steuerwald, Al’s nurse. It should be noted that on September 10, 2008, Jackie Steuerwald took Mr. Katz, suffering from dementia, to his attorney in Indianapolis to have Mr. Katz’s will and advance directives changed.

In September 2009, with the assistance of Jackie Steuerwald, the Florida public guardian put Al into the lockdown unit in the basement of a metropolitan hospital, under a no-contact order from family and friends, for three weeks. From this confinement and isolation from his family, Al had constant flashbacks to the Holocaust and wandered the halls night and day until he was released.

The Florida court on November 23, 2009, appointed Beverly Newman as Guardian of the Person of Al Katz, but not of his property. The court granted restricted health care powers to Jackie Steuerwald and gave guardianship of the property to a professional guardian. Beverly discontinued all narcotics and psychotropics administered to her Father, and he began to regain his strength.

After weeks in the hospital, being put into hospice against his advance directives, Al Katz was taken home by Beverly and Larry, the son-in-law, who cared for him around the clock. Al’s condition gradually began to improve, while he was surrounded by his loving family.

Full Article and Source:
Al Katz: The Story of a Holocaust Survivor – part 4

See Also:
Al Katz: The Story of a Holocaust Survivor

Al Katz: Part Two: Road to Perdition

Al Katz: Part Three: There’s No Room for Common Sense in the Eyes of Government Regulation

NASGA – Al Katz: Indiana/Florida Victim