Category: Probate Court

A probate court is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as Orphans’ Courts or courts of ordinary

Guardians of the Elderly: An Ailing System Part I: Declared ‘Legally Dead’ by a Troubled

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Guardians of the Elderly: An Ailing System Part I: Declared ‘Legally Dead’ by a Troubled System Undated (AP) The nation’s guardianship system, a crucial last line of protection for the ailing elderly, is failing many of those it is designed to protect. A year-long investigation by The Associated Press of courts in all 50 states and the District of Columbia found a dangerously burdened and troubled system that regularly puts elderly lives in the hands of others with little or no evidence of necessity, then fails to guard against abuse, theft and neglect. In thousands of courts around the nation every week, a few minutes of routine and the stroke of a judge’s pen are all that it takes to strip an old man or woman of basic rights. The 300,000 to 400,000 elderly people under guardianship can no longer receive money or pay their bills. They cannot marry or divorce. The court entrusts to someone else the power to choose where they will live, what medical treatment they will get, and, in rare cases, when they will die. The AP investigation examined more than 2,200 randomly selected guardianship court files to get a portrait of wards and of the system that oversees them. After giving guardians such great power over elderly people, overworked and understaffed court systems frequently break down, abandoning those incapable of caring for themselves, the AP found. A legal tool meant to protect the elderly and their property, guardianship sometimes results instead in financial or physical mistreatment, the AP found. ″Guardianship is a process that uproots people, literally ‘unpersons’ them, declares them legally dead,″ said Dr. Dennis Koson, a law and psychiatry expert in Florida. ″Done badly, it does more hurting than protecting.″ That danger was… Read More

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Announcing the Guardianship Shield Program

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Guardianship abuse has reached the level of a national epidemic. Those whose family members have been abused by a guardian quickly find that there is often no legal redress. The Guardianship Shield program is designed to activate a national network of human rights members who will take constructive action to protect the vulnerable person. The Guardianship Shield is a proactive, grassroots program which issues human rights alerts concerning individuals at risk for problematic or coercive guardianship practices. These alerts go out to all the GS members and to human rights groups. The GS members agree to contact the parties and institutions involved in initiating the actions in question and advise these parties of their concerns. The GS members also agree to contact local media in an effort to raise public awareness of specific incidents of guardianship abuse. The issues that the Shield program addresses : 1) removal of protected person from home 2) Isolation of protected person 3) Efforts to sell home without permission of protected person 4) Attempts to legally restrain concerned family and friends 5) Efforts by guardian to remove family/friends as Power of Health Care 6) Efforts by guardian to withhold necessary medical care from protected person How it Works: If a family or friend is at risk for the above, the Shield member will contact the Shield Coordinator and ask for a public human rights alert to be issued. The Shield Coordinator will evaluate the request and then may issue the alert to all the Shield members and also to other human rights groups. By adding your name to the Shield Program, you are stating that you will take action on the behalf of others in the Shield Program. While we cannot guarantee the results in… Read More

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