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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Alzheimer's / January 2008guardianships of the elderly
Anyone considering a guardianship or conservatorship for an elderly person should beware. The process is not what you might think. Lawyers paint a rosy picture of a process which might turn out to be your worst nightmare in which you, even though you have been the person caring for the elderly person for years, may not be appointed the person's guardian. In addition, the court appoints someone else, it may be what is called a "third party" guardian, usually a lawyer, who will charge fees for being the guardian. Once anyone is appointed as guardian, your loved one loses all their rights. The guardian can determine every aspect of the person's life, where they live, who they may see, and even sometimes how they will die. Many guardians have spent the loved ones entire estate within a short period of them and they withdrawn as guardian and returning the person to their family to decide what to do at that point. Check out the videos on youtube. Search for : knowfilm imamensa robin westmiller In article <0fc88ccc-0e28-4c7b-82b6-8ff71c357415@d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, > Anyone considering a guardianship or conservatorship for an elderly > person should beware. The process is not what you might think. Lawyers [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > they withdrawn as guardian and returning the person to their family to > decide what to do at that point. Forethought can prevent this. Powers of Attorney and their equivalents for health care, signed while the loved one is still capable of doing so, will hold up and are extremely unlikely to be overturned by any court. Plan ahead. My mother, sister and I did, and mother is doing fine under our guardianship. Baird > In article > <0fc88ccc-0e28-4c7b-82b6-8ff71c357...@d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Baird Yes, in New York that is supposed to be the law, but the law is not always followed. The judge can wipe out advanced directives with the stroke of a pen. Something common in this state is that the law is usually not put into effect until the petitioner goes to a higher court, if they have any money left to fight an appeal. You were one of the lucky ones. Re: guardianships of the elderly Group: alt.support.alzheimers Date: Mon, Jan 21, 2008, 5:57am From: BobFolan@gmail.com (bobfolan) On Jan 21, 6:10 am, Baird Stafford <ba...@newstaff.com> wrote: In article <0fc88ccc-0e28-4c7b-82b6-8ff71c357...@d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, bobfolan <BobFo...@gmail.com> wrote: Anyone considering aguardianshipor conservatorship for an elderly person should beware. The process is not what you might think. Lawyers paint a rosy picture of a process which might turn out to be your worst nightmare in which you, even though you have been the person caring for the elderly person for years, may not be appointed the person's guardian. In addition, the court appoints someone else, it may be what is called a "third party" guardian, usually a lawyer, who will charge fees for being the guardian. Once anyone is appointed as guardian, your loved one loses all their rights. The guardian can determine every aspect of the person's life, where they live, who they may see, and even sometimes how they will die. Many guardians have spent the loved ones entire estate within a short period of them and they withdrawn as guardian and returning the person to their family to decide what to do at that point. Forethought can prevent this. Powers of Attorney and their equivalents for health care, signed while the loved one is still capable of doing so, will hold up and are extremely unlikely to be overturned by any court. Plan ahead. My mother, sister and I did, and mother is doing fine under ourguardianship. Baird Yes, in New York that is supposed to be the law, but the law is not always followed. The judge can wipe out advanced directives with the stroke of a pen. Something common in this state is that the law is usually not put into effect until the petitioner goes to a higher court, if they have any money left to fight an appeal. You were one of the lucky ones. ========================================= Good to know, Mr. Bob: Thank you for bringing this information to viewers' attention. True, the law is not always followed. The state sleeps in the same bed with the nursing homes so no big surprise corruption lurks in the guardianship areas too.. EddyJean Maybe its different in the US, but the only time I've seen it happen that a family ended up with an outside guardian was an instance of a neighbour. He was stubborn and irrational old cuss, and his wife got Alzheimer's. He categorically refused to change any of his legal documents, such as his powers of attorney, which named the wife, even when things got to the point that one of his daughters had to move in with them to look after the two of them. The wife was eventually bedridden and had to be put in a nursing home, and even then he would not alter anything to enable his daughters to manage any of their affairs. Predictably, he died first, and the wife lived on in the twilight zone for years (it was amazing - she survived in end stage AD for 5 or 6 years). It was a nightmare for the daughters. All the assets were in the wife's name, and no one in the family had any control over anything - no rights whatsoever to discuss care issues, pay the mother's bills, sell the house etc. The province stepped in and appointed a government guardian, who would not even allow the daughter who had lived with her parents to remove her own property from the house without a big rigamarole. We really felt sorry for the daughter who had looked after them - she had really done everything she could for them, and the father brought such misery down on his own loved ones, you'd have thought he hated them. M. On Jan 22, 7:23 am, Mary_Gor...@tvo.org wrote: > We really felt sorry for the daughter who > had looked after them - she had really done everything she could for > them, and the father brought such misery down on his own loved ones, > you'd have thought he hated them. As someone you have responded to in a very similar post, let me humbly suggest this father surely did hate them. > Anyone considering a guardianship or conservatorship for an elderly > person should beware. The process is not what you might think. Lawyers > paint a rosy picture of a process which might turn out to be your > worst nightmare in which you, even though you have been the person > caring for the elderly person for years, may not be appointed the > person's guardian. it all depends on the laws of the jurisdiction the patient is in. the nightmare you portray does not happen in states with good guardianship laws, with usually give priority to relatives or caregivers in considering guardian appointments. it's also likely to work better in rural areas or small towns, where the judge may actually know the patient. if i were looking for a place to retire, the area's laws and practices regarding guardianships and conservatorships would definitely be a consideration. fortunately, i'm going to retire in my hometown, in a state which has very sensible and reasonable laws. Re: guardianships of the elderly Group: alt.support.alzheimers Date: Wed, Jan 23, 2008, 11:31am (PST-1) From: NO_SPAM_TO_dpharris@gci.net (Dennis P. Harris) On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:20:12 -0800 (PST) in alt.support.alzheimers, bobfolan <BobFolan@gmail.com> wrote: Anyone considering a guardianship or conservatorship for an elderly person should beware. The process is not what you might think. Lawyers paint a rosy picture of a process which might turn out to be your worst nightmare in which you, even though you have been the person caring for the elderly person for years, may not be appointed the person's guardian. it all depends on the laws of the jurisdiction the patient is in. the nightmare you portray does not happen in states with good guardianship laws, with usually give priority to relatives or caregivers in considering guardian appointments. it's also likely to work better in rural areas or small towns, where the judge may actually know the patient. if i were looking for a place to retire, the area's laws and practices regarding guardianships and conservatorships would definitely be a consideration. fortunately, i'm going to retire in my hometown, in a state which has very sensible and reasonable laws. ========================================= So retirees should relocate to find good guardianship laws???? Mr. Bob gives good advice. EddyJean |
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