The appointment of a guardian or a conservator removes from a person a large part of what it means to be an adult: the ability to make decisions for oneself.
We terminate this fundamental and basic right with all the procedural rigor of processing a traffic ticket.
—Utah District Judge George M. Harmond, Jr.
In June 2021, Britney Spears told the court that she was treated like a slave. She had no self-determination and no privacy in her daily life. She was forced into involuntary mental health treatment. She had no control over her work activities. She was forcibly medicated and punished when she did not follow orders.
Spears’ statements brought me back to 2010, when my mother was stripped of her civil rights. The last three years of my mother’s life, she was under absolute control of her conservator. If we dared object to neglect or abuse, retaliation was certain.
Before conservatorship, my mother shared a house with her “dearest friend in the world.” My mother and Martin met in 1987. Martin was a close friend of my mother’s second husband, Walter. After fourteen years of marriage, Walter grew infirm with Parkinson’s disease and asked Martin to “look after her for me.” Good to his word, Martin spent the next four years helping my mother clear Walter’s five-acre property and ready it for sale. Then my mother moved in with Martin. She said she was happier with Martin than she had ever been before. They enjoyed too few years together before Alzheimer’s disease stole her memories.
In spring 2010, I was going in circles with my mother’s healthcare company, trying to get her the care she needed. Then in June 2010, my mother’s two tax preparers broke in the door to her home, splintering the wood of the door jamb. They seized my mother and her financial records, and then they hid her from family. Sheriff’s deputies did nothing to protect my mother. Deputies wrote in their report that my mother and Martin were “ending their relationship.”
In less than a week, my mother’s entire estate was transferred to a step-granddaughter that my mother had not seen in years. The kidnappers testified that my mother believed she had no money, and she had no memory of her late husband Walter. They testified “she forgot she had a daughter.” But they coerced an attorney to execute a new estate plan, voiding the legitimate estate plan my mother executed before she lost capacity. The new trust allowed the step-granddaughter to become trustee over my mother’s entire estate. The new Advance Health Care Directive nominated the step-granddaughter to become my mother’s conservator.
With my mother’s estate under her control, the step-granddaughter placed my mother in an assisted living facility and ordered staff to deny visitors. The Executive Director told me that I would not be allowed to see my mother. The Assistant Director said, “She is allowed no visitors and no phone calls.” A note in the facility records stated, “Resident is to NOT have any visitors other than [step-granddaughter.]”
The facility isolated my mother for over a year. She fell twenty-nine times in two months. She was severely malnourished and described as cachectic. There is evidence the facility covered up sexual assaults by a male caregiver.
As before, the Sheriff’s Department did nothing to help. The Department assigned the case to a deputy who killed a disabled African American man with a knee to the throat. The deputy laughed and cracked jokes when I begged him to help my mother. A few days later he called my cell phone, screaming at me and making outlandish accusations. He threatened to arrest me if I tried to visit my mother or if I filed complaints about his misconduct. His sergeant threatened that any attempt to contact my mother “would be seen as a criminal act.” The Deputy District Attorney told us, “There is nothing out of the ordinary. Stop calling!”
With law enforcement aiding the kidnappers, my family and Martin turned to the civil court for help. A Certified Elder Law Attorney advised me to file a petition for conservatorship over my mother. He said, “If you file for conservatorship, you will get to see Mom.” The step-granddaughter filed a competing petition, using my mother’s funds to pay the attorneys. After months of wrangling in probate court, the judge appointed the step-granddaughter as my mother’s conservator. The step-granddaughter bragged to her family, “I have the highest authority because it is Court appointed.” She continued isolating my mother.
Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote the following in their Proposed Brief of amici curiae submitted to the court on behalf of Britney Spears. “The right of a conservatee to select their own attorney is also consistent with principles of autonomy and agency. As the Court of Appeal noted, ‘[t]he designation of a person as a conservatee doesn’t divest them of their autonomy. The purpose of the statute is to ensure the care and protection of people who need it, while maintaining their personal agency as much as is practical.’ (Conservatorship of Navarrete (2020) 58 Cal.App.5th 1018, 1030-31.)”
When Britney Spears faced a petition for conservatorship, she was not notified of the petition. She was not allowed to retain legal counsel of her choice. Rather, Spears was assigned court appointed counsel (CAC) from a list of attorneys approved by the court. Spears’ CAC billed millions of dollars to Spears’ estate. It appears he did little to represent Spears’ rights or wishes.
When my aunt asked if we could retain an attorney to represent my mother, the answer was no. The court assigned a CAC who regularly opposed my mother’s rights and wishes. He billed nearly $250,000 to her $1,000,000 estate.
CACs are uniquely positioned to drive billable hours for themselves and for all attorneys on a case. California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) stated the following in Conservatorship Reform in California: Three cost-effective recommendations. “Our data collection suggests that attorneys are not fulfilling their roles in probate proceedings. … These statistics provide evidence that attorneys do not properly represent proposed conservatees.”
Britney Spears, thirteen years into her conservatorship, did not know she had a right to petition to terminate. In June 2021, Spears told the judge, “Ma’am, I didn’t know I could petition the conservatorship. I’m sorry for my ignorance, but I honestly didn’t know that. I want to petition, basically, to end the conservatorship…” Spears’ CAC had concealed Spears’ right to petition to terminate.
My mother’s CAC concealed the June 2010 kidnapping, telling the court, “Prior to moving in early June … she actually went to the facility herself and chose this facility.” The CAC concealed my mother’s legitimate estate plan, telling the court, “Just for additional information … there are powers of attorney that do grant authority to [step-granddaughter] … it also nominates [step-granddaughter] as conservator if one were to become necessary.”
In a hearing of just sixteen minutes, the judge gave the step-granddaughter conservatorship over my mother. The judge stated the basis for his decision, “Another thing is that if the granddaughter is in fact the trustee, it makes sense … to have the same person operate in both the capacity as the [conservator] and trustee just — it just makes it easier to do.”
My mother was never allowed to attend any of the court hearings on her conservatorship. No one reported her wishes to the court. No evidence was reviewed, and no testimony was heard by the court. There was no due process before my mother was consigned to the “civil death” of conservatorship.
My mother’s CAC coached the step-granddaughter on strategy to isolate my mother. He told the court that he opposed my mother having visitors because, “It might inconvenience the facility.” He opposed my mother consulting with a neurologist for her dementia. His every action appeared calculated to drive billable hours. My mother and her family had no input into her care the last three years of her life.
Attorney Jonathan Martinis wrote about the history of conservatorship. “This process, whether called guardianship, conservatorship, commitment, or something else, has remained essentially unchanged since the Middle Ages: a Court finds a person to be ‘incapacitated’ or unable to make his or her own decisions, and appoints someone else to make decisions for that person.”
An arrangement in which one person has absolute control over another brings up, for the person who is controlled—as Britney Spears said—feelings of being held in “slavery.” Slavery persisted for generations in America. It was an expedient solution for the agricultural labor shortage in a young country, and it was lucrative for slave holders. Conservatorship persists now because it can be an expedient solution for managing persons with disabilities. It can be highly lucrative for some attorneys, conservators, and their service providers.
Managing persons as property is nothing new to our nation’s probate courts. Prior to 1865, slaves were inventoried and probated along with land and personal property of decedents’ estates. Ancestry Corporate offers the following advice to genealogists. “Because slaves were considered personal property, they are often named in probate files, which include wills, inventories, estate distributions, and related documents.”
Abraham Lincoln declared at Gettysburg, “all men are created equal.” The 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in America. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States…” The phrase “having been duly convicted” refers to the 5th Amendment guarantee that no person “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…” That concept is reiterated in the 14th Amendment. “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Yet, in proceedings of just a few minutes, civil rights are stripped from individuals who committed no crimes. Those individuals are not identified by ancestry or skin color. Rather, they are identified by alleged disability, mental incapacity, or mental illness. Many civil rights advocates question the constitutionality of conservatorship as currently practiced.
In criminal proceedings, due process of law guarantees the right for the accused to face the accuser in a court of law. The accused has the right to legal counsel and the right to a trial by jury. Witnesses give sworn testimony, and documents are taken into evidence. The process, by design, is weighted in favor of the defendant.
The 1760s English jurist William Blackstone wrote, “the law holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” Benjamin Franklin later wrote, “it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer.”
The ACLU makes the following statement on their website. “With such a major deprivation of fundamental liberties, it is important to have a rigorous process to evaluate whether a guardianship is needed, and how to limit its reach. Yet, Judges typically approve guardianship petitions without asking many questions. And once a guardianship is created, it can be almost impossible to undo.”
California’s Probate Code establishes due process requirements for imposing conservatorship. Probate Code 1801 states the evidentiary standard of “clear and convincing evidence.” Probate Code 1827 states the right to a jury trial. The Notice of Conservatee’s Rights enumerates rights retained by a conservatee: the right to be represented by a lawyer, the right to ask a judge to replace the conservator, and the right to ask a judge to end the conservatorship. But in practice, those rights are rarely accessible to a proposed conservatee. Once conservatorship is imposed, it is impossible to exercise those rights without assistance from the conservator.
Britney Spears told the court, “Three days later, after I said no to Vegas… He immediately, the next day, put me on lithium… You can go mentally impaired if you take too much, if you stay on it longer than five months. But he put me on that, and I felt drunk.”
When my mother objected to her situation, when she fought or begged for help, she was chemically restrained with psychotropic drugs Risperdal, Seroquel, and Haldol. Probate Code 2356.5 requires that a conservator must show the court “clear and convincing evidence” that a conservatee has would benefit from administration of such medications. My mother’s CAC testified, “Dementia powers would be a special power granted to a conservator pursuant to the probate court that would … give the conservator the power to authorize dementia medications.” When asked if the step-granddaughter obtained dementia powers over my mother, the CAC testified, “I don’t believe she did.” When the step-granddaughter was asked if she had dementia powers, she testified, “I’m not familiar with dementia powers.”
Psychotropic medications like Risperdal, Seroquel, and Haldol are not approved for treatment of dementia in elderly patients. The FDA requires a “black box warning” stating, “Elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with atypical antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death compared to placebo.” My mother’s prescribing physician was asked the following question when he was under oath. “When you were providing care and treatment for Ms. Hahn, were you aware of any types of FDA warnings against the use of antipsychotic drugs, such as Haldol, with respect to treatment of elderly patients with dementia?” The physician testified, “Yes.”
Britney Spears told the court, “I worked seven days a week, no days off, which in California, the only similar thing to this is called sex trafficking. … They watched me change every day — naked — morning, noon, and night. My body — I had no privacy door for my room.”
Sexual abuse is a recurring theme in conservatorship. In 2011 and 2012, my mother showed escalating agitation and fear of a male caregiver. We petitioned the court to move my mother to a different facility. The CAC opposed our request. Six weeks later, my mother was in the emergency room for vaginal bleeding. A caregiver reported “about one cup of blood.” The facility concealed the incidents. They quickly transferred my mother, and they terminated the male caregiver. When the male caregiver was questioned about sexual assault, he exercised his 5th Amendment right and refused to testify. When the CAC was asked to investigate sexual assault, he investigated the wrong facility.
In another courtroom, my mother’s CAC testified on his own behalf in a lawsuit alleging that he defaulted on a “payday loan.” The judge stated on the record, “I’ll put in the Minute Order that the defense was a total sham and fraudulent and false, and that [attorney’s] testimony was fraudulent and false. And the Court finds it offensive to see a member of the State Bar engage in such conduct.” The Probate Court continues appointing that same attorney to represent California’s most vulnerable residents.
In a current case, the same CAC represents a young man with developmental disabilities that limit his mental capacity to that of a five-year-old. When the young man turned eighteen, he began “dating” a male caregiver from his group home. Enticed by the promise of a cell phone, the young man married his former caregiver. The husband, who is eighteen years older, subsequently became the young man’s conservator. According to Orange County Register, an expert psychologist appointed by the court determined the young man lacked capacity to consent to marriage.
The conservator/husband isolated the young man, denying him contact with his biological family. The court ultimately ruled that the young man was abused by his conservator/husband. The trial court’s ruling stated, “Based upon all of the evidence … it appears that Ryan does not have the mental capacity to understand what marriage is and therefore does not have the capacity to understand consent to be and remain married.”
The judge ordered the young man removed from the husband’s home, appointing the Public Guardian as conservator. The CAC appealed the trial court’s decision. In a strategy guaranteed to generate billable hours, the CAC seeks to return the young man to the home where he was isolated and abused.
Conservatorship is the only business that gives service providers absolute control over the client and the client’s assets. Only a conservator can use a client’s assets to oppose the rights and wishes of the client. Only a conservator can use a client’s assets to litigate against the client and against the client’s family. Only a CAC can bill for legal services that serve no purpose but to increase billable hours. Britney Spears’ estate is substantial and could support litigation for many years. My mother’s million-dollar estate was largely depleted by her three-year conservatorship.
A conservatee without a large estate can be an attractive target, provided there are other sources of payment. In the conservatorship of a young man with autism, the court ordered the parents to pay fees billed by the conservator and attorneys. In some months, fees were as high as $10,000. The court granted permission for conservators and attorneys to bill the parents directly, circumventing court oversight of fees.
Court oversight of conservatorship is often minimal. Conservators’ invoices drawn from court records showed that some conservators routinely billed over twenty-four hours per day. One conservator billed fifty-seven hours in one day, including nineteen trips to the post office.
Conservatorship is nearly always a life sentence unless the estate is depleted during the life of the conservatee. After a wealthy conservatee dies, conservators and attorneys often continue litigating over distribution of the estate. Some families report a decade or more of court involvement in the estate, leaving meager distributions for legitimate heirs.
My cousin declared, “I can’t call it a justice system until I see some justice.” When the absolute power of conservatorship is joined with the apathy and negligence of probate courts, injustice and predation are unavoidable outcomes. Injustice is unavoidable when courts disregard probate codes and deny any semblance of due process. Predation is unavoidable when conservators and attorneys have unfettered access to the wealth of America’s “Greatest Generation.” While predators liquidate their estates, conservatees often endure isolation from loved ones, forced sedation, emotional and physical abuse.
Any American, regardless of mental capacity, can find themselves ensnared in the “legal-industrial system” of conservatorship. Given courts that apply “all the procedural rigor of processing a traffic ticket,” a few unsubstantiated allegations can condemn a person to “civil death.” We must thank Britney Spears for her courage to publicly share her story and draw America’s attention to one of our most shameful institutions.
I am so sorry to hear about your mother being chemically restrained in a nursing facility. Our society needs to get hard data on the amount of elderly who are being abused this way with the full support of their so-called conservators who are nothing more than estate parasites.
Your mother needs real advocacy and supported decision making now. Do you know which facility your mother is warehoused at? Could people organize a protest in front of the facility and alert the press or would the staff, colluding with the conservator, then move your mother to an undisclosed location, which is arguably worse? I know of situations in which individuals, whose estates were being raided/sold off, were ‘disappeared’ in the system specifically to make it harder for advocates to monitor their well being.
Which Center for Independent Living is the closest to your mother’s community of origin? Does that CIL have legal counsel or an advocate who could visit your mother and confirm if she is safe and confirm her wishes? Could you enroll your mother in MindFreedom’s Shield program and ask that MFI launch a Shield campaign on behalf of your mother? I’m confident that MFI would be fully in solidarity with your mother’s right to petition for a new guardian or living arrangement
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Madmom,
My mother survived three years in conservatorship.
A person under conservatorship has no right to determine where they live. They have no right to make their own medical decisions. They have no right to legal counsel of choice. Family has no input into care. Family has no standing to litigate until after the conservatee dies.
We were eventually able to get a temporary restraining order against isolation abuse, which allowed some limited visitation with my mother. It required sixteen court hearings and $70K in legal fees. The court appointed attorney opposed our petitions every step of the way. It was a very lucrative case for all attorneys involved.
We ultimately put over $2M into litigating the case. We were entirely unsuccessful. A pit bull trial attorney is not a guarantee of success.
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Linda Kincaid is a tireless advocate for Probate Court reform. Excellent article drawing the comparison of what happens to everyday families and what happened to Britney Spears. Lack of media coverage has provided the opportunity for probate and divorce court to rage into corrupiton that may be too difficult to correct without more media and more awareness. These judges dish out appointments and immunity like free Comic Books. For everyone who is complicit, it will happen to you someday and you better hope you can pull the media attention that took Britney 13 years to attract. When our courts fail our most vulnerable citizens in their greatest hours of need, the people have failed to control the judges who sit in those courts based on our votes!
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Excellent article on the nasty business of “civil death.”
Our family and many more have lived a similar scenario through probate abuse. The courts allow this to happen everyday all day long across America.
The system works like a well-oiled machine, which silences most who are afraid to speek up, or who are convinced justice will prevail, that their case is unique and their attorney will get their loved one back. This goes on for years and years as their loved ones slowly slip away and their nest eggs disappear into the bank accounts of all the greedy probate cronies: from lawyers and conservators to accountants, medical professionals, bankers, and even judges who get a deal on estate items sold. These judges are either incompetent, complicit or corrupt. Any eighth grader could sit in on these hearings and see that the financials are not benefitting the conservatee.
Thanks to Linda Kincaid for using all you have to make change and thank you to Brittany Spears for being brave enough to stand up and fight for your freedom.
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There’s no doubt that conservatorship can be abused. But some parts of this story don’t make sense. How did two tax preparers break into a home, steal records and kidnap someone. Why didn’t the police do something? Why wasn’t an attorney called to prevent this miscarriage of justice?
How was the mother’s entire estate transferred to a step granddaughter in less than a week? In my experience the court system simply doesn’t work that fast. I don’t know what the situation is in California, but in Illinois even someone with dementia can retain an attorney to protect their interests. Why wasn’t this done?
I could go on. But parts of this narrative really need more explanation.
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Marie,
Good questions. The answers point to systemic failures to protect vulnerable seniors.
The tax preparers broke in the door, took my mother, and her financial records. Deputies were willing to consider it a “civil matter” if the perps paid for the damage to the door. So they wrote a check from my mom’s checking account, and the deputies walked away.
Flipping an estate plan is very, very easy. They took my mother to an older, slightly muddled attorney and fabricated a story about how my mother was being neglected and abused. They said she wasn’t getting needed medical care. In reality, my mother was seeing various specialists about once a week. She was on dementia meds, and her doc had just increased her prescription for dementia meds.
They convinced the attorney to execute a new estate plan so they could “get needed care” for my mother. Everything happened in less than a week. During that week, we had no idea where my mother was or what was happening.
When I learned where my mother was held prisoner, the investigating deputy took the position that the facility had absolute control over their residents. He threatened to arrest me if I visited. He ordered me not to call my mother, plus he confiscated her cell phone to prevent her calling for help. His Department supported him, all the way up through Internal Affairs and the County Sheriff.
We retained a series of attorneys, finally getting help from a pit bull trial attorney from Los Angeles. We eventually got some limited visitation with my mother, but we were never able to protect her from abuse.
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Marie, this is happening in family court all over CA and other states as well. Judges are appointing these folks who then have immunity equal to a police officer or judge. It is a shortcut to convert family wealth and no media is covering it. The Britney Spears case brings media and public awareness. Reporters can only dive so deep and then are confused , so that means with Britney we hear about the outrages soundbites, but nothing close to the horror she has endured for 13 years. Typically this happens to the elderly and the disabled. They don’t fight, speak out or bring media attention. One person like Linda is easily ignored by the courts, the police and everyone who will say it is just the way the system works. It works this way because we have allowed it to . Few people step up or speak up so it goes on. Worry is that once the Spear case is done, the public and media attention will go away and the system will go back to running as it has been.
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Linda is spot on! This happens in the blink of an eye and is almost impossible to reverse.
My mother was forced into a financially and mentally abusive conservatorship in SoCal in 2019.
This was her son and his wife’s second attempt. The first was for both our parents in 2015 that was denied. Her son Joey purposely mailed notice, to us three daughters, to the same out of date addresses he used in 2015. He did this so that no one would show up to defend our mom and object.
Joey’s arrogance and stupidity let him believe that the attorneys and the conservator would help him take over our mom’s estate. They threw him to the curb as soon as they had complete control. The attorney Eric Becker actually said he would be going with the “cash cow” conservator and Joey would need new council. (Family strife and pursuit of justice only runs their billable hours higher).
They claimed our mom’s property was only worth $3 million and she was in $1.5 million in debt. The attorneys researched the property before filing the ex parte and knew that the property was worth far more than that. They also claimed she had no income. She received $19,000.00 a month from rental storage and $25,000.00 per event. She was coerced into total liquidation of her property and Event Facility to pay their fees and for her “care”. She didn’t need 24/7 care as they claimed. Her long time employees did shopping and cleaning for over 30 years for her and did so until she was forced into conservatorship.
Because us daughters fought, mom escaped being put into a “care” facility. They already had a “bed” ready for her.
OUR MOM’S PROPERTY JUST SOLD FOR $16.7 MILLION!!
Mom requested to move to Texas with her daughter to no longer be a witness to the dismantling and destruction of her American Dream that took 50 years to build. It took 8 months in court before her move was granted.
The useless GAL paid $7,200.00 to get another fraudulent Dr evaluation claiming mom has dementia based on paranoia that Joey and the conservator Richard Huntington want to euthanize her as part of the move agreement. We have 7 Dr reports that say she does not.
In just 20 months of “help”, the conservator and his team of attorneys have run up $670,000.00 in fees. They have bleed the funds with all the conservator’s vendors over $250,000.00.
They are all overdue on their accounting for the current year.
Their is a band of cronies in SoCal that have done the same thing to countless families for over a decade. The head of the “snake” is Ruben Martinez and attorney/wife Teresa Gorman. They use their company Fiduciary Real Estate Services to manage/devalue properties then sell low to their cronies who “flip” shortly after at great profit. (Probate court only requires the property to be sold for 90% of the “low ball” appraisals they pay for).
Our mom’s saving grace has been us daughters tenacity, her request for bankruptcy protection and prayer in Jesus name.
Linda thank you for your passion and hard work in exposing this evil epidemic in America!
Britney keep fighting for your rights! We are with you in thoughts and prayers.
God bless and keep you all!
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Linda, wow extremely disturbing to read of all the abuse and injustices inflicted on your mother. Your mother’s ordeal and other commenters on this blog sure expose how corrupt the attorneys and whole legal system is to allow this to happen to innocent, vulnerable people.
Kudos for all your work to expose these atrocious injustices and to advocate for reform.
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“The Sins of Conservatorship: Why Britney Spears Compared It to Slavery”
I was handed one of these contracts, under the disingenuous guise of an “art manager” contract, by a Lutheran psychologist, who wanted to cover up a prior Lutheran psychologist’s malpractice.
And the contract was appalling. These are literally slavery contracts, and they should be illegal. But they’re not. I explained how appalling the contract I was given to a cop. He said he’d file a police report, but told me such contracts are NOT illegal. They should be illegal, they are slavery contracts.
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Linda’s points are spot on. My Mother was in a predatory, abusive, negligent, exploitive guardianship. She was mild cognitive impairment for 10 years, last confirmed in January. One month later for vehemently complaining about the guardian not listening to her wishes, she was involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric ward, drugged with 6 off label, black box antipsychotic medications with 15 interactions between them, and purposefully misdiagnosed severe cognitive impairment while in a zombie like state.
Our complaints lead to monitored, limited visitation, Mom placed in memory care and her home willed to my live in brother, sold. In 18 month they spent over $700,000. The court allowed resignation “without litigating the propriety of the removal” when an ASAP neurology follow-up on her release summary occurred a negligent 22 months later. The visit summary blasted the use of antipsychotics and Benadryl with a dementia diagnosis as being adverse/allergic.
Attorney fees for designated guardian duties and charges case decisions of the Ohio Supreme Court deemed “non-legal” were routinely approved by the probate court. The Supreme Court Ethics Committee dismissed my complaint stating the court must have had a reason for doing so. I found 40 more cases this predatory regime exploited in the same manner – resent complaints, only to have them dismissed because I am not a party and have no firsthand knowledge. Never did they deny the alleged wrong doing.
Police, sheriff, ombudsman, adult protective services, attorney general, etc. all the way up the state flagpole denied jurisdiction over probate court insiders but NEVER DENIED THE CRIMINALITY. Our State Attorney Elder Justice Coordinator has no power but to give referral to the agencies I already contacted. The County Sheriff Detective with Organized Crime, the Auditor of the State Special Investigator, all recommended the FBI Public Corruption Unit.
Currently, the USPS has accepted 24 of my cases for mail fraud, ready to go. The FBI took my RICO information. The Department of Justice is supposed to have a permanent Elder Justice Attorney in DC and state assigned. They too, refer and co-ordinate which is completely useless. Biden has made no appointments.
I believe the US is giving lip service to fighting guardianship, conservatorship and elder abuse. Genuine success has not occurred. Ohio’s AG EJ could not name one single case under investigation after 3 years in existence despite The Ohio Coalition to END Probate Corruption reporting.
Thank you Linda for your efforts, heaven knows the entire gamut is corrupt. Slavery is an applicable description, Britney!
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“’Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States…’ The phrase ‘having been duly convicted’ refers to the 5th Amendment guarantee that no person ‘be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…’”
America’s legal and judicial industries today are actively working towards the opposite of these goals. I was told by multiple Kane county IL lawyers, in 2010 or 2011 – lawyers who refused to represent me – because “all the Kane county judges are bought out by the banks.”
And I have legal proof in my financial records that since Wells Fargo – a largely societally known criminal bank – did attempt to steal my home, via a fraudulent foreclosure, without having either the note, the date of the assignment of my home to Wells Fargo, nor my current mortgage. Which did make Wells Fargo’s fraudulent foreclosure and attempt to steal my home illegal. And I was also eventually sent the proof – from the mortgage company with whom I’d refinanced – that they still had my refinanced mortgage papers, after I’d sold my home.
“That concept is reiterated in the 14th Amendment. ‘ No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.’”
But this is exactly what happened to me, and I think, millions of American homeowners. Especially those of us women who were misdiagnosed with the “invalid” DSM disorders, by our systemic child abuse covering up paternalistic religions.
“Many civil rights advocates question the constitutionality of conservatorship as currently practiced.”
I did go to a police officer, explain the criminality of a conservatorship contract to that police officer after being handed one, by a child abuse covering up psychologist. I guess I’m one of those civil rights advocates, because I did question whether such a blatant thievery contract was even legal.
“Conservatorship is the only business that gives service providers absolute control over the client and the client’s assets. Only a conservator can use a client’s assets to oppose the rights and wishes of the client. Only a conservator can use a client’s assets to litigate against the client and against the client’s family. Only a CAC can bill for legal services that serve no purpose but to increase billable hours.”
Thankfully I knew enough to NOT sign that satanic conservatorship contract. But the cop did NOT arrest the attempted thief, who handed me that contract.
“My mother’s million-dollar estate was largely depleted by her three-year conservatorship.” A three year conservatorship contract is what I was handed, so that does seem to be what these criminals do consider to be the minimum they must hand over, to steal from those of us who have minimal millions.
“Conservatorship is nearly always a life sentence unless the estate is depleted during the life of the conservatee. After a wealthy conservatee dies, conservators and attorneys often continue litigating over distribution of the estate. Some families report a decade or more of court involvement in the estate, leaving meager distributions for legitimate heirs.”
Yes, we have psychological, psychiatric, legal, pastoral, systemic criminal attempted thievery from the masses by the criminal “professional” classes, via the conservatorship contracts.
“Predation is unavoidable when conservators and attorneys have unfettered access to the wealth of America’s ‘Greatest Generation.'”
Yes, the information age is being used to steal from the younger generations.
“While predators liquidate their estates, conservatees often endure isolation from loved ones, forced sedation, emotional and physical abuse.”
Thankfully, I knew enough about reading a contract, prior to signing it, to NOT sign a conservatorship contract. But I will say the disingenuous psychological and psychiatric industries’ utilization of such contracts – to cover up their systemic malpractice – is truly disgusting.
“Any American, regardless of mental capacity, can find themselves ensnared in the ‘legal-industrial system’ of conservatorship.” Especially since the psychologists are disingenuously handing these contracts out under the guise of “art manager” contracts, and are “partners” with the paternalistic religions.
“Given courts that apply ‘all the procedural rigor of processing a traffic ticket,’ a few unsubstantiated allegations can condemn a person to ‘civil death.’ We must thank Britney Spears for her courage to publicly share her story and draw America’s attention to one of our most shameful institutions.”
I do thank Brittany Spears for speaking out against these systemic legal and judicial crimes. And I do thank God that I was not unwise enough to sign one of these systemic satanic contracts.
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Linda Kincaid has worked tirelessly to expose the probate system and its continuing abuse on the elderly and their families. She does not exaggerate, my family felt victim to a predatory Public Guardian then to a “private” fiduciary, never was she brought to court, she was never even informed that there was court. She was drugged everyday with a cocktail of sedatives and anti -psychotics. She died under their care while they paid themselves handsomely going through over a million in 5 mostly on themselves and their attorneys. The Public Guardian was taken off the case as she was found double billing her clients for services just copying and pasting from one bill to the next and she had was fired from the County . Yet no financial investigation was enacted on the estates she had control of while she was practicing how to do creative accounting. My mom begged for her freedom, when Linda Kincaid went to see my mom they took out a retraining order against her or anyone that my mom did not know prior to her “incarceration”. They had my mom living in Carmel where she knew no one she wanted to go home to her house in San Francisco but they had other plans for that. She died alone of a heart attack with no heart problems prior in her nursing home I Carmel called Agape.
My mother was a nurse for 41 years and had saved up her money she was quite financially stable and that is what they were after. These crimes must be stopped and I applaud Linda Kincaid at all her efforts to bring light to the darkness.
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My Mother had a Trust. Despite what attorneys will tell you that “trusts avoid Probate” and they are “rock solid”. Baloney. With one or two unsavory lawyers, and a crack in the family, Trusts are easily manipulated and the vulnerable adult’s wishes are ignored. One of my siblings who was not the medical power of attorney, got an attorney, “for my Mother”. My Mother was not capable mentally or physically to contact and retain an attorney. This attorney, ignored the terms of my Mother’s 10 year-old Trust, “declared my Mother Competent enough” to change her Trust paperwork making one of the youngest children ( of 8), the “Trustee”. My Mother did not remember some of her children, grandchildren, that she owned homes, she was still after 4 months, recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury. She could not have known what was in her 10 year-old Trust, how the change would affect her Capacitated wishes as stated in her Trust (this is necessary to make changes to your Trust) This sibling, removed my Mother, against medical advice from the facility that she resided in (skilled nursing due to major medical event causing brain damage) drove my Mother to her home (against my Mother’s own terms of her Trust). Within 2 weeks my Mother’s health rapidly declined. She was not in a 24/7 medical facility and this sibling did not have any medical experience. Who failed my Mother: State Agencies failed (AG, APS, Ombudsmen, the mandatory reporting of exploitation of a vulnerable adult did not happen (nursing home FAILED to report the removal to the POA and LOCAL AUTHORITIES as REQUIRED by LAW, the Commisioner in Probate Court FAILED, Attorneys were criminal and FAILED, the Department of Justice FAILED, the ACLU FAILED, Area on Aging Failed, the local PD FAILED and worst of all, some of my siblings FAILED my Mother. Eventually this was taken to court, by the “new trustee’s” attorney to “time-bar” any and all breeches committed by the “new trustee”. Where else but in Probate Court can someone use a ward’s modest estate to protect themself? Where else but in Probate can a lawyer decide the same day as a neuropsych eval, that HE, the lawyer “has determined the competency” of a vulnerable adult brought in by those that benefitted a change in Trust paperwork? This also “lawyer” hid the changed documents from the Trust POA’s attorney (who was trying to fight what the sibling had done). Where else but Probate Court are these actions sanctioned and attorneys allowed to financially victimize a vulnerable adult? Some of us objected in Court, then We were victimized, financially and emotionally. The culprit attorneys (2) recieved over 150K for one Petition that benefitted the Trustee only. That money was paid from my Mother’s estate. We were forced to get an attorney and one sibling was out 70K. (50K for 3 weeks/trial and over 20K to punish us for filing a report to Adult Protective Services). This HAS TO STOP.
Where else but Probate Court with a stroke of a pen, does an adult loose their Civil Rights?
My Mother lost valuable time with her other children, grandchildren, family and friends due to 3 of her 8 children. She stopped remembering me within a couple weeks of her “removal against medical advice”. She was isolated in the “new Trustee’s home”. We were given no Medical Information. When we would ask, harassment from the other siblings and the attorney using my Mother’s money, not my sister’s. Whom ever gets the key to the “vault” (estate) and has assistance from an Attorney (actually advertises this on his blog, getting rid of Trustees), these people always win and the Vulnerable Adult always loses. So does the Family of the Vulnerable Adult.
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