From the Osage to Britney Spears, Guardianship Is Corrupt

[Jilly_in_VA]

Diane Dimond

Ginger Franklin, a fortysomething single woman in Hendersonville, Tennessee, fell down the stairs of her condo and lapsed into a coma. When she awoke she discovered a court had declared her “an incapacitated ward of the court” and assigned a stranger, a professional guardian, to take over her life.

The guardian quickly sold Ginger’s condo and car and placed her in a group home where she was put to work servicing other residents. Even after Ginger had fully recovered, the judge overseeing her case refused to end the guardianship for several more years.

In Staten Island, New York, a medical mishap at the birth of Michael Liguori caused him to develop cerebral palsy. His parents won a $1.9 million malpractice settlement against the hospital and, as the law required, the infant was assigned a guardian to safeguard the money until Michael turned 18.

As a stellar high school student, Michael wanted to go to college but his guardian refused to pay for it on the false grounds that he was profoundly disabled. A judge agreed to keep the guardianship in place allowing his court appointee to continue charging monthly fees until Michael was 24 years old.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/from-the-osage-to-britney-spears-guardianship-is-corrupt-and-abusive

Now tell me something I don't know!!!!

[FakeNoose]

1. Guardianship is corrupt when there's a lot of money involved

Our court system is supposed to keep those guardians in line, requiring them to do the job they were appointed to do. But somehow it doesn't always happen that way.

[Igel]

2. There are some problems in all of this.

The more onerous it becomes to be a guardian and comply with requirements, the less likely it is anybody who gives a flying f**k about the person will actually even try to do the job. Then it falls to "professionals" who know the judges and the care providers and they're all in the same "industry."

My mom had severe dementia, all the evidence said so, and the judge was going to rule against me until my mother ignored her defense council, on a first name basis with the judge and on the court-approved list of lawyers the court would appoint (at the defendant's expense, of course)--and talked about insane things. The people that lived in her HVAC ducts, my "many, many penises that he flaunted", etc.--even as "Bennie" put his head down as "Sarai" told him to get his client to be quiet.

Note that I was rebuked for filing a guardian's report a week late. After I yielded guardianship because I couldn't meet the legal requirements and it was yield or be removed, for 7 years I got no report that said, "Subject seen, appeared well." Meaning that the court-appointed guardian visited, walked the halls, poked in head, and left after gabbing with his/her buddies until next year. Last time my brother (who lived nearby) visited--he couldn't go any more--her hair had just been chopped with scissors, nobody could say where her things had gone, and her clothes consisted of two hospital gowns. "Subject seen, appeared well."

Same for custodianship. I'd look at the court filing and see things like 1/2 hour billed at $150/hr for days, with the note, "Attempted to call ____." You know that took 60 seconds and wasn't done by the custodian but his $12/hr secretary. Done 30 times an hour, think of the profits. (It would make a Ferengi's lobes tingle.)

But the alternative ... Nobody takes care of the people. Or like it was in the '50s, avaricious family members would get a parent or relative without a serious problem and gain custodian/guardianship and then easily abuse them.

Balance is needed; but balance means that there's a risk of harm (while extremism increases the risk of harm--always, but always, consider the alternatives.) My ex's uncle was cognitively impaired and bed-ridden. When my MIL visited him, she pointed out bed sores. Month after month. Nothing was done--not the guardian, one of several relatives with equal (equally diluted) rights, the corporate guardian ignored anything that the home staff passed along, if any. He died of sepsis and gangrene, and the judge said that it was inevitable and close the case.