http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/1161177
Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation of our most vulnerable citizens is on the rise at alarming rates.
The very systems that should be protecting these victims are failing miserably.
What's worse is some of those systems meant to protect these vulnerable people who are already hurting and need help have become a mechanisms that can and is used to perpetrate abuse and financial exploitation against them. In fact Guardianship are now being used as a tool to exploit money from estates and from their family members as well who are vulnerable to the complex legal system that are assaulted in.
This Share is dedicated to providing education to other so that they can help us help those who are in need.
Once a person is put into guaridanship (a legal instrument) they most often lose all of their civil rights and constitutional rights. It doesn't seem right that a person can become essentially a non-person, a person who has lost their birthrights as citizens of this great nation founded on these very principles. It doesn't seem right that a person can lose their right to their own property. But in happens every single day in America, in courts all over this land in our State Courts.
To protect is the goal of the instruments that appoint another as the "decider" for another. There are two such instruments: one is guardianship of the person and the other is guardianship of the property or conservatorship.
There are other less instrusive means of providing surrogate decision making for an person who is unable to manage their own affairs. For centuries family and loved ones have stepped in to help a loved one.
Guardianships were meant to be used as a very last resort for those who had no one else there to help them. Today however this instrument is being abused by those who find it as a means to reward themselves financially from the assets of a person who has no say whatsoever over their own money and property.
Quite simply put these people are easy pickings and the law has created the incredibly easy to abuse instrument for others including greedy relatives, lawyers, professional fiduciarys and others to abuse. When you had a elderly widow with an estate worth millions there are those who will jump at the opportunity to be that persons gaurdian because the system is set up for them to be paid from the fund that they manage, the ward's estate.
This opportunity leads to numerous petitions for guardianship that are entirely unwarranted and the unnessesary and inappropriate declaration of incompetance of a person who is just old and perhaps forgettful or just basically in need of a helping hand.
Today the abuse of our Elderly is being worsened by the abuses occuring in guardianships and conservatorship.
We need to all work to stop this problem or we will be victims one day.
ELDER ABUSE VICTIMS ADVOCATES
Showing posts with label guardianship abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guardianship abuse. Show all posts
Friday, October 2, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Judge Appoints Guardian for Plaintiff in Copyright Suit
Now they can use guardianships as a weapon in lawsuits???? How can we stop the abuse of Adult Guardianships.
May 28, 2009
Judge Appoints Guardian for Plaintiff in Copyright Suit
A federal district judge in Washington appointed a guardian ad litem yesterday to represent the interests of a Maryland architect who has battled her own lawyer for seven years in a copyright suit against a rival architectural firm and the United Arab Emirates.
Elena Sturdza’s suit, filed in 1998 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has stalled since 2002 when her lawyer, Nathan Lewin, called into question his client’s competency to make rational decisions regarding her case. Lewin moved then for an appointment of a guardian, and U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. granted the request.
But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit this year reversed Kennedy, saying Sturdza had not been given ample notice about the proceedings. The appeals court said Sturdza should be given a shot to be heard on Lewin’s motion. That hearing was held earlier this month, at which time there was little doubt that Kennedy would re-appoint a guardian for Sturdza.
“Having provided Sturdza notice and an opportunity to be heard, this court again concludes that the motion for appointment of a guardian ad litem should be granted,” Kennedy wrote in an order published May 28. Click here for a copy of the order. Kennedy earlier this month also ordered Sturdza to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
When Kennedy first appointed a guardian, the judge noted Sturdza's behavior before him and her pro se filings as compelling reasons why a guardian should represent the plaintiff. Sturdza is "prone to paranoid outbursts and has expressed irrational hostility" toward Lewin, Kennedy wrote in an order.
Sturdza said she has no intention of undergoing an evaluation and she said there is no need for a guardian ad litem. A copy of Sturdza's motion arguing against the appointment of a guardian is here.
Lewin, meanwhile, told The National Law Journal earlier this month that he has no interest in remaining Sturdza’s attorney but he is unwilling to remove himself and let Sturdza proceed pro se. Lewin filed this response to Sturdza's claims earlier this month.
Sturdza would lose the case if she were allowed to go alone in the litigation, Lewin said. Lewin does, however, have a financial interest in the case—Sturdza hired Lewin on a contingent fee basis. If a guardian ad litem determines another lawyer should represent Sturdza, then Lewin said he would not challenge that decision. Kennedy's order did not name of the guardian who will represent Sturdza.
Sturdza’s suit claims the architectural firm Angelos Demetriou & Associates and the UAE ripped off her winning contest design for the UAE embassy in Washington, D.C. Sturdza is seeking millions in damages. A district judge ruled against Sturdza, but Lewin, hired for the appeal, won a favorable ruling in the D.C. Circuit that revived the case.
Posted by Mike Scarcella on May 28, 2009 at 11:39 AM in Current Affairs, D.C. Courts and Government, Legal Business, Personal Finance, Politics and Government Permalink
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May 28, 2009
Judge Appoints Guardian for Plaintiff in Copyright Suit
A federal district judge in Washington appointed a guardian ad litem yesterday to represent the interests of a Maryland architect who has battled her own lawyer for seven years in a copyright suit against a rival architectural firm and the United Arab Emirates.
Elena Sturdza’s suit, filed in 1998 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has stalled since 2002 when her lawyer, Nathan Lewin, called into question his client’s competency to make rational decisions regarding her case. Lewin moved then for an appointment of a guardian, and U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. granted the request.
But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit this year reversed Kennedy, saying Sturdza had not been given ample notice about the proceedings. The appeals court said Sturdza should be given a shot to be heard on Lewin’s motion. That hearing was held earlier this month, at which time there was little doubt that Kennedy would re-appoint a guardian for Sturdza.
“Having provided Sturdza notice and an opportunity to be heard, this court again concludes that the motion for appointment of a guardian ad litem should be granted,” Kennedy wrote in an order published May 28. Click here for a copy of the order. Kennedy earlier this month also ordered Sturdza to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
When Kennedy first appointed a guardian, the judge noted Sturdza's behavior before him and her pro se filings as compelling reasons why a guardian should represent the plaintiff. Sturdza is "prone to paranoid outbursts and has expressed irrational hostility" toward Lewin, Kennedy wrote in an order.
Sturdza said she has no intention of undergoing an evaluation and she said there is no need for a guardian ad litem. A copy of Sturdza's motion arguing against the appointment of a guardian is here.
Lewin, meanwhile, told The National Law Journal earlier this month that he has no interest in remaining Sturdza’s attorney but he is unwilling to remove himself and let Sturdza proceed pro se. Lewin filed this response to Sturdza's claims earlier this month.
Sturdza would lose the case if she were allowed to go alone in the litigation, Lewin said. Lewin does, however, have a financial interest in the case—Sturdza hired Lewin on a contingent fee basis. If a guardian ad litem determines another lawyer should represent Sturdza, then Lewin said he would not challenge that decision. Kennedy's order did not name of the guardian who will represent Sturdza.
Sturdza’s suit claims the architectural firm Angelos Demetriou & Associates and the UAE ripped off her winning contest design for the UAE embassy in Washington, D.C. Sturdza is seeking millions in damages. A district judge ruled against Sturdza, but Lewin, hired for the appeal, won a favorable ruling in the D.C. Circuit that revived the case.
Posted by Mike Scarcella on May 28, 2009 at 11:39 AM in Current Affairs, D.C. Courts and Government, Legal Business, Personal Finance, Politics and Government Permalink
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