November 12, 2021, was a great day for Britney Spears and a great day for justice when a judge freed her from a conservatorship that controlled every aspect of her life. It was definitely something to celebrate, but it was also a solemn day because Spears had had to endure a more than decade-long nightmare orchestrated by her father and others. It was a solemn day, because there are at least a million other, less famous, individuals who are still trapped in exactly this kind of arrangement.
Guardianship is an alarming threat to everyone’s health and welfare. In secret in a judge’s chambers, one’s rights to make personal and financial decisions can be stripped in moments. It is very widespread, but little known, although because of Britney Spears’ chilling testimony last summer and the persistence of the Free Britney Movement, this practice has been catapulted into the public’s consciousness.
That is what happened to me and my parents. Our mistake was filing for guardianship, which others used to turn us into human ATM machines. We didn’t know that this had been going on for decades and didn’t find out until we were trapped. Today, I am part of a national human rights coalition, Victims and Families Harmed by Guardianship, whose purpose is to protect older Americans and disabled individuals of all ages from exploitation by state probate guardianships. We are a consortium of state coalitions that have joined together to contact our federal representatives and the media to demand reform. People who can’t take care of themselves need support and protection, and guardianship provides neither.
My Family’s Story
It is hard to imagine what goes on unless you have lived it. The following is what happened to me and my parents.
In January 2005, my father filed a complaint with the Nassau County, New York, District Attorney against my sister, Terri, who he’d recently discovered had been embezzling millions of dollars from both my parents, as well as from me. The DA began an investigation. Around the same time, an estates attorney recommended that my father and I file a petition to become co-guardians for my mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He told us it could help us recover the stolen money. However, instead of appointing us as co-guardians, a Nassau County Judge appointed a lawyer for my mother and an examiner to review the case. At a meeting I attended at my parents’ home, they both attacked us and told our lawyer they were not going to recommend us to the judge.
Without even a hearing, the judge appointed total strangers as my mother’s guardians instead. Both were private lawyers. When my father and I learned this, we asked to withdraw our guardianship petition, but were told we could not. This judge and the lawyers now controlled my parents’ money. But they didn’t protect it, meaning Terri still had access to it, nor did they look after my mother’s needs. At one point, the judge wanted me and Terri to become my mother’s co-personal needs guardian evens though by this point my sister had been arrested for grand larceny.
Creating Chaos
Everything in my life and my parents’ lives then became a nightmare. Different court-appointed guardians, all private attorneys, cycled in and out of our lives. All the while, they billed my mother hundreds in hourly rates for various clerical services but provided no benefit to her. After my father died in 2006, I tried to intervene, moving to New York to take care of my mother because I was not allowed to bring her back to California, where I lived. I again filed a petition to become my mother’s sole guardian of person and property, but was only appointed as her personal-needs guardian. The court-appointed lawyers still controlled all of her assets, including the house, and continued to pay themselves excessively for “managing” them.
For example, they hired their own accountants. One of these accountants billed us $12,000 for counting the money in my mother’s brokerage account—twice, in 10 months. Another accountant billed us $100,000 for looking over forensic accounting my accountant gave him. Meanwhile, my mother’s Social Security check and her retirement distribution were being deposited into a guardianship checking account, but none of that was being used on behalf of my mother. When I balked, I was told that I had no standing to ask how the money was being spent. Over time, the guardians depleted her estate. Every time they wrote a check to themselves, they claimed, “It is in the best interest of the ward.” These lawyers regularly scheduled court proceedings from 2005 until 2018 (the year my mother died), resolving nothing. All of this took place with a judge’s approval.
There’s a lot more to the story—including being harassed by my sister (who was charged with grand larceny and disowned by our father) and the fact that the court repeatedly sided with Terri whenever she tried to intervene (she rarely visited our mother but did try to have her placed in a nursing home so she could take the house). All of it is an example of how guardianship can create chaos within families.
Dragging on After Death
Both my parents are gone, but this case is still ongoing. The lawyers are demanding one-third of my father’s estate. My father had an estate plan which provided a lifetime trust for my mother, but this was overturned in a judge’s chambers. They also filed a right of election against my father’s will and appointed a public administrator and his lawyer to deal with the estate.
When my mother was alive, I was told that the deed to my parents’ house would be turned over to me; I was even copied on emails to that effect, but when I went to the clerk’s office after her death, I was told the deed was not in my name. It turned out that there was no money left, and the current guardian told me they were therefore going to do a reverse mortgage on the house.
When I resisted, the judge agreed to a conference among five lawyers (all of whom billed my mother, of course). At this conference, they also decided that the court-appointed guardian and the court-appointed evaluator would come to the house to do an inventory. For this “service,” they were getting ready to bill us way more than the value of anything in the home. I made it very clear that I wouldn’t allow it. The public administrator and his lawyer then sent me a letter demanding money and saying that if I didn’t pay, they would tell a judge to sanction me. They also told my lawyer that I had to compel them to turn the deed to my parents’ house over to me because “that’s how the system works.” The guardian still has still not done so, even though she was supposed to years ago. Meanwhile, I have been made to pay for everything involved in the home’s upkeep, including the property taxes.
A Powerful Legal-Industrial Complex
My story is routine when it comes to guardianship. In New York State, guardianship has become a powerful legal-industrial complex, a well-designed system to benefit court-appointed lawyers who are party loyalists, former judges, and partners in the law firms of New York’s most powerful politicians. These lawyers are appointed as court evaluators, court referees, court examiners, guardians and/or attorneys for the guardian, and accountants for the allegedly incapacitated person. They all work in concert to lure families who have sizable estates into guardianship to resolve a matter and then, instead of appointing the family member who petitioned to be the guardian, they give that role to a court-appointed lawyer.
That’s why Victims and Families Harmed by Guardianship is calling for an end to the state probate systems that have been usurped by professional guardians. With layers of lawyers, predatory guardians take vulnerable adults and their families hostage. The human suffering is enormous. New guardianships are created every day and families are helpless to prevent or reverse it, because it is entirely legal to usurp the rights of vulnerable people.
It’s not just New York. A 2010 special series on lobbying in the San Jose Mercury News of California (Britney Spears’ home state) revealed how guardianship and conservatorship laws are made. They are essentially written by lobbyists who present them to legislators. This process has created a shadow system to exploit ordinary citizens using the courts as vehicles for financial abuse. Then, judges are hand-picked by politicians and/or their close associates, and after those judges are elected, they reward their friends with lucrative guardianships.
Everyone in this scenario gets paid from the assets of the person placed into the guardianship. So if there is an objection to the guardianship, the opposing party uses the ward’s assets to fight them ad nauseam. Britney’s battle mirrors ours in this way: The lawyer for her father/conservator, Jamie Spears, wrongly claimed that Britney had never asked to end the conservatorship—and then that lawyer fought like hell not to have him suspended. It was all paid for with Britney’s money.
What We’ve Been Doing
As a coalition, Victims and Families has educated the media and offered to share our stories and expose what is clearly systemic corruption. Outlets across the country have begun reporting on the issue. ABC10 Sacramento, The Intercept, ABC Denver 7, the Traverse City Record-Eagle, and Buzzfeed News, among others, have shared victims’ nightmares. The Free Britney movement has also joined us, inviting victims to speak at their most recent rallies. Mathew Rosengart, Britney Spears’ lawyer, has publicly acknowledged the systemic failures at each of his press conferences following Britney’s hearings.
Approaching state legislators hasn’t gone as well. In New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, victims have appealed to lawmakers and state Attorneys General only to be ignored. The message to us is: The courts can do whatever they like; we will not investigate. This is why guardianship must be eliminated.
Some Hopeful Attention
Fortunately, this issue has started to get attention at the federal level. On September 28, there was a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee titled “Toxic Conservatorship: The Need for Reform.” It was chaired by Senator Richard Blumenthal, who is also on the Special Senate Committee on Aging and so is aware of this decades-long abusive system. At the hearing, one victim, Nicholas Clouse, testified about his agonizing experience of being placed into a guardianship after an accident and losing control of everyday decisions. He was able to end the guardianship after an incredible struggle. When he spoke, it was clear that his court-appointed guardians had been given total power and they were using it to harm him.
The hearing mostly focused on preventing people from being put under guardianship in the first place, but there was little to no mention of how to address issues in existing guardianships, including law-enforcement investigations of reported abuse and exploitation. We need more hearings that feature the voices of victims who are currently under guardianship and want out. People will see that this system needs to end because is designed to benefit the people who control it rather than disabled individuals.
Also last fall, AB 1194 was signed into law in California, which allows those who are conserved to choose their own attorneys. But will the law be followed? As victims have pointed out, they have contacted the bill’s sponsor (State Senator Evan Low) in the past about their cases and he did nothing.
A Call to Action
We need to keep up the pressure on politicians and to continue to show that guardianship is a draconian, unconstitutional system that needs to be eliminated. Absolute power corrupts, and guardianship is a form of absolute power over a person’s life. The system invites exploitative behavior, as has been demonstrated over and over again in these cases. We need to get to the bottom of what court-appointed guardians and their representatives are doing in order to get justice. To do that, it is critical that we keep telling our stories in every forum.
Mad in America readers who want to get involved should contact Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut and demand more hearings on guardianship with victim-witnesses. They should also contact every senator who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Special Senate Committee on Aging. For more information, contact me via Twitter, @Marian_Kornicki.
Marian, I am outraged on your behalf. This is ludicrous! I vaguely knew about Britney Spears’ struggles but I had no idea the problem was so widespread. Thanks for getting this out there and, as an aside, you write beautifully.
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Thank you, Francesca. It is very widespread.
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The sad thing is that so many people are just not aware of how often this is happening nationally, until it happens to their own family. But then it’s way too late. And it doesn’t have to originate with family strife among siblings. I’m an only child and it happened to my mother and nearly destroyed our family. And over the years I’m finding this happens to other female only children quite often. Would love to join forces to get my story out, so others are aware that this happens in the mainstream population, and not just wealthy celebrities.
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Hi Ship2Shore:
Please let me know if you would like to speak to an investigative reporter that I spoke to earlier today. He wants to talk to victims.
Warm regards,
Marian
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I would like to talk to someone about what’s going on with my son’s case.
Susan Roth
650 759-6915
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THIS IS A REPLY FOR SUSAN ROTH: CAN YOU ALSO GIVE ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. MANY THANKS, MARIAN
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I sent you my email address months ago. No reply from you or any investigative reporter. Is this spam ?
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Hi: I did reply to you in 2022 and I gave you Braedon Waddell’s email address. You did leave an email address at that time. I sent you an email. Yesterday when I was asking for contact information, I was replying to Susan Roth who left her phone number as you can see in the comments section.
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I had a very persistent psychologist try – relentlessly – to get me to sign his “art manager” contract. Which was a classic “take a percentage of gross profit” thievery contract, mixed with a conservatorship contract – not a legitimate “art manager” contract. I was absolutely appalled when I read the contract, then reread it. I was just amazed at how evil that contract was.
Finally, after saying NO to signing the contract God knows how many times, I filed a police report, and asked the policeman if such contracts were even legal, since they most definitely should be made illegal. The cop didn’t say they were illegal, but he likely called that appalling psychologist, and told him to leave me alone. The cop did seem to be a little amused, as I was explaining to him the staggeringly criminal nature of the contract.
I’m glad to see a psychologist speaking out about how evil the conservatorship contracts are. And I hope you will send a message to your profession – and your industry’s partners, the psychiatrists, who make this all possible – that it is absolutely ethically unacceptable to hand those contracts out, under any guise, or force them upon anyone.
I’m sorry for what happened to your family, Marian. And I hope some day the psychologists and psychiatrists – some of whom have been destroying the lives of individuals and families for decades – will some day apologize, too. And I’m not asking for you to apologize to me.
It’s the individual psychologists and psychiatrists who misdiagnosed me, defamed me to my own husband, then anticholinergic toxidrome poisoned me – to cover up the abuse of my child for their pastors – then tried to steal from me, who need to apologize to me, not you.
But this is a systemic problem within my former religion, the ladies of which have confessed to their “partnership” with the “mental health” industries. I’d be one of the many “widows” mentioned in the Preface of this book.
https://books.google.com/books?id=xI01AlxH1uAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Thanks for your thoughts. I’ll have a look at the link you shared.
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Hello,
I just lived through a two year guardianship nightmare her in Texas. I spent over $120k, fighting to keep my mother out of the hands of professional guardians. I was able to win guardianship of the person, however I finally handed over guardianship of the estate, with deal that I picked the estate trustee and negotiated the rates. My mother is in the final stages of dementia, and still wanted to be free. The unfortunate part, she was giving her money away to scammers claiming to be Keanu Reeves. Her dementia had already progressed and she was going to hurt herself or someone else, I had no choice. Never would I have guessed to be fighting Denton County Texas for my Mom’s well being and for the ability to take care of her. I would love to join this fight and tell others about the corrupt system.
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WOW
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WOW indeed.
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I was aware of this, but not aware of how widespread it is.
What are some things to do to prevent this abusive thievery?
I wonder about holding real estate and investment portfolios in llc’s as possible safeguards. Public records do reveal assets to possible thieves. Hence, the llc question.
Those accused of mental illness seem particularly at risk of this method of abuse. Some points concerning how to be safe would be so much appreciated.
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Thank you Francesca. It is a very routine phenomena. I have been in connect with victims from all over the country.
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Hi Bananas:
The solution is to abolish guardianship. People need support and protection. Guardianship is neither one.
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The other victims being targeted are vulnerable, developmentally disabled dependent children with limited communication (identified as adults due to age alone), sometimes referred to as ‘autistic’. They have been torn from their families while all legal entities refuse to investigate the complaints of neglect, isolation, as well as medical, emotional, psychological and physical abuse. The isolation and separation are inhumane and torturous. This is happening, not only in Nevada, but nationwide and if you consider statistics showing 1 in 40 are afflicted with this disability and the billions of dollars of funding provided for their care you will understand how lucrative this racket has become.
They have been either ‘medically or court kidnapped’ with guardianship transferred to the COUNTY PUBLIC GUARDIAN, DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICES or another guardian APPOINTED BY THE COURT.
Their human/civil and ADA rights became non-existent and/or have been consistently violated as soon as the limited conservatorship or guardianship was transferred. Their disability along with their limited communication is the excuse used to isolate them, remove their freedom to make/receive phone calls, for familial contact to be completely denied, their speech censored and all disability rights denied. Prisoners have more rights than they are given. No, we are not asking for compensation – we want them back and all those involved removed from their positions; thereby rendered incapable of tearing any more families apart. It is time to clean house and once again let family take care of family. All government agencies (especially in Nevada) have refused to stop this, have ignored, or are involved in some way. No media will report what is happening.
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This abuse is happening so over California snd had happened to my father. My family has been destroyed as well. My father was fraudulently conserved 3 years ago through a petition filed by an ex girlfriend who had no standing to initiate it in the first place..He was declared incapacitated without an examination by a complicit doctor. His valid estate plan was thrown out and everything he has was turned over to a fiduciary who he was forced to pay 150/hour to for litigation they created and services they ” provided’. They had the sheriff’s extract him from his home and I was assaulted and thrown in a police car and treated like a criminal. All in front of my 8 year old daughter. My dad managed to escape and we continued fighting. In order to keep my dad in his home with me i was forced to sign a settlement agreement or hostage negotiaton as I like to call it. In order to pay thsir fees a reverse mortgage was done on the house and with all the equity going to them plus my dad’s social security and pension they have been collecting for the last 3 years. Plus they have a lien on the house for additional fees that are still owed. . I was finally made conservator of his person which should have been a victory but doesnt much feel like one. So 3 years later I’ve been given my job back after they took all that they could. And now as we attempt to put this nightmare behind us , the ex girlfriend has filed an Objection dragging me through the mud all over again & is asking for visitation and working with my father’s court appointed attorney to get it! The stress of it is taking its toll on us all and I’m so angry and disgusted that this is being allowed to happen to us and so many others.
Please speak out and expose these criminals!
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The above comments from Carol and Shel 369 show that guardianship is a license to steal. It was used a century ago to steal the Osage in Oklahoma of proceeds from mineral rights which had been granted by treaty. There have been statutory changes and media exposes, BUT THE SYSTEM IN PRACTICE HAS NOT IMPROVED. Growing is a giant professional guardianship industry who can have hundreds of clients with absolutely no oversight. JUDGES DO NOT FOLLOW THE LAW. The state supreme courts are aware of the problem. No one is using their authority to ensure compliance.
WE DO NOT KNOW THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN GUARDIANSHIP. No one is collecting data. This practice has to be investigated. That is why RICO was designed. Then it must be dismantled. Call guardianship what it is REMOVAL OF RIGHTS.
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Marian what a well written article! I so appreciate your relentless work on exposing and ending this nightmare for victims and their families.
In SoCal, there is a “Cabal” that has run the probate courts for over a decade. There are several attorneys and the court appointed GALs involved. They all just “change hats” in the next case. The for Profit Fiduciaries, The realtors and appraisers they use are involved. They overturn existing trusts and advance directives. They financially and emotionally try to ruin any friends or family that try to stop them. They get court approval of bogus restraining and eviction orders.
The court ignores all proof of conspiracy and collusion. They boldly declare the court does whatever they tell it to do.
No one is safe. They even turn on their own.
This evil runs deep.
Only God, in the name of Jesus Christ, can stop this!
Victims keep fighting! Don’t let them silence you! God sees all!
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This line struck home for me: “They all work in concert to lure families who have sizable estates into guardianship to resolve a matter and then, instead of appointing the family member who petitioned to be the guardian, they give that role to a court-appointed lawyer.”
I, too, am a psychotherapist and I went to an attorney for help when my family member would not provide me with the money needed to care for my 98-year-old grandmother, who was living in my home at the time. Instead of helping a family in crisis, the attorney licked his lips and recommended that I sign on to a “professional” conservator who would mediate between me and the family member. The story turned out pretty similar to Marian’s. They all seem uncanningly the same and that is because they all have the same evil authors.
And if you don’t think you need to worry about corrupt guardianship, ponder this: many of the same elder attorneys you are going to to help write your wills and trusts are involved in the guardianship system. In many ways, the estate documents are an application process for future guardianship, since you voluntarily share all of your finances and family dynamics with these attorneys who may choose to use it against you at a later date. In fact, attorneys themselves can file a petition for guardianship in some or most states (without any support from family)!
What has our nation come to to treat the most treasured amongst us in this manner?
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Marian Kornicki is a kind, loving and dedicated person and this tragedy could not have happened unless her parents had money and assets to steal. That is Marian Kornicki’s “crime” that her family had assets and property that was built from hard work and sacrifice over four decades in the USA. Marian Kornicki is a victim of an organized criminal enterprise masquerading as Conservatorship/Guardianship which provides for a legal framework designed to rob innocent people of their humanity, rights and property all in the name of “benefitting the AIP”.
Anyone can file a Guardianship claim against any person at any time no matter if it truthful of accurate in order for a judge to set aside all wills and estate planning. Once the process starts and there is conflict in the family then a lawyer is appointed from a list to isolate, overmedicate and liquidate all the assets and money. All of the fees are paid out from the AIP– the Alleged Incapacitated Person. Fees per hour are typically $400 an hour.
Lawyers assigned to Marian Kornicki’s mother’s Guardianship have stolen nearly all of her parent’s money and are trying to steal her mother’s home! Even after her mother died over six years ago!
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Hi Gilbert:
Thanks for your comments. It is so important for people to know this is going on. Speaking of $400 an hour. The last court-appointed guardian was billing at that rate and when she was named, she billed my mother and was paid $25,000 for reviewing files. It was approved by court order from a judge. She wrote the check to herself from my mother’s account. That was just a warm up. Another was billing at over $600 an hour and she always had a colleague w/her, so she billed for both of the ($375 for her colleague). She wrote a motion to have me removed as my mother’s personal needs guardian and billed my mother. She said that she visited my mother and when I said it wasn’t true, she said I was preventing her from visiting and filed her motion. I had to hire a lawyer to respond. And then she countered again – all of it billed to my mother and approved by a judge. What I have described is shockingly routine. It is criminal.
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In the final years of her life, my Italian-born mother, who was diagnosed with and suffered from dementia of the Alzheimer’s Type, fell victim to financial abuse by the very nursing home caregivers we had trusted to keep her safe and comfortable. The memory care facility – Paragon Village (now Bentley) in Hackettstown, NJ put her in touch with local unethical attorneys who manipulated her and bilked her out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and a large portion of her estate. We fought hard to stop them, but they had powerful connections. My petition for legal guardianship as her ONLY family went nowhere, and my family was unsure where to turn when the system is so irreparably broken. The last few years of my mother’s life were fraught with watching the attorneys and judges separate her completely from her family, until they fought for and won, legal guardianship over her, only 22 days before her death. She died alone in the nursing home, having fallen from her bed without rails, alone and completely isolated from her family. We all had been prevented from seeing her for the last 3 years of her life.
Every May 14th marks a painful anniversary for our family. Eight years ago, my husband was suddenly fired from a long-time Vice President position with a small family-owned medical company called Glatt Air Techniques in Ramsey, NJ because of a completely untrue and slanderous article. This article appeared in a small local newspaper, naming both of us (and ALL the names of the universities we attended and companies where we worked) with a headline of “Couple Faked Alzheimers and Stole $980k from Elderly Mother”, thus making it go viral online in New Jersey. Ironically the newspaper was in the town next to one of the unethical lawyer’s offices and later the newspaper was forced to retract the article. But the damage had been done and it took a costly defamation attorney to have the article taken down from Google and later the pdfs off of my mother’s spiteful attorneys’ websites used as their marketing collateral (and reporting them to the NJ Ethics Board, which proved useless).
That same day ALL of my bank accounts (including those I had with my 3 children) were wiped clean of all money because the judge (the not-so-honorable Donald Coburn) placed a judgement against me for savings bonds that were given to me by my mother over a period of 30 years as gifts. The timing of the draining of the accounts was terrible and the shock and embarrassment of my husband losing a job for the first time ever in his life for the wrong reason, was just crushing to our family. Especially after not being granted guardianship in the lengthy trial, which was what I had initially set out to do when my mother’s mental capacity was rapidly failing. Not to mention the whispers and gossip by the people who weren’t aware of the many sacrifices we had made over the years for my mom who had lived with us for 4 years prior, where she was well-cared for. However by some miracle, we lived through it and my husband found a new job and his excellent reputation in the pharmaceutical industry was not compromised, as the vindictive lawyers had hoped and planned for. But when May 14th rolls around every spring…..it’s a raw and painful memory to remember. I hope my story can help other innocent people avoid being dragged into a terrible situation like what happened to us. My message is to avoid probate court at all costs – because only the corrupt lawyers come out winning and the poor victims end up losing everything, just as my defenseless mother did.
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I just read your other comment and commented there. If you are interested in speaking to an investigative reporter please let me know and I will put you in contact with him. I spoke to him earlier today and he is very interested in learning more about this.
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How do I reach you ? I would be happy to speak to an investigative reporter. I don’t see a way to private message you and am fearful of putting my email address out in public
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POSTING AS MODERATOR:
I am available to help people get together who don’t want to publicly share their emails. If both of you email me at [email protected] or [email protected], and both of you agree to share, I can send you each the other’s email. Let me know if that’s something you want to do.
Steve
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Steve:
We reached each other. Thanks for your contact information.
Best,
Marian
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Excellent!
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Just WOW! This is so scary.
I truly hope the Britney Spears movement is going to reach over to non-celebrity cases. Perhaps she will help shine more light on this huge issue.
Beautiful article, Marian!
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Myself, from Nevada, along with three other parents from California have joined in the effort to free our angels from government control. We filed individual and then a joint federal civil rights complaint. The art of the ‘pass the buck’ resolution used too often by government agencies has begun. Our joint and my individual complaint were referred to the Federal Department of Health and Human Services on December 14, 2021. It dead ended there.
Making this a reality is not difficult. No new laws or legislation are needed as what is being done to Casey, Nate, Andrew, William and all of the others who are imprisoned is already against the law. WE JUST NEED THOSE LAWS ENFORCED, THOSE RESPONSIBLE HELD ACCOUNTABLE AND OUR SONS RETURNED TO US.
Casey, Nate, Andrew and William are not celebrities and have only the voices of their parents, myself (Carol), Ilya, Deborah and Lynda to speak for them. Classified officially as vulnerable, developmentally disabled dependent children with limited communication (identified as adults due to age alone) and diagnosed as ‘autistic’. They have become the forgotten ‘middle child’ between the children and elderly and are the link that completes the circle of this corruptive guardianship system.
They have the right to be with those who care for and love them. They have the right to enjoy life instead of being drugged just to make it easier for their ‘caregivers’ to get through each day. They have the right to be happy. They are not a paycheck. They are not disposable. They are important.
They have been torn from their families while all legal entities refuse to investigate the complaints of neglect and isolation combined with medical, emotional, psychological and physical abuse. The isolation and separation are inhumane and torturous. Convicted felons are treated better in prison.
Families are left bankrupt as they seek ‘legal’ assistance to get their loved ones returned to them only to find that the attorneys are already in the game or drafted once they accept a guardianship case. We mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers have watched in horror as our loved ones are ‘court kidnapped’ or ‘medically kidnapped’ for profit.
We are tired of seeing the truth trampled on in our ‘justice’ system, tired of watching our loved ones deteriorate before our eyes as they beg us to free them and tired of seeing them shrink when making the mistake of trying to say something that is not allowed. We are also tired of seeing our state, county and court systems along with everyone else who is tied to this racket obtaining financial security under the guise of the guardianship systems that they have severely corrupted while EVERYONE INVOLVED TURNS A BLIND EYE TO THEIR SUFFERING.
In addition, any attempts to expose what is happening to them by group house staff or others while they are wards of the court assigned to the COUNTY PUBLIC GUARDIAN, DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICES or another guardian appointed by the court are silenced and/or ignored. Yes, COUNTY PUBLIC GUARDIAN – what better way to keep all that funding under government control and in one nice, neat little package.
ALL INTEREST IN THEIR CASES SEEMS TO END WHEN THE EXTENT OF GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT IS REVEALED. Why? How can it not make sense to keep things under full control in this way? This has been going on for decades in Nevada alone.
Please read the following quote from an attorney, in response to a request for contact information to organize a rally for one of the victims of a fraudulent guardianship/limited conservatorship:
“The sad truth is that no one is going to rally for —-. The media doesn’t care about a man with autism, the politicians don’t care either, so I can certainly try and let some of the young people know that you are suffering, and that your son is suffering, but don’t expect anyone to show up. Your federal congressional rep is your best chance. All around us is evidence of a broken system, but do you hear a peep from any judge? Nope, they can’t be embarrassed into taking action. I am very sorry. I know this is terrible. I will share your contact information but otherwise, I don’t know what to do.”
The horrific ‘court kidnapping’ and ‘medical kidnapping’ cases of these voiceless individuals throughout the United States is a reality. The lengths that all agencies involved are willing to go in an effort to discredit those who are trying desperately to free their loved ones from this web of corruption is even more incredible. There is evidence – a lot. Think about it. If all of the garbage they are spewing about us were true, would we really be trying to bring any of this out in the open to so many and be pleading for an investigation? Now, consider why they are trying so desperately to silence us and what they have to lose if this is exposed.
If one would listen to the different accounts taking place across this free country, it becomes glaringly obvious that each state is sharing a Standard Operating Procedure manual specifically for this very lucrative endeavor. If there is one known case in any state, you can be assured that there are many others.
Why would these court and government entities do this? Because there is so much money involved. Some of these individuals have estates, most have Medicare or Medicaid, and all are easy targets once they are under the control of the government. Take a peek at how much funding is given for the purpose of aiding these vulnerable disabled adult ‘kids’ and then explain why these individuals are neglected so horribly. Where does all that money go? There are so many victims and this has been done for so long that there is no regulation or scrutiny.
What is happening under the smokescreen of the term ‘PROTECTED PERSON’ is no more than legalized human trafficking. Another way for financial gain by ‘legally’ kidnapping these individuals and imprisoning them until they are used up. Should these innocents die it does not matter to them as there are so many others to fill the gap and more that will be added each day. At this time, please refer to the definition of RICO.
No, we are not asking for compensation – we want our loved ones back and all those involved removed from their positions; and, thereby rendered incapable of tearing any more families apart to satisfy their financial greed. All Guardianships and Limited Conservatorships need to be abolished. It is too late for reform; it is time to clean house and once again let family take care of family.
COALITION OF PARENTS
Carol Pickett, Deborah Findley, Ilya Tseglin, Lynda Ente
…and all of the John and Jane Doe’s not yet identified
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Abusive conservatorship happened to my family in Los Angeles, CA. Please read my first hand account about the circumstances of my Mother’s corrupt conservatorship below:
https://www.nextavenue.org/when-conservatorship-goes-terribly-wrong/
Erica
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Thanks, Erica. This is happening to too many individuals and families and has to eliminated. It is criminal and crooked. I read your book, I’m Not Playing about your efforts to rescue your mom. It is a beautiful blend of poetry and prose.
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Sravya Tadespalli wrote the following article which was published in Prism Reports about how conservatorships affect communities of color, the guardianship abolishment movement, and the policy and legal barriers that stand in its way. Here is the link:
https://prismreports.org/2022/02/01/as-conservatorship-abuse-gains-more-attention-more-activists-speak-out-against-it/
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Please read our story: https://sgprc.tumblr.com/post/667770604157616128/britney-spears-is-free-cavan-is-not
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Hi: Thank you for your email. I sent you a message via twitter, but I have included more information here. In California, Disability Voices United. Email: [email protected]. Tom Coleman of the Spectrum Institute is another helpful resource. [email protected].
I have recently been introduced to the following.
National Association of Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA.org)
MindFreedom International (MindFreedom.org)
One of their current efforts is this petition https://chng.it/cdqRmH4S5K
Thank you,
Marian
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Ohio is just as bad.
My Mother was a victim of a predatory guardianship. No one in the proper channel recourse disputed my claims of medical abuse/neglect and financial exploitation, yet all denied jurisdiction over probate court.
I found over 40 more victims of this same regime through public records, finding financial exploitation in every single case! My proof is legally self-authenticating. Probate signed filings and Ohio Supreme Court case decisions are both considered self-authenticating. (Rule 902, 10)
The state still would not intervene! However, I did get written/recorded recommendations to send my cases to the FBI Public Corruption Unit from Hamilton County Organized Crime Unit Detective, the Ohio Attorney General Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Special Investigator and the Auditor of the State Special investigator.
My evidence of public corruption and racketeering has been in the mail awaiting a receipt signature since 2-7-22 to the local FBI as requested.
Corruption has infiltrated our nation.
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Kathy: Amazing work. Thank you.
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An appeal for help. I previously posted a link for my son Cavan’s conservatorship story (below). I’m requesting that anyone concerned about this situation attend the San Gabriel Pomona Regional Center’s board meeting on 2/23 at 7:15PM PST on Zoom and make a three minute (or less) public comment. Zoom Meeting ID: 234 566 141 (Password 916227). Heartfelt thanks from our family.
https://sgprc.tumblr.com/post/667770604157616128/britney-spears-is-free-cavan-is-not
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Aligra: Please tweet @cathylrodriguez who leads and is part of a California group. An email for her is [email protected]. A protest in Sacramento is in the works.
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The following article was published in the New York Times on March 24. Bonnie Lee Apple starved and nearly died on Guardian’s Watch, Family Says. I think you will be able to open the following even if you are not a subscriber.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/nyregion/court-appointed-guardian-abuse-case.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DODmweiOIEGYWP-kDLIqFkesEvmj2DXNhANqMiSLl90-ZFM01kTUyhqIafldEOKj4474KvW2d8l7T8YYcFyx64JG-oNLU4g7SloxONNDX3XaHc03B3Jg5685cyIEWt2CBf2v_HEbVqiYN81KwhBpB8QTwCdzDK66ezc2h2P9-Hahna6QckCaoOCXyIw4nqu_9Xex5SCFnGUHp-_W06jdhdM9sQN6_0RAUyLIu82f5CTzw1c_r6QsE5VIPWlL51sLPSqhbqy8C-x_k-FaU8r6ptHhbPPQBV5CiXGnmb_QT5&smid=em-share
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This is one reason I don’t talk to my mother anymore. She was always abusive and manipulative but when I got older and I was still financially dependent she started speaking with my psychiatrist in private and scheduling meetings I wasn’t alerted I was to attend or for what purpose with him where they’d already decided what my next ‘treatment’ was to be. I’d show up and they’d tell me you’re going to do this and if I said no my mother would tell me she’d pull my funding first For college and then for my masters program, and then finally for my phd (the last one was a lie as they actually weren’t paying for it, my now active trust was but they withheld that info to have more leverage to coerce me). Now that I’m not financially dependent anymore one might wonder what leverage they have? Well, my mother was a federal prosecutor for decades and is now a millionaire heiress with extensive contacts in the legal system and expert knowledge of how to manipulate it that I don’t have, plus she managed to coerce me into a psychiatric system that has labeled me with conditions that would strip me of all credibility and make a good case for conservatorship. What is to stop her from using her power in this way the next time she decides I’m not living the way she wants me to? It’s very hard to explain to people. But I could lose my whole life, forever.
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