Until relatively recently, you didn’t know how rampant elder abuse is within the court system. For almost the last two decades, my life has been spent helping as many people as I could in a different way than most provide. I have informally advised and assisted thousands of people through the publication of my book, as well as in private sessions as a medium / psychic. It wasn’t until my good friend started sharing her story with me that my eyes were opened to something much more frequent than I was aware; at least on a conscious level.
I have had the privilege of knowing Diane for over five years. During that span, she has never been anything other than helpful, loving, and compassionate to everyone. Doing what I do for a living generally allows me to be a good judge of character. Ironically, it is a judge and his decisions that prompted me to write this article. The choices and the attitude you have expressed have been protected by legal statutes. While they may be legal, they are far from moral, ethical, or compassionate.
This all started about two and a half years ago. Diane’s mother had granted her a power of attorney and appointed her health care proxy. Like many families, there were disagreements with the siblings. Diane was told that her brother and sister wanted to sell their mother’s house and place it in a nursing home. While this elderly woman, Dorothy, had some early dementia and knee problems, she was still a vibrant and vibrant person. She had no interest in being displaced so those two could have their money. Diane’s family suggested that she apply for legal guardianship to protect her home and also to protect her mother’s life. It seemed to make a lot of sense.
Telling the events of what quickly unfolded is truly an injustice to the elder abuse she has suffered since. The brothers contested the petition for guardianship. Instead of reaching a mediated settlement, the judge hearing the case decided that it would be better to make decisions for everyone. He assigned a legal guardian and a health care manager. It seems these three have worked together before. Diane was immediately cut off from what her mother wanted; to take care of your needs if there was any reason for it. As it was, Dorothy spent many weekends at Diane’s house. It should be noted that Diane works from home and cared for her father in his later years. It would give Dorothy a change of scenery and much appreciated love and company. All of that was about to change.
Diane rightly brought in an attorney to help overturn the judge’s decision. This attorney had handled the legal needs of his parents in the past. Not only was he familiar with family dynamics, but he had an intimate understanding of what Dorothy wanted. He was even going to represent Diane pro bono. All he wanted to see was that this old woman be allowed to live happily in her own home or with Diane. The Supreme Court Justice, based in Nassau County, New York, was charged with unfairly rejecting the attorney’s generosity and the right to represent Diane. It was the first step in a series of damaging rulings against my friend.
The legal guardian applied for a $ 275,000 reverse mortgage to be approved on Dorothy’s home for six decades. In a public hearing, with the opposition of some, this magistrate authorized the financial decision and affirmed that the money would allow Dorothy to stay in her home for at least five years. It’s only been two years and all that money has been spent. Also, social security and a couple of small pensions kept coming. In just 24 months, more than $ 325,000 had been wasted!
At the time of this writing, the judge ordered Dorothy to be admitted to a nursing home. In his ruling, he admits that this goes against the wishes of Dorothy and the family. The legal guardian, the health care manager, and one other person showed up unannounced and told Dorothy that they would take her to the doctor to check on a problem she was having. Dorothy, now eighty-seven, went with them willingly. She was taken to a nursing home that was far from the only son who has been fighting for her freedom. She is scared beyond belief.
The lie to put you in the car is one of a long series of deceptive tactics used by the legal guardian, the health care manager and the judge himself. There has been hearing after hearing for the last thirty months or so in which the three have waged a war of defamatory statements, disbelieving lies, and perjury against Diane. They have fought the only daughter who seeks to do the right thing for her mother, and their end game has been a complete drain on Dorothy’s modest estate. His health has been compromised and, from my external point of view, it was done solely to line his own pockets. The tragedy of all this has been that the judge, chosen to defend the rights of all people, has led his attack on an elderly woman.
How I wish I could condense hundreds of pages of documents into one short article. There was the theft of more than thirty thousand dollars in jewelry. Dorothy said her other daughter eloped with him and has been asking for it back. The alleged legal guardian knows this, but has refused to intervene. There was an affidavit from another legal entity that out of all the interviews she had with people familiar with the family, Diane was seen as the most caring and generous girl of the three. He claims that his brother is known to have a violent temper and would be a danger to his mother. In court, the same woman appeared before the judge and said that this same man would be the best person to live with Dorothy. In my opinion, these heinous actions by Diane’s brothers have been overlooked in exchange for their support to allow all of this to continue without their objections.
To sum this up, I would like to share with you that there was a previous time when Dorothy was locked up for thirty days in another facility. She was denied the opportunity to be brought by Diane for Thanksgiving, nor was she allowed to attend the christening of her only great-granddaughter; something she very much wanted to be a part of. In trying to support Diane in the most limited way possible, I discovered that elder abuse is a much larger problem than I knew. The National Association to Stop the Abuse of Guardians (NASGA) has stepped in to help with this case; one of the crowd they are bringing to the attention of Congress and other law-related committees. It seems that power-hungry people who are trusted to protect the rights of our senior citizens go crazy and take advantage of them, their families, etc. Justice is supposed to be blind, yet it is the members of society who need not be blind to the fact that this happens too often. If you are in a position to make a difference by correcting the mistakes of these judges and tutors, be sure not to wait for someone else to fix it. What would you do if it was your mom or dad? if it was your family that faced this?