Con Artists Stealing Guardianship of Senior Parents
By Matthew Paulson,
Senior adults have been targeted as easy victims in a number of different scams for the last two decades now, and it's only getting worse. Instead of just stealing money from them or ripping them off, con artists are now actually stealing guardianship of many senior adults. Some criminals have figured out that they can assume guardianship of elderly individuals just by telling a judge they are no longer mentally stable.
When approaching a judge, these crooks don't have to do anything to prove that they are related to the individual they are trying to assume guardianship of. Courts are so busy and over-packed with cases that they just don't have the time or resources to make sure that the person making the claim is on the up and up. There's no easy way to find out when this occurs, so family members often have no idea that someone is stealing guardianship of their parents and simply have no recourse in the event that it happens. Usually the ruling happens quickly and the victims have no idea when it happens.
If you have any aging parents, you have to look out for them and make sure they are not victimized. It's extremely easily to steal the money from your ageing parents and almost impossible to get it back after it's stolen. If you have senior parents, there are several legal things you can do to protect your senior parents. You can get a durable power of attorney for health care which will enable you to make decisions for your senior parents if they cannot speak of make competent decisions upon their own behalf. If you already have a durable power of attorney for health care, their guardianship can't be taken away because you already have it, and in the event that they are no longer competent, you are the one that will be able to make their health care decisions.
I'm sorry to say Mr. Paulson you seem to be living in an ideal world, in the real world Durable power of Attorney does not mean very much, just ask Dr.Sarhan who had one over his mother yet she was ruled incompetent and a guardian appointed, I personally know of many examples who had executed Wills, Health Surrogate and proxies all to no avail when it came time to chose an emergency guardian at the expense of the relatives or interested parties who having done nothing wrong but founded on innuendos and false allegations were were stripped of the right to care of their loves ones.
2 comments:
It gets even deeper, unfortunately.
I have a cousin who is currently in litigation against his sister for Guardianship.
It seems that his sister applied for Guardianship before he could after the parents were declared incompetent. Then the sister took all the parent's assets and put them in her own name - her version of "financial planning". hahaha!
Of course, the brother finds this out and loses a spring, telling the court this is elder abuse, not withstanding the hole that will be left in his own wallet upon his parent's demise.
The problem I see is aimed more at the laws (and lawyers for that matter) that usher in the indulgence of such greed to begin with. We don't have iron-clad laws that foresee these problems happening, yet they are so obviously ridden with loopholes, why act surprised the system is being so abused as it is? Sure, we have laws that penalize such felonies, but we shouldn't be giving people the chance to so easily abuse said laws.
The worst types of elder abuse today is coming from within; from the families themselves and the courts and the lawyers know this.
Unfortunately, I've yet to see the children held to the same sanctions that the outside criminal is held to and that's a double-standard.
If it looks like a felony, walks like a felony and talks like a felony, it's a felony - blood child or not. The law needs to stop protecting and enabling children to get their hands on money before the parents who EARNED it have even hit the grave.
There is some truth to the last letter. Most of the guardianships begin with sibblings who use the system to get even with a family member, Instead of being able to simply go to a courthouse and file exparte a claim, usually against a sister or brother, these repors should be filed with law enforcement NOT the court that simply strips the rights away of the elder in question. NO ONE ever goes after anyone in these cases. An accusation is all that is needed to get the thieving guardians out with their thieving attorneys robbing the victim of every dime they have earned including on going social security checks but the real sin is the theft of their civil rights. They are forced to live the rest of their lives as prisoners in a second tier jail system. My mother lived for 12 weeks under temporary guardianship and $250,000.00 was wiped out from her estate by the guadianship, These pigs dressed in suits and dresses and pretend to be "Good" people are really just swine, pigs who will do whatever it takes to deplete estates for their own gain. It should be known that my mother died within the 12 week period of incarceration called guardianship under suspious circumstances which are now under investigation. I again call for everyone who has had this happen to someone they know, pls call or leave your name and contact number so you can join us in the fight, because fight we will! If any one would like to call me I can be reached at 561 502 4700. There will be a security process that every victim will be reqired to participate in so those of you who are moles and troublemakers don't bother to to apply. We are on to your game.
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