Letters to Editor - Guardianship Matters

by Dee King

DID YOU KNOW: If you are elderly or disabled, you may have someone think it would be in your best interest to have you "conserved"What does that mean?

It means a probate court can have you declared incompetent and appoint someone to take over every aspect of your life and decide where you will live, how they will spend your money, who you will be allowed to see, if you must be medicated, if you will be placed in a nursing home,if your house will be sold and more.Enough!!

Well we have united to educate the public and form a petition to tell the legislators we DO NOT want our freedom taken from us.

We DO NOT want the government, local, state or federal to tell us how, where and why we must live as a stranger dictates.We demand the same liberty that we fight for in other countries be given in America,We have come to know there are many injustices and outright unlawful acts against the elderly and disabled population and we have come to demand those rights be upheld as given in the Constitution of the United States of America!!!

Then They Came for the Old People

First they came for the Jews because they had power and controlled the money I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the immigrants because they were many I did not speak out because I was not a immigrant.

Then they came for the Old People because they had all the wealth and I did not speak out because I was not old .

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

From the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
and other disability rights attorneys and advocates

Department of Justice Proposes Vast Changes in ADA Regulations
YOUR COMMENTS URGENTLY NEEDED!

The Department of Justice recently issued major proposed revisions to its regulations implementing Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The deadline for comments is August 18, 2008.

Some of DOJ’s changes are excellent, and urgently needed. It is important that the disability community laud these, to support DOJ against industry attack. Good proposals include adoption of the new 2004 ADAAG, stronger hotel reservation and ticketing provisions, recognition of psychiatric service animals, additional companion seating in theaters and stadiums, and stronger provisions for effective communication for people with hearing, visual, and speech disabilities.

However, there are also many draconian changes that would radically reduce the rights of people with disabilities to accessible facilities. For example, DOJ proposes:

DOJ must receive a flood of comments from the disability community in favor of a strong, comprehensive ADA. Comments must defend the principle of individual, case-by-case assessment, which DOJ is largely abandoning in favor of many blanket reductions. We must remind DOJ that the ADA is already carefully crafted to take the needs of covered entities into account, and that reductions to our civil rights would be a devastating blow to our daily lives.

Links to draft comments are below to help you write your own comments. The links are organized by topic. Some of the links may not be complete yet – check back for additions and changes.

How To File Your Comments
Tips On Commenting
Download The Proposed Regulations And Related Documents

Important: Your comments will have the most impact if you revise our drafts to add your own thoughts, and especially your own personal experiences or those of friends, family, colleagues or clients with disabilities.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD: SEND IN YOUR COMMENTS!

The Probate Murders

by Janet C. Phelan ( janetcphelan@yahoo.com ) From The American's Bulletin--

The War on the Vulnerable Through our Courts

“Oceania is not at war with East or Eurasia. Oceania is at war with you.”—George Orwell, “1984”

“THIS CAN’T HAPPEN HERE” On a quiet tree-lined street in Redlands, California, in a low, architecturally unremarkable beige building, the war has come home.

Nestled behind the Redlands Police Department, the Redlands Superior Courthouse is housing a systematic and covert assault on the lives and life-savings of San Bernardino County's elderly and disabled.

A smiling, bespectacled security officer, sporting a platinum blonde ponytail, runs the visitors through a metal detector as they enter. One walks into a lobby area, with two courtrooms off to the side: Department E1 and Department E2. Only traffic and probate are now heard in the Redlands Court. At the far end are the filing windows, where smiling and attentive clerks will retrieve files and accept court filings.

In the California Superior Court system, one must pay a filing fee in order to enable the court to dismantle one's life and estate. Across from the clerk's office, the East wall is lined with photographs of San Bernardino Court judges, beaming beatifically, and posing in their black robes. However, Judge Michael Welch is not smiling. Welch is one of only two probate judges in the entire San Bernardino County, and as such is the point man for the probate conveyor belt, which is grinding up the elderly and turning them into cash, through the court conservatorship and guardianship programs.

This is how it works: Read it all here =>>

Guardianship Murders :The Stories Come Rolling In!

West Palm Beach,Florida USA

The story of my mother's Forced Guardianship is one that all of America needs to hear especially baby boomers, because if this "scam" otherwise known as Guardianship is allowed to continue, all of our futures are in jeopardy.

My mother was placed into "Temporary guardianship" by her grandson who did this terrible deed to keep his grandmother from testifying against her daughter (his mother) whom she filed grand theft and identity theft charges. This was done by the grandson going in exparte and without a hearing or ANY due process my mother's life and all her civil rights were totally destroyed. There was no way to
get her to have a lawyer chosen by her to represent her, rather the lawyer for The Guardian proceeded to "Steal" almost $250,000.00 in fees to the Guardian and their attorney. The rest of
the remaining $150,000.00 mostly went to pay all the other lawyers, so many it would make you sick, not to mention the wasted bills for things that never needed to be spent but these people, if you can call them that,spent my mom's money as if it was play money.

My mother was in guardianship only 10 weeks when they put her into Hospice and claimed she had "end term colon cancer" which is what they told me. Recently I thought there were lose ends and I went back and got the medical reports from my mother's doctor and found out that my mother's diagnosis was not cancer but rather ulcerated colitis. They put her into a Hospice program and 12 days later she was dead from the effects of morphine.

After having to get a court order from a Judge, I was allowed to see the hospice records. To my total shock, there were NO doctor's reports from my mother's private doctors. There was no pathology report or any reports what so ever testifying that my mother had only 6 months left to live.

They put her into Hospice WITHOUT any documentation. This is not only morally wrong but it is wrongful death. I could write 10 pages of what happened to my mother and to me but I will end by simply saying that after I personally spent $110,000.00 of MY OWN money to try and stop this outrageous nightmare I am left to pray that someone like you will tell the story to those who have gone through this already and worse those who are yet to find out that their parents or themselves are the next victims of this UNLAWFUL law.

I ask that you allow me the privilege to speak to you personally. I honor your interest in this issue because it is so important that the free press keeps its ability to inform its' public. I will hopefully hear from you or a representative and that you will hear my story of how I tried to save my mother but failed.

Respectfully, Bonnie

Judges Short On Judgement Cause Un Necessary Suffering

It appears as though two Michigan judges’ inability to get along has made a mess of the Macomb County probate courts. Judge Kathryn George, ousted as the court’s chief judge by the Michigan Supreme Court in June, has now also been removed from all cases involving wills and estates. George will only handle mental cases (we’ll leave that one alone - too easy and cheap a shot!) while Probate Judge Pamela Gilbert-O’Sullivan will handle all other cases.

That’s all well and good, but how much harm did these jousting judges inflict on innocent taxpaying families who came before these courts expecting mature, fair-minded professionals capable of exercising prudent judgment when rendering decisions?

We see and report on judges that appear to think quite highly of themselves. While the trappings and prestige of the position help create an aura of credibility and respectability, too often we find reality to not be so honorable or impressive.

The harm which can be inflicted through probate venues is massive. Warning of this danger is why Estate of Denial and ElderAbuseHelp.Org exists. Read the stories we post and you’ll understand our concern.

In the meantime, we hope Taxpayers everywhere will join Harris County (TX) residents in demanding more of their probate judges and other officials. It’s no exaggeration to say your life (or at least life’s accumulation of assets) could depend on it!

"Fraud upon the court" Definition

Taken from; http://www.caught.net/prose/gembala.htm

"Fraud upon the court" occurs whenever any officer of the court commits fraud before a tribunal. A judge is not a court; he is under law an officer of the court, and he must not engage in any action to deceive the court. Trans Aero Inc. v. LaFuerga Area Boliviana, 24 F.3d 457 (2nd Cir. 1994); Bulloch v. United States, 763 F.2d 1115, 1121 (10th Cir. 1985) (fraud upon the court exists "where the judge has not performed his judicial duties").

The Supreme Court, In re Eugene Lee Armentrout et al., 99 Ill.2d 242, 75 Ill.Dec. 703, 457 N.E.2d 1262 (1983), stated that:

"Fraud encompasses a broad range of human behavior, including " ' * * * anything calculated to deceive, * * * whether it be by direct falsehood or by innuendo, by speech or by silence, by word of mouth or by look or gesture.' " (Regenold v. Baby Fold, Inc. (1977), 68 Ill.2d 419, 435, 12 Ill.Dec. 151, 369 N.E.2d 858, citing People ex rel. Chicago Bar Association v. Gilmore (1931), 345 Ill. 28, 46, 177 N.E. 710; In re Alschuler (1944), 388 Ill. 492, 503-04; Black's Law Dictionary 594 (5th ed. 1979).) Too, this court has previously disciplined lawyers even though their fraudulent misconduct did not harm [99 Ill.2d 252] any particular individual. In re Lamberis (1982), 93 Ill.2d 222, 229, 66 Ill.Dec. 623, 443 N.E.2d 549."

Intrinsic Fraud is Fraud by fraudulent conduct that arises within the proceedings and pertains to the issue in the case that could have been tried. When a Plaintiff gives false testimony he prevents a motion from being heard by the Court, committing Intrinsic Fraud. [I]f a judgment was obtained upon false testimony or aFraudulent instrument and the parties were heard, the evidenceSubmitted to and received consideration by the court, then it maybe said that the matter has been actually tried and the parties arestopped to set up an intrinsic or direct fraud to vitiate the judgment,because the judgment is the highest evidence and cannot be contradicted by the parties to it. Johnson v. Wells, 72 Fla. 290, 299, 73 o. 188, 191 (1916).

The Definition of Extrinsic Fraud was specifically articulated in the United States v. Throckmorton, 98 US 61, 65-66, 25 L.Ed 93 (1878), in which the United States Supreme Court said: Where the unsuccessful party has been preventedfrom exhibiting fully his case, by fraud or deceptionpracticed on him by his opponent, as by keeping himaway from court, a false promise of compromise; orwhere the defendant never had knowledge of the suit,being kept in ignorance by the acts of the Plaintiff; orwhere an attorney fraudulently or without authorityassumes to represent a party and connives as his defeat;or where the attorney regularly employed corruptly sellsout his client’s interest to the other side-these, and similarcases which show that there has never been a real contestin the trial or hearing of the case, are reason which a newsuit may be sustained to set aside and annul the formerjudgment or decree, and open the case for a new and fairhearing.

I. THE 7TH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS STATES, “A DECISION PRODUCED BY FRAUD UPON THE COURT IS NOT IN ESSENCE A DECISION AT ALL, AND NEVER BECOMES FINAL.

Fraud Upon The Court

July 11, 2008


CERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED

Office of Governor Charlie Crist
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0001

Re: Denial of Disability Accommodations and Abuse of JQC Special Counsel, Lauri Waldman Ross’ Position in Order to Obtain an Unfair Advantage in Litigation

Dear Governor Crist:

I am a disabled citizen of Florida. My disability is classified as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The cause is considered Legal Abuse Syndrome (LAS). My disability stems from protracted litigation and has been verified by two licensed medical professionals as such. The Legal Abuse Syndrome (LAS) arises, when in the judicial process, unfair and manipulative tactics create an abusive and unfair power differential. In this case misinformation, lack of candor, and outright lying are used by opposition counsel along with sleight of hand behind the scenes. My life is held in terror and jeopardy while these abuses hold me helpless to have my case heard in a fair court in Florida. The attached Report has been provided to the ADA Site Coordinator at each court hearing our case.

This is precisely what has been transpiring in the legal malpractice action that my 76-year old husband, my company, Baron's Stores, Inc., and I have against three Florida attorneys which has been in Miami Dade Circuit Court since 1999. I ask for reasonable accommodations which are granted on their face and then find that the Judge denies my basic due process rights rendering my Accommodations moot. This is an underhanded way of using my disability against me without it showing in the paperwork. I am in a war of attrition with powerful entities that connect behind the scenes and block my path to fair and unbiased decisions at every turn for more than ten years.

As the Chief Executive Officer of the State of Florida, as a member of The Florida Bar, I am writing to you, for the third time, regarding a matter of great public importance that has a direct bearing on the citizens of this state whom you are duty bound to protect. I am one of those citizens who have notified you, now for the third time, regarding Lauri Waldman Ross, Esq., Special Counsel for the Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Governor Crist, you must understand how difficult it is to sue an attorney in general. Nevertheless, it was easy for us to retain counsel to pursue the damages we suffered as a result of three attorneys negligence which caused the destruction of a fifty two year old family business, the unemployment of two hundred Florida citizens, and the financial and emotional devastation to my family. What has been difficult is having attorneys stay on board to see the case through to its just results. One need look no further than the role The Florida Bar and its connections, and the pressure that it could exert on attorneys, have played in this particular litigation. In this instant case, opposition counsel is Lauri Waldman Ross, who is defending attorney Marc Cooper, my adversary, who routinely commits fraud upon the court. This is also to put you on notice what powerful strategy The Florida Bar personnel use behind the scenes by involving Ms. Ross in this litigation considering that The Florida Bar's improperly created malpractice insurance carrier, Florida Lawyers Mutual, insures Mr. Cooper. The Bar’s created insurance company promises to protect insider lawyers who insure with them.

I have expressed my position on this inherent conflict of interest between The Florida Bar and Florida Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company for years. My website - www.victimsofthesystem.org, and my blogs, http://www.fraudonthecourt.blogspot.com/ and www.baronslansonlitigation.blogspot.com outline in detail the detrimental and prejudicial effects such a relationship has on the unsuspecting public.

Ms. Ross maintains a very influential position with the JQC. An insider influential position, that according to the cover story in the Daily Business Review published on December 3, 2007, “Behind the JQC curtain,” the article opens “Its members consist of top lawyers, judges and businessmen from across the state. They operate in secret and even retain former FBI and U.S. Secret Service agents to help with investigations. In private visits behind closed doors, they warn errant judges that they are being watched, so they'd better conform to the code of judicial conduct or face the consequences. They are known as the JQC - three letters that are whispered throughout the halls of justice and, at least its members claim, strike fear in the hearts of judges everywhere.” In the same article it states - The fear of appearing before the JQC helps keep judges conforming to the code, said JQC members. “There are three letters a judge never wants to see or hear and that's the 'J-Q-C,' said Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman, a JQC member. They don't want to be in front of the JQC, they don't want in any way to be known by the JQC, and if someone makes a mistake that needs to be addressed and corrected, they usually get the message very quickly.”

What sets our case apart from the normal protocol is the presence of Lauri Waldman Ross and her position with the JQC. In our litigation the rules and the laws are ignored to favor the defendants, their counsel, having the full cooperation of a sitting judge up for re-election. The defendants and their counsel have knowingly brought fraudulent documents into our litigation. They have refused to remove them in violation of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar. Judge Cohen has full knowledge of the fraudulent documents and has taken no action to report the defendants and their counsel to the proper authorities in violation of Judicial Canons. Lauri Waldman Ross has not taken appropriate action by bringing this to the attention of the JQC because her client, and others, benefit by the fraud on the court.

This is not the first time Ms. Ross has used her position to improperly influence a Judge in this litigation. In 2005, Ms. Ross secured a partial summary judgment from a terminally ill Judge, Manny Crespo, who was on the case for two days, inapposite to the facts and to the law. She secured this partial summary judgment full well knowing that the Judge, Norman Gerstein, who presided over this case for six years, stated at a hearing immediately prior to his transfer to another division that the damages Ms. Ross was able to secure summary judgment on from Judge Crespo were individual damages belonging to me and my husband. She knew what she was doing was a violation of the rules and the law, and she did it with the intent to continue to deprive my husband and me what is rightfully ours according to legal precedent.

At a status conference held on May 30, 2008, Judge Jeri Beth Cohen degraded me, denied me discovery pursuant to the fraudulent documents and denied the Motion to Strike for Fraud on the Court without even glancing at the Motion. It was after that hearing, whereby my PTSD/LAS exacerbated to such a degree that I could not function, could not get out of bed and was consumed with such dire thoughts that I had to seek treatment by a psychiatrist who immediately placed me on daily medication. Furthermore, Judge Cohen deprived me of my full rights to continue to represent myself, Pro Se, in violation of F.S. 454.18.

Attached, to this letter is a copy of my ADA Report. Both the Federal Court and the State Court, in addition to the defendants and their counsel, have been provided with this Report since as early as March, 2008. After being put on notice of Requested Accommodations, both the Court and Lauri Waldman Ross have ignored my requests and have actually exacerbated my symptoms as stated above. I am putting the State on notice, through your office, that I am requesting the attached ADA Accommodations be granted to me immediately. I am entitled to these accommodations in order for me to secure a “level playing field” which is built on my rights to due process being properly granted. In that regard I ask you to exercise your Executive Powers and see to it that a change of venue in this case is granted immediately, free of all appearances of conflicts of interest pertaining to The Florida Bar, its members, its officers, the JQC, and its created malpractice insurance company, Florida Lawyers Mutual. My health has been in danger for these past ten years due to preventable traumatic experiences perpetrated by the insider connections surrounding this legal malpractice case.

Respectfully submitted,


Meryl M. Lanson

cc: Brooke Kennerly, Executive Director - Judicial Qualifications Commission
Lauri Waldman Ross, Esq.
Media

Enclosures: ADA Accommodations Report
Daily Business ReviewArticle Dated December 3, 2007 “Behind the JQC Curtain”

Citizens Who Are Financially Abused and Turn to the Justice System, Talk About their Experience

WEST PALM BEACH -Florida USA by JANE MUSGRAVE

Fifteen years ago, life was good for Meryl and Norman Lanson. They owned a small and respected chain of men's clothing stores. They had a young son. They had a nice house. They had good friends. They had money.Then the phone rang.

Baron's grew from a one-store operation in 1946 to 17 stores. It catered to upwardly-mobile professional men. The chain had stores from Miami to West Palm Beach, as well as two stores in Orlando and one in St. Petersburg.

Within days of receiving an after-hours call from their banker, they learned a trusted employee and friend — the godfather to their only child — had embezzled $3 million.

Five years later, Baron's, their menswear chain that was a Household name in South Florida, was dead.

But while the 52-year-old family business died, the battle was only beginning.

Now filling dozens of boxes stacked in the dining room and garage of their suburban Boca Raton home, the legal fight has destroyed the Lansons' life.

Meryl Lanson is devoted to proving that the legal system — attorneys, judges and other professionals — conspired against them.
She has fought the battle in state and federal courts. She has sued her former attorneys for malpractice. She has filed complaints with the Florida Bar and the Judicial Qualifications Commission. She has written letters to former Gov. Jeb Bush and Gov. Charlie Crist and copied the missives to the entire Florida Legislature. She has created Web sites, decrying the legal system and what it has done to her family.

And, 15 years into the battle, she shows no sign of stopping.
Just last week, she filed yet another federal lawsuit, accusing Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri Beth Cohen of violating herrights to represent herself in a still-unresolved lawsuit that was first filed in 1999.

"Get on with your life? How do you get on with your life?" she asks, mocking the advice many have given her. "This is a horror. They destroyed our business. They destroyed our reputation. They took our money and used it to destroy us. They're going to put me back to where I'm entitled to be."

Those who think she's suffering from psychological problems are partially right. It's just one of the many scars of the prolonged litigation. And, she says, she has a medical diagnosis to prove it.

“Deadly” Collateral Damage

published by Estate Of Denial.Com

Here’s something to think about from our friend Willy Roberts in California. So much collateral damage results to those close to an Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA) target with this story well making that point.

Finally, the “cause of death!” It only took 6 months! Kaye Kornmayer died January third of this year due to lung failure! She was 80 and the mother of Karla, my fiance.

But here is what really happened……….. I was there as was Maggie and Rachel and a CNA we had hired.

Kaye was my Mother`s best friend! They played “Round Robin” bridge together. Yea, and they cheated! (I remember coming home from school and they would be huddled together, “If you are strong in “clubs” do this and if I have “hearts” I`ll do this…………………………”)

But my point is this:

Two days before Kaye died we had hired a CNA, Florence, from Feather River Health, as a “live-in” for Kaye. The following day, Florence, called an ambulance for Kaye because she was having problems breathing!

I was called as was Maggie Doues and Rachel Randal because we were on the Enloe medical alert, list.

When I got there this is what I saw and heard:

Kaye was screaming at the para-medics, “don`t you take me, I am fine! Do you know what happened to his mother when they took her……………………? I will never see my home, again!”

She, adamantly, refused needed medical attention for fear of ending up in a nursing home under a guardianship! After watching what happened to my Mom, under a guardianship, she, actually, refused to be treated!

And she died the next morning! Does this bother you? It sure leaves a bad taste in my mouth!

Friends in Monroe Co. Support Someone Who Cares For the Elderly ! For Circuit Judge

August 26, 2008..................Primary Election

November 4, 2008.............General Election

http://election.dos.state.fl.us/voter-registration/voter-reg.shtml

http://maryvandenbrook.com/

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Clara Fernandez and I met Mary Brook at the Casa Marina July 4th picnic

Mary's believes that the court is there for the citizens and not the other way around. We believe that getting Mary elected county circuit Judge is imperative and a positive step in helping out elders in this county.

Mary's experience as a Circuit Court Administrator,and Guardian Program Director is a breath of fresh air for the citizens of Monroe County.

Please get out and vote for Mary this August 26th Our elders are counting on you.

*See comments below for more of Mary V Brook's qualifications

Guardianship Laws to be Strictly Adhered!

Inter Vivos Trusts Are Important in Avoiding Guardianships ?

Mr. & Mrs. Adalberto Fernandez
August 13, 1997
Page -4-

The attorney-in-fact will take the necessary steps to transfer the assets to the living trust and thereby avoid the need for the institution of guardianship proceedings.

Conclusion plan which we are recommending to you has three primary advantages over your existing plan. First, the use of revocable living trusts instead of just wills offers you the opportunity to avoid probate at your deaths. Second, the use of the living trust will enable you to avoid guardianship in the event of incapacity.

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Related Posts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusts_and_estates

"The use of the living Trust will enable you to avoid guardianship in the event of incapacity." Buyer beware, this isn't so, take it from one who has been there! If you believe that forking over good money for a Trust will avoid Guardianship proceedings, then you deserve to have a guardian at $450/hour take all your money ! It isn't so.

This law is wide open to interpretation and is interpreted any way the probate court chooses to!

Myth N0#2

Florida Statues 744.331(6)(b)Least Restrictive Alternative

(b) When an order determines that a person is incapable of exercising deletable rights, the court must consider and find whether there is an alternative to guardianship that will sufficiently address the problems of the incapacitated person. A guardian must be appointed to exercise the incapacitated person's deletable rights unless the court finds there is an alternative. A guardian may not be appointed if the court finds there is an alternative to guardianship which will sufficiently address the problems of the incapacitated person.

"If it comes to the attention of the presiding judge that the alleged incapacitated person has executed any advance directives, including a Durable Power of Attorney, the petition for guardianship SHALL not be heard until the issue of validity of the advance directives is disposed of, regardless of whether or not there is any adversarial challenge to them. In resolving any contested powers, there shall be a full and constitutionally sufficient evidential hearing, on notice, to determine the capacity of the maker at the time of execution of the documents."

In law "shall" is mandatory; "may" is discretionary.

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