I just read this truly horrifying article regarding court-ordered guardianship in The New Yorker. The whole thing would seem unreal, only it isn’t. For those who are considering relocating to a popular retirement area, I would definitely check up on this issue after reading this article!
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights
Really I don’t know what to make of this. Seems that it was limited to that one County in Nevada and that Parks woman and a few others had a monopoly on these “legal” guardianships. What a monster – glad she was indicted.
Maybe I missed it but what about the Judge or Judges who were approving these “removals?” Seems to me someone should look at them as well. They should have delved deeper in these cases and asked about whether people who were about to become “wards of the state” had local family. The North’s daughter lived 10 miles away – how could this couple become “wards of the state” without anyone inquiring about their daughter or other immediate family???
Is there more to this story? Somehow it is just so unbelievable that you think there might be.
Wow, this is awful! It’s terrible that there are people like this, taking advantage of vulnerable elders and children. It’s also terrible that the judge hasn’t been disciplined and disbarred if this is as reported!
I have a friend who started a nonprofit, caregiver foundation to do forensic accounting and help manage seniors assets to help them and loved ones.
The judges I know are very careful about working with families and have not heard of them appointing a stranger where family is available.
I can see why elders are an attractive target. They are vulnerable and have assets. Would appointing a guardian beforehand prevent incidents like this?
It really is difficult to believe this is as reported because it is so appalling. And, as the article noted, the indictments are very cautious, and nothing has been done to the judge but to transfer him to another court. Ten minute hearings with no counsel, and frequently no appearance by the person being placed under guardianship? Unreal.
My H and his brothers and uncle went to court to try to get guardianship of their father in his final days. He was a victim of elder abuse by a rapacious, mentally ill GF who did her utmost to separate him from his family, stood in the way of his getting necessary medical care, berated him, got him to “give” her his car and valuable items, tried to get him to marry her, and when that didn’t work hired lawyers to overturn his estate planning and will and write a will leaving her a third of his estate. He was too far gone to sign it. Nevertheless, she ultimate got $100,000 from his estate. Who knows how much her lawyers took. (IMHO, they should have been disbarred.) In any case, the judge appointed a guardian ad litem, and set a future date to rehear the case, pending further testing and investigation, ruling in the meantime that H’s father could not enter into any legally-binding agreements until that date, including marriage. Clearly a LOT more care was taken than in Nevada! My FIL died before the matter could be resolved.
On the other hand, we know of judges who have taken kickbacks to send juveniles to for-profit jails. We also know of municipalities that routine abuse civil asset forfeiture in an astonishing manner.
The New Yorker is a publication that is known for its fact checking and journalistic ethics.
What a horrifying story. That poor daughter who was given a citation for trespassing - she must have been burning with rage for years.
Yes it’s appalling and almost unbelievable, but it’s apparently real and widespread. A few years ago the New Yorker also reported a major story on civil asset forfeiture abuse, and that seemed unbelievable at the time, too. These kinds of stories show that an enormous industry of people in places of authority are willing to implicate themselves in shady dealings–maybe for profit, maybe just out of laziness, or willingness to lie to themselves about what’s going on.
I think sometimes people of good will have a hard time accepting how much a lot of people are willing to cause harm for personal gain. But these are not isolated incidents.
It also points to how very important it is to have legal documents in place for aging parents so a shark can’t step in.
What kind of legal documents will help in a case like this? They appointed an emergency guardianship to take cares of the elders. I assume that mean it overrides any previous arraigement.
This story is unbelievable. I just drafted POAs for my parents but it sounds like in Nevada these could’ve been easily voided.
So how do we protect our parents, and later ourselves, from this kind of thing?
I think not being isolated and keeping in touch with loved ones is key. The isolated folks are especially vulnerable.
The main characters of that piece saw their daughter every single day. This just gives me chills.
My sister and I have our mother’s springing power of attorney. It is not clear to me whether that would have helped in the situation described in the article. It seems that the judge was at liberty to grant it to anyone he wished. Perhaps not: it’s really hard to tell.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/11970144
It seems to be a bit more widespread than just that one county…
I hope all the parties involved in this, including the judge, go to jail!
Don’t forget the doctors who signed off the paper declaring elders unfit to take care of themselves. It all started there.
^ it says it was “a brief letter from a physician’s assistant”.
Can a brief letter from a physician’s assistant not physician certify incompetence? If so, they need to change the law.
Ordinarily, it’s very difficult to get someone declared incompetent and to have a guardian appointed. Judges tend to be skeptical of motives and evidence even when close relatives are involved. (Unfortunately, close relatives can have improper motives, too. Or perfectly proper motives, but insufficient respect for a parent’s free will.)
What happened in the cases discussed in the New Yorker article could only happen in a deeply corrupt system. The court system in my area is hardly clean as a whistle, but it’s almost impossible to imagine something like this happening here. Of course, something like this did happen in a more rural Pennsylvania county – the scandal with judges sentencing juvenile offenders to time in a for-profit juvenile prison, and getting kickbacks from the prison. But they were caught and sent to prison.