National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse 

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Outside of being imprisoned, no action in the American justice system deprives a person of so many rights as being declared incapacitated in Probate Court.

First, a judge rules that you can't care for yourself. Then strangers can be given control of every aspect of your life. All that you've worked for and love - your savings, property, even your ability to contact your family - can be taken away and given to professionals to manage, at enormous expense to you.

Wills, trusts and powers of attorney may not matter.

Probate Court is meant to be a safe harbor for people in crisis because of advanced age or illness, a place where a judge helps protect their assets and well-being.

But an Arizona Republic investigation has found that Maricopa County Probate Court allows the assets of some vulnerable adults to become a cash machine for attorneys and for fiduciary companies, which manage their affairs.

The fees charged can drain the savings of even wealthy individuals in less than a year.

Among the investigation's findings:

Issue I: Disputes trigger the problems. Fights among family members lead to protracted, costly legal battles. Judges often fail to step in early to stop the feuding and contain costs.
Issue II: Fees mount quickly. Bills for attorneys, fiduciaries and others can escalate at a staggering pace. Family members contend that professional fiduciaries bill people's assets aggressively.
Issue III: Cozy relationships raise questions. Close ties among judges, attorneys and fiduciaries can result in apparent conflicts of interest. These relationships can endanger the court's ability to hold attorneys and fiduciaries accountable for their billings and other practices.
Issue IV: Objectors take the blame. Relatives or lawyers who try to fight fiduciaries' bills may instead find themselves blamed by the court for causing delays and held responsible for extra costs.
Issue V: Oversight is lax. Judges, who have ultimate responsibility for a vulnerable adult's care and assets, are allowed to scrutinize and reject fees, but substantial denials are rare. The state board that licenses fiduciaries does little to question their conduct, especially if a judge already has ruled on a case.

[C]osts begin to mount when a judge appoints a professional fiduciary because no family member is willing or available to run the person's affairs. The judge also appoints a fiduciary when family members are feuding.

And when family members disagree with one another or with the fiduciary, costs can soar: All parties may have one attorney or more, and most of them are allowed to bill the incapacitated adult's assets.

Lawyers and fiduciaries defend their work, saying they help settle family feuds and arrange care when no one else will. Still, many acknowledge the system needs reform.

Critics say Probate Court has become a vehicle for exploitation.

Full Article and Source:
Maricopa County Probate Court - Life Savings, Freedoms Taken Away

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Maggots have been discovered in the eye socket of a 76-year-old man under the care of a Gainesville nursing home with ownership ties to Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, his outraged daughter said.

A state investigation is under way.

"It's absolutely inexcusable," Patrice Ripley said. "Quite frankly, I'm angry."

Her father John Stumpp had been under the care of Gainesville Health Care Center when the maggots were found in an examination at a Veterans Administration facility, according to Ripley.

The Gainesville nursing home is part of a chain that includes Glades Health Care Center in Pahokee, controlled by the family of executive Maxcine Darville of Okeechobee. An investigation by The Palm Beach Post last year found Darville and family members enjoyed salaries above industry norms and spent money on luxury cars and hot tubs while two of three nursing homes in the chain, including the Gainesville home, received the lowest possible one-star rating from state regulators.

A Veterans Administration official confirmed the agency filed a report with the Adult Protective Services unit of the Florida Department of Children and Families.

By November 2009, AHCA had flagged 39 violations at Gainesville Health Care Center in the previous two years on matters ranging from sanitary food storage to maintenance of sprinklers and ventilation. An overall one-star rating from AHCA places the nursing home in the bottom 20 percent of nursing homes in its region.

The nursing home is licensed to the Gainesville Council on Aging, which lists Darville as its registered agent.

"I can't let this go," Ripley said. "I can't let this go for my dad and I can't let anybody else be mistreated either."

Full Article and Source:
Maggots Found in Eye Socket of Man in Nursing Home With Palm Beach County Ties

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New Horizons for New Hampshire's board of directors is backing executive director Michael Tessier despite state and federal criminal investigations into whether he played any role in the case that landed his brother, disbarred Manchester attorney Thomas Tessier, in prison for stealing $2.3 million from relatives.
A Probate Court judge said in a recent order that Michael Tessier, 57, a retired Manchester police captain, "was complicit in those illegal activities, primarily by being both an active and passive conduit for funds taken by his brother, Thomas Tessier."

Scott Colby, chairman of the board of Manchester's non-profit homeless shelter and soup kitchen, said the board has met with Michael Tessier and supports him.

In fact, the board was aware of the investigations when Michael Tessier was hired, according to his lawyer, Mark Howard of Manchester.

Full Article and Source:
Shelter Directors Stand by Tessier as Probe Unfolds

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