Editor’s Note: Probate reform is not possible in my opinion. The only solution is to abolish it altogether. No one should have their identity stolen by court approved and appointed predators and NO ONE should be deprived of their Constitutional protection by being rendered dead in the law. This is a money laundering scheme where estates are plundered by professional predators who prey on the elderly and the disabled to enrich themselves. These tribunals are unconstitutional and violate numerous protected rights.
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In 2013, a former Berkeley resident, Greg Cooke, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. A physician deemed Mr. Cooke’s wife unable to care for him, and he was referred to a nursing home. A private conservator became aware of Mr. Cooke’s situation and began to petition for conservatorship. Mr. Cooke’s wife fought to retain her role as his caregiver, but ultimately, the Alameda County Probate Court assigned Mr. Cooke to the private conservator. The conservator began billing Mr. Cooke $8,000 a month in the form of excessive fees and charges. The conservator refused to communicate with Mr. Cooke’s family regarding his condition. They refused his family visitation rights and recently sent a letter to Mr. Cooke’s wife stating that he was deceased. Yet, in spite of the letter, the conservator has continued to bill Mr. Cooke’s estate.
Our probate court system is failing seniors and people with disabilities such as Mr. Cooke. Predatory for-profit conservators are taking advantage of vulnerable community members through a system of conservatorship that is rife with elder abuse and civil-rights violations. This process is a part of a larger trend robbing families of color of their property and wealth. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act and it is time to address this problem.
A conservatorship in California is a probate court proceeding where a judge appoints a caretaker for an adult unable to care for him or herself.
Once a conservatorship is established, the caretaker (legally termed a ‘conservator’) has nearly total control over the person put under his or her care (a ‘conservatee’).
Conservators become responsible for every aspect of a conservatee’s life, including all property, possessions, finances, and even medical and personal decisions. For example, conservators choose the individual’s doctors, dictate whether or not relatives visit, and can even sell a conservatee’s house, and spend their money.
Conservatorship was designed to help families protect relatives unable to care for themselves. Mostly, it is used for seniors who cannot manage their own lives. Conservatorship is also used to assist adults who are disabled or the victims of catastrophic illness or accident.
Despite this noble intent, the system can fail the very people it was designed to protect. Professional conservators can petition for conservatorship of an individual, even without the knowledge and consent of the individual or their family. Judges often grant approvals for conservatorships with little scrutiny in hasty hearings.
Predatory conservators profit by billing the estates of the conservatees, charging exorbitant fees for miniscule, unnecessary, or fabricated tasks. These practices quickly deplete the wealth of the seniors and disabled persons who are supposed to be under their care. As a result, families are denied their inheritance and in the most tragic cases, seniors lose retirement savings and become homeless or financially dependent on relatives. In addition to financial predation, conservatees are often victims of abuse. There have been reports of these vulnerable individuals being confined and isolated, sexually violated, or physically abused.
Over the past decade, state legislators have passed various laws aimed at targeting this issue, most notably the Omnibus Conservatorship and Guardianship Reform Act of 2006. Since this reform, courts have been tasked with increased procedures for monitoring conservatorships. Regulations have also been imposed on professional conservators. Experts agree that California has decent probate laws on the books.
Yet, there continue to be reports of elder abuse and civil rights violations within the court system. Why? Because we have failed to allocate additional funding to enforce these critical laws that protect our most vulnerable citizens. Unless courts and court investigators receive sufficient funding, these laws will be nothing more than empty and meaningless statements of governmental principle.
There is a growing movement for probate court reform. The Berkeley City Council recently passed a council item requesting that District Attorney Nancy O’Malley and the Judicial Council investigate this matter. I call upon the Berkeley community to join and help advocate for our seniors. Please contact your state legislators, district attorney, and the Judicial Council to investigate abuses within our probate court system, enact positive changes and protect our families from this theft. Simply put, our elders deserve better.
Apr 29, 2018 @ 03:01:00
I’ am writing to inform all of reading this article that the United Nations recently conducted an in depth investigation into guardianships or conservatorships worldwide. And came to the conclusion that guardianships or conservatorships constitutes gross, flagrant, and systematic violations of internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms as defined under international human rights law! And that they must be abolished immediately!
And not only that; but in view of how guardianships are being used as an instrument by which both non-state and state actors act under the color of law and use the power of the state to deny and deprived individuals and their families of all of their internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms; act under the color of law and use the power of the state to dispossess and expropriate from all of these individual and all of their families as a whole in general all of their wealth and property and assets and other resources; act under the color of law and use the power of the state to utilize these individuals and all of their families as a whole in general as an instrument all kinds of gross, flagrant, and systematic exploitation that’s all based upon the enslavement and exploitation of all the human beings; and then act under the color of law and use the power of the state to destroy these individuals along with all of their families as a whole in general when they are no longer the use of value to them! all for the ideological, political, economic, financial, and monetary gain, benefit, and profit for the benefit of both that of themselves and all of the interest that they represent!
A legal case could be made against all of the non-state and state actors under international law for the commission of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes that shock the consciousness of humanity, and for crimes that should be of concern to the international community as a whole in general under international law!
For the reasons why I state this to you! Is that all of non-state and state actors are committing the same types of crimes that have been committed in the past! Such as for example; the crimes that were committed during the regime of Nazi Germany! in which it should be noted, that the Nazis were tried and convicted for Committing crimes against humanity with respect to how elderly and disabled people were involuntarily euthanized against their will by both non-state and state actors!
In addition to that; it should also be noted as well that the medical establishment and legal establishment of Nazi Germany were the most ardent supporters of the Nazi Regime! Just the like medical and legal establishment within the United States of America of whom who the most ardent supporters of guardianship and involuntary euthanasia!
For this is why all of those who were trying to fight against this must take their case to the United Nations as a human rights issue under International Human Rights Law! For under International Law they are clearly guilty of crimes of genocide, of crimes against humanity, of crimes that she shock the consciousness of humanity, and of crimes that should be of concern to the international community as a whole in general!
For as long as you try to address and resolve this matter only through the domestic judicial, executive, and legislative system and process of government within the United States of America! You will never succeed in addressing and resolving this issue!
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Apr 28, 2018 @ 19:50:52
The only thing that will happen if you give any of these sociopaths more money is that they simply work faster on culling the elderly. You cant fix this system. It is a system predicated on theft and death.
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Apr 28, 2018 @ 19:47:40
Any body over 60 is marked for disposal. but they want to rob you before they get rid of you.
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Apr 28, 2018 @ 19:40:19
Probate is one of the best money making deals the bar assoc. have come up with. You can lie, cheat, steal and even murder people by abusing and neglecting them and then having them drugged to death. There isnt a probate administrator in the country that wont condone what they do to the old people.
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Apr 28, 2018 @ 19:36:37
Miss Oakley….extending an invitation to you to come speak at our public meeting for elder rights. PA is a sick state. It’s almost as bad as Florida and Tennessee. I will contact you with details and we will pay your expenses just to have you here. Thank you for all you have done for our elderly folks.
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Apr 28, 2018 @ 19:28:41
The public has been preconditioned to think that we don’t want our elderly people. They don’t tell them that they kidnap them and then isolate from everyone and everything they know. This is torture. The people who do this for a living are animals.
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Apr 28, 2018 @ 19:23:03
I agree with the premise that probate should never have existed as it currently does. Its nothing but a money scam that unfortunately has left a pile of dead bodies in its wake.
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