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 ācivil matterā if the perps paid for the damage to the door. So they wrote a check from my momās 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 wasnāt 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.
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.
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 ācivil matterā if the perps paid for the damage to the door. So they wrote a check from my momās 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 wasnāt 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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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.
Report comment