Tag: Conservatorship Guardianship

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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Another Probate Murder?

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Another Probate Murder? More Questions Surface on Melodie Scott Cases By Janet C. Phelan Lawrence Yetzer was standing in his front yard, yelling. The fifty-two year old Rialto man, who was blind and suffered from cerebral palsy, had just discovered his father lying unmoving on the front room floor. “Help!” yelled Yetzer. “Something has happened to Dad!” Please help us!” Neighbor Yvonne Boone remembers that the paramedics came. Yetzer’s step-father, Max Vantilburg, had died of a heart attack. And Lawrence Yetzer, who had lived with his parents his entire life, was left alone in the world. He was also left a chunk of money, as the sole beneficiary of the Anne and Max Vantilburg estate. The court appointed Melodie Scott, of C.A.R.E., Inc, as the Successor Trustee of the Vantilburg estate. In a separate proceeding in San Bernardino Court, Melodie Scott moved to have herself appointed as Lawrence Yetzer’s conservator. In her application for the conservatorship, Scott declared to the court that Lawrence Yetzer had an IQ of only 59 and was unable to comprehend the conservatorship proceedings. Yvonne Boone, who knew the family for years, disputes this statement. “He wasn’t retarded like that,” said Boone, who had also served as a caregiver for Yetzer. “He was a real sociable, talkative guy. Sure, he was blind, but he understood what was going on around him.” The conservatorship lasted less than four months. On February 6, 2001, Lawrence Yetzer died. On January 14, Boone, who was caring for Yetzer on a full time basis at that point in time, noticed that he was sick. “He was coughing and his color was bad,” she recalls. He was taken to San Bernardino Community Hospital and admitted. The Sentinel has obtained these records, which… Read More

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