Tonight on “In The Mix”…Did you know about “falial” laws? These laws remain on the books in 27 states. What does it mean? It means that adult children can have their assets stolen from them through these predatory guardianships that are rampant across the country.
A recent guest on our show was sent a threatening letter from an infamous predator guardian, that ended with the open threat that she would come after her (the daughter’s) assets if she continued to impede the theft of real property from her parents. The predator sighted the state’s falial law as grounds for the threatened coercion and extortion.
Massive nursing home bills can top 100’s of thousands of dollars. What possible services could be provided to an elderly individual that would rack up a bill like that, is unknown to us. But it doesn’t stop there. Medical bills are a separate issue.
You’re most likely to be deemed legally liable for a parent’s medical bills when:
Your parent does not qualify for Medicaid
Your parent is impoverished.
Your parent has medical bills and cannot pay for them.
You do have the ability to pay, or your parents fraudulently transferred assets to you.
Luanne Flemming host of “Hidden Truth Revealed” will be co-hosting and will be joined by Phil Ross, attorney for Shelley Thomson. Shelley will also be calling in so that we can hear from her personally.
Shelley Thomson is in a New Braunfels, Texas nursing home (Colonial Manor). She does not belong there and is desperate to be liberated.
Under the guise of guardianship, Texas Health and Human Services Commission took her computer, all her money and assets – and (HHSC) used her disability as an excuse to abduct her, steal her house, her cat, and move her into an abusive nursing home. Her guardian has threatened her with violence. Shelley is held prisoner with no right to leave her room, no visitors, and no exercise.
Shelley Thomson was labeled as incapacitated falsely and maliciously by the state of Texas. State guardianship fraud is a national scandal. Under the guise of protection, states target victims for their money, and treat them worse than prisoners. Shelley’s guardian has threatened her with violence and she has been drugged against her will.
If Shelley cannot pick her own psychiatrist, the court will assign their own, and they will choose the cheapest expert to rubber stamp a denial of capacity once again.
A GoFundMe campaign to raise enough money for Shelley to hire her own psychiatrist, and to help defray expenses of her lawyer who has represented her for over 13 months pro bono. Please click on the link, read the ad and donate. Thanks!
Join Marti Oakley, Coz Whitten-Skaife and Austin Gibson as we explore the magical, mystical world of corrupt judges who facilitate the theft of estates of the elderly, and who appear to have magical powers that allow them to “re-interpret” the final wishes of the deceased as laid out in their wills, trusts and other instruments. Montgomery Cty Pennsylvania courtrooms appear to operate on an overload of judges who have magical powers not available to us mere mortals.
What goes on in Montgomery Cty. Pennsylvania courtrooms? The corruption from the bench is blatant. Supposedly having far more knowledge about intended heirs and recipients of benefits from wills and trusts, one judge in particular has decided that his clairvoyant capabilities have helped him determine what the deceased really wanted as opposed to what the will says.
Having diverted art collections to city owned galleries instead of going to the college designated appears to be the result of an clairvoyant epiphany. In another instance, a judge decided that instead of intended family heirs receiving their inheritance, the funds should go to certain charities. Charities that the judge was involved in? I guess anything is possible when you are channeling the dead for profit.
And could someone explain why so many people targeted for guardianship/estate theft and then isolated in a nursing home have their heads shaved?
Friends remembered Wilma Williams as fiercely independent, but a stroke left her in a wheelchair and reliant on hearing aides as large as headphones the day her attorney arrived with a plan to divvy up her $1.7 million estate.
The 93-year-old military widow with no children had nieces and nephews, but Bob Machen personally drafted a will that made himself her primary beneficiary and his son — a man she had never met — a possible heir as well.
Machen said the will represented the wishes of a woman who was like a sister to him and who he helped for years. He claims he watched as she affixed a scribbled signature to the document in a Fairfax County rehabilitation center on July 31, 2018.
Williams died 10 days later, and her relatives said they were stunned to eventually learn that Machen was poised to reap a $1.5 million windfall while they would receive modest bequests. They couldn’t believe the will truly represented Williams’s desires and decided to challenge it in court.
They say the case is a particularly brazen example of the financial exploitation of the elderly, a problem that is rapidly increasing as the senior population grows. The number of people aged 65 and older is projected to double between 2018 and 2060, according to government figures. Various estimates put their losses from fraud between $2.9 billion and a staggering $36.5 billion each year.
Join us this evening as Lisa Belanger joins the show to talk about the Netflix series “Dirty Money-#5” Guardians Inc. This episode features Lisa and exposes the ongoing targeting, isolation, and theft of estates from vulnerable seniors and the disabled.
Guardianship has become nothing more than a government sanctioned and facilitated system of human trafficking for profit. One of the most insidious parts of this disgusting system is the forcing of the victim to pay all of the expenses of those involved in the predatory guardianship. Doing so makes the theft of estates so much easier and more efficient.
Estates are stolen, homes are sold, trusts are broken into, wills are discarded, bank accounts raided, and personal items and family memorabilia are disposed of. Everything that defined that elder’s life is wiped out, thrown away, discarded. They have been effectively erased.
While we are encouraged to regard lawyers, doctors, guardians, attorney’s and others as somehow deserving of respect, this issue has clearly exposed the fact that many of these people are the worst among us. For those in any one of these professions who have enough integrity, sense of honor and morals, attempting to defend a victim from these predators can be career suicide.
As despicable as many of these professionals are, that individual sitting on the bench is the worst of them all. Everything revolves around the cooperation of this individual to make sure the system runs smoothly.
Visit her at Medway Manor Nursing Home, in Massachusetts. Messages for her via email at JusticeforMargaret@Mail.com
Justice for Margaret Cook
Margaret Cook is an elderly, disabled Massachusetts woman whose property, civil liberties, life savings, and right to the pursuit of happiness as an American citizen have all been taken away.
She is currently held against her will at Medway Manor nursing home, in Massachusetts, despite an independent psych exam which stated that she was competent enough to live at home, with in-home care, as she has desperately asked. She has been stopped from going to her home, even for a Christmas, Thanksgiving or birthday visit, for a year and a half.
See her video statement if you have access to: vimeo.com/395830770
Imagine if you were removed from your home, told you could never return, and held against your will while your property, and every penny from your bank accounts is taken away.
Imagine that your bills and your taxes are up to date. Imagine that you have had no criminal record in your entire life.
Something like this could only happen in some far away country, a place without respect for human rights and freedoms, right?
You would be wrong. There is a woman named Margaret Cook who would like you to know that this tragedy could happen to anyone. She is in the state of Massachusetts, in the United States. More
We have two guests this evening. Our friends in Australia return to follow up on past broadcasts and the events that have resulted from speaking out.
Mr. D, who reported on the abuses at a nursing home supposedly established to serve those of the Jewish faith, is facing charges for revealing publicly what is transpiring in these gulags for the aged. Mr. D is facing charges for making supposed “anti-semetic remarks” to a man who is Catholic. Mr. D is himself, Jewish. This has all the markings of a concocted excuse to target, intimidate and threaten him. This is so ludicrous that I cannot believe it is actually taking place, but it is.
2nd half
Mia returns to talk about dementia, What are the signs? What can you do? Are dementia-like symptoms the result of psychotropic drugging meant to cause the victim to appear to be suffering from dementia, when actually they are not? We know these deadly drugs are widely used here in the US as chemical restraints, and produce dementia like symptoms. Apparently, Australia has followed suit.
Join us tonight as Austin Gibson joins the show to tell how the Ottholes recently devoured her home. The Ottholes have a rapacious appetite and are never satisfied.
Real life zombies walk among us in Pennsylvania. To hide their decay and soulless existence, they dress themselves up to look like normal people. They aren’t!! One of these Ottholes could be standing right next to you disguised as a judge, an attorney or a professional [predator] guardian, all of whom prey on the public for sustenance.
These Ottholes suck the life out of the community, preying on the elderly, liquidating assets, seizing homes and selling them for profit. Known for their proclivity for stealing the products of someone elses life’s work, they fatten themselves on the estates of those they sink their claws into.
In Minnesota, clearly “protective services” is actually for profit “human trafficking services” for ALL VULNERABLE ADULTS AND CHILDREN! THIS MUST STOP!
There is no Constitutional provision for negating of law into unlawful or illegal statutes.
The only possible way to rectify this assault on the elderly and other vulnerable men and women who have been declared to have suffered a civil death at the hands of these civil tribunals, is to abolish them altogether.
The elderly in Minnesota, as they are across the country, have been, and are, being targeted for exploitation by professional, for-profit guardians. Guardianship has been described as the fastest growing cottage industry in the country. The trafficking of the elderly through the probate system has allowed the theft of estates and the accompanying isolation and abuse of the targeted individual. As a result, the greatest transfer of wealth in this country, is not from the rich to the poor, but rather, from the elderly to professional predators who game this system for profit. It is aledged that 5-10 billion is stolen annually from the elderly by these predators. Generational wealth in the form of inheritance is being stolen from intended heirs.
Its no Different in Minnesota
Minnesota government at all levels has allowed a predatory, for profit system to flourish and, has even colluded with those who profit from the trafficking through a civil tribunal system in order to facilitate the kidnapping, isolation and financial exploitation of the elderly, the disabled and other vulnerable men and women. Allegedly, many of our legislators are connected through business associations to the most virulent of these predators. The business of trafficking the elderly for profit has become so lucrative that large fiduciary corporations who profit from this activity have sprung up across the state.
Probate “courts” are civil tribunals; they are not courts of law, nor are they courts of record. Probate was to become active only upon presentation of the death certificate, and then only to determine if the estate was testate or intestate. (With a will, or without one) The only duty of probate was to determine the distribution of assets to the appropriate heirs. The probate examiner was to have only one clear purpose; fact finding. This was extended to include guardianship and conservator ship of the living man or woman. As it is used today, either of these acts against the living man or woman, causes the civil death of that man or woman. The granting of guardianship petitions is the de facto death certificate.
Sec. 11. Probate jurisdiction.
Original jurisdiction in law and equity for the administration of the estates of deceased persons and all guardianship and incompetency proceedings, including jurisdiction over the administration of trust estates and for the determination of taxes contingent upon death, shall be provided by law.More
A $22 million civil RICO case from Cleveland, Ohio has survived another procedural hurdle and appears headed to trial in Cuyahoga county court.
RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization. It was passed by congress and signed into law by President Nixon 50 years ago, in 1970. Originally designed to combat organized crime, the laws’ application has expanded to include any group profiting from an illegal activity.
Macomb County Probate Judge Sandra Harrison ordered the release of Fred Smith, who lives in Bruce Township, but with a stern warning that if he doesn’t account for the missing funds, he will find himself back behind bars.
A Utica man has been confined to the Macomb County Jail for over three weeks and will spend at least two more weeks there for failing to account for millions of dollars spent from his mother’s trust fund that he controlled.
Two former clients of disbarred Hendersonville attorney Andy Allman may finally get their day in civil court after a special judge recently denied a motion to dismiss the cases.
Linda Cela of Clarksville and Erbit Navarro-Teran of Lebanon both filed complaints in Sumner County General Sessions Court against Allman nearly three years ago.
Investigators say Traci Hudson stole more than $500,000 from a man she had guardianship over.
For the latter part of his life, Maurice Myers lived on his own in a small home south of Sarasota.
Then, in March 2017, when he was 92, Myers was hospitalized twice with numerous health complications. He was released to a rehabilitation facility, then moved to a senior care home in Pinellas Park. There, he’d be closer to his daughter, who oversaw his affairs.
The case highlights the unexpected downsides of court-appointed adult guardianships, which are designed to help the old and the infirm manage their lives but are under fire nationwide amid allegations of neglect, abuse and financial exploitation. Those problems haven’t escaped the watchful eye of Congress, as evidenced by the recent introduction of HR 4174 to enact protections against elder abuse and neglect under guardianship.
When families seek judicial intervention, they have no clue of the web of judicial abuse, deception and theft of the family’s assets that will soon ensnare them.
One typical scenario, which compels a family to seek judicial help, is an elderly family member is being held hostage while his/her assets are drained. The family does not foresee that the abuse of the hostage taker is about to be replaced by the abuse by the probate court. The various mechanisms employed by the court are limited only by the ingenuity of the judges, but certain patterns are often seen.
As explained previously Financial Rape: Business as Usual in LA County Probate Court, Judge Lippitt forces the elder person to mediation where the person is subjected to fraud, coercion and exhaustion. All the elder has to do to gain her freedom from the seemingly endless mediation is sign whatever documents the coven of evil shoves in front of her.
As Judge Paul Suzuki explained, all that matters is that she signed the settlement agreement. The Mozer v Augustine supports Judge Suzuki. It does not matter if the elder is comatose during the mediation, all that counts is that somehow the elder’s signature appears. How it got there is irrelevant and no amount of fraud, threats, lies, etc. may ever be introduced into court to show that the elder was financially raped. (Mozer cites: Evid. Code, § 1119 (a)-(c) mediation communications are confidential. “Sign this or never see you son again” – not admissible under Mozer)
As legislation is being passed and proposed in several states, allowing those deemed to be mentally ill or suffering from dementia to be starved to death, we see Australia following suit and targeting their elderly also. Simply arranging for a diagnosis of dementia regardless if it is a legitimate diagnosis, can facilitate the kidnapping, isolation and theft of estates. Now with this handy option available to starve them to death as the estate is being plundered by professional predators, this global harvesting of the elderly for profit is in high gear.
Lawyers along with doctors and government agencies are gaming the system, and are allowed to take over elderly individuals lives and affairs. Protected by probate tribunals and government, massive profits are gained by preying on a vulnerable sector of the population. If in fact, these individuals are compromised, wouldn’t the moral thing to do be to secure their rights and protections? Instead, the governments and their predatory tribunals treat them as if they were nothing and violate even their most basic rights.
For the third year, Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, proposed a bill intended to strengthen family members’ and loved ones’ rights to visit adults who are under legal guardianship. After spending a year working with numerous stakeholder groups to refine the bill into something everyone agreed upon, he was surprised when a lawyer from the Virginia Bar Association stood in opposition during the bill’s subcommittee hearing.
Levine’s first attempt at the bill was inspired by a constituent, Mike Jacobs, who came to Levine with a story about how he had been unfairly banned from seeing his longtime partner, Jane Lopez, who had Alzheimer’s disease, by an attorney serving as Lopez’s legal guardian, Levine said.
Shannon Laymon-Pecoraro, an elder attorney representing the Wills, Estates and Trusts Section of the state bar, objected to several parts of the bill. Among them is a provision that would place greater emphasis on the guardian ad litem determining whether any conflicts of interest exist among the parties in the guardianship case. A guardian ad litem is an attorney appointed by the court to investigate a guardianship case and represent the allegedly incapacitated person’s best interests.
Editor’s note: I would advise everyone to subscribe to Wall Street on Parade. There is more relevant, useful, honest reporting done on that site than most places on the web.
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: December 30, 2019 ~
Making the dirty deed even more Grinch-worthy, the attack on the assets of the middle class comes after the Trump tax overhaul in 2017 gave a windfall to the super wealthy by doubling their estate tax exclusion from $11 million per couple to $22 million. Now someone has to pay for that and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have stealthily decided it’s going to be Millennials – who are already buried under student loan debt with a meager average net worth of $8,000.
The only people that will gain security from the Secure Act are the Wall Street wealth advisors who are already looting two-thirds of the average 401(K) over a worker’s career through fees; the insurance industry that browbeat members of Congress into signing the legislation into law and got an insurance annuity payout option included; and the lawyers who will rack up millions of new billable hours from rewriting trusts that no longer make any sense as a result of this wholesale sell-out of the middle class in America.
BOSTON − In an emotional speech before the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers (BBO), Attorney Lisa Siegel Belanger gave as good as she got. Using her allotted 15 minutes she called out the actions of BBO member Attorney Marsha Kazarosian and the law firm Burns & Levinson for their “fabrication” and exaggeration of charges against her as “retaliation” for her exposure of their “racketeering ring which has preyed on seniors,” including her father, Marvin H. Siegel. The BBO seeks to strip Belanger of her license to practice for two years.
Belanger noted in her speech that despite five years of her filing complaints to the BBO against Attorney Kazarosian, the BBO refused to conduct any investigation against the powerful political figure (and Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker’s high-profile appointee). She also noted that both Kazarosian and BBO Chair Jeffrey R. Martin were absent from the hearing, and that she was again stripped of the opportunity to question her accusers. She pointed out that Martin serves as partner in the firm Burns and Levenson, a firm also at the center of Belanger’s complaint. (Yes, Belanger took on some of the most connected lawyers in Massachusetts.)
With no relief from the courts for years (fighting against those she documented as preying upon seniors), Belanger finally went public. Her case as well as the systemic draining of millions from her now deceased father’s accounts have been chronicled in a series of articles in The Boston Broadside. Belanger noted that while no actions were taken against Kazarosian, and no charges were ever taken against her, everything changed when her family’s plight became public. READ MORE HERE
” I have a warrant out for my arrest because I saved my mother from criminals. The warrant was put out by the same judge and guardian that stole my mother’s freedom and her estate.”
What I am about to share with you is unbelievable, yet it is happening around the world. It is the best kept secret of white collar criminals.
I invite you to view my website below that chronicles my and my mother’s story of horrific abuse by the probate / family courts in the United States, which forced us to flee to Greece for our safety and our lives.
I helped my mother escape a fraudulent guardianship in which a judge forced her to give up all of her rights, forced her into an institution where she was drugged and isolated, and forced her to forfeit her entire estate, including her homes and companies to a corrupt guardian that is unrelated to the family. To conceal their crimes, the predators label their theft of her human and civil rights “in her best interest.” There was nothing wrong with my mother. She was simply wealthy and vulnerable due to age, becoming a widow, and trusting two of her own corrupt children. My mother and I made an extraordinary escape in 2016 and now live in exile in Greece. She is originally from Greece. We are both American and Greek citizens. Had I not taken my mother, she would not be alive today. She lost everything to guardianship; I lost everything to save her.
We left with the clothes on our backs leaving our children, grandchildren, homes and our lives behind. After months of hiding, we arrived in Greece with the help of friends, relatives, complete strangers, and the kindness of a representative at the Greek Embassy who granted us emergency passports for our safety.
“It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”
Hubert H. Humphery
Probate Watch is made up of group of people whose lives and loved ones have been impacted by probate court guardianships. We are looking for others to help lobby our legislatures and state organizations to drive change. We need help to show the need for additional legislation to protect our seniors, respect their rights and show how existing laws are being violated.
Please take our guardianship survey:
We are collecting data through an on-line survey to identify areas where there needs to be reform in the guardianship/conservatorship system. The survey is designed to collect statistics supporting the need for reforms and also provide details on how seniors and families have been affected. Your input is valuable to us and we encourage you to participate.
Note: Our survey uses google form documents. Some company IT systems block access to these documents. If you have problems accessing the survey, please try using a different computer or smart phone.
ALARMING 2-PART SERIES SUNDAY NOVEMBER 17th & MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18th with Special Guest and STAR WITNESS, Whistleblower Advocate Attorney, Lisa Belanger with co-hosts Marti Oakley & Tanya Hathaway.
The heinous crimes of elder abuse essentially encompasses and is not limited to:
*Theft of a loved one
*Theft of estate
*Physical, financial and emotional abuse.
Our guests riveting and current story is raising a call to action not only for what has happened with her own beloved and now deceased Father, but the retaliation, as she is being maliciously attacked by the MA Board of Bar Overseers.
You see, they stop at nothing to cover up the public corruption crimes, but it didn’t stop Lisa from filing a 2015 Racketeering action showing MA Probate & Family Ct is a criminal ring. There is ongoing “disciplinary”action the very corruptors are imposing on our guest.
Lisa has stood up in court as a fierce advocate for people like you and me. Let’s give Lisa the support she deserves. Please listen in as you will hear about her courageous “Journey to Justice” on Marti Oakley’s TS Radio Network not only on “Tanya Talks ; Where your voice is heard- and your story is told” and on MARTI’s Whistleblower Show Monday as well.. Tanya HATHAWAY and Marti are co-hosting this series on both nights.
Please tune in and if you’re in Oklahoma; listen in on Stephen Burke’s 89.9 f.m. KLRB Lighthouse Christian Radio.
This can happen to you, your loved ones or your children if we don’t start making what’s wrong right and stand up to these unimaginable crimes by those who are commissioned to protect us!
An Etowah County woman will end up returning more than $3.85 million to her mother’s estate as the result of a judge’s ruling.
The case, decided last month in Etowah County Circuit Court, dealt with the conservatory and custodial duties of a woman appointed co-conservator of her mother. Circuit Judge George Day Jr., ruled that the woman, who has not been charged with any crime, “breached her fiduciary duty to her mother’s Conservatorship estate, has failed to properly account for her actions and the funds and assets under her control, all of which has caused substantial damage” to the estate.
Additionally, the Court awarded a judgment against the daughter in relation to the custodial accounts for the incapacitated woman’s granddaughter, totaling $393,509.
Chris Hamer and Rebecca Wright of the Hamer Law Group represented the incapacitated woman’s conservator, an attorney who was appointed after the daughter resigned as conservator. The case has also generated a federal court action.
“This case represents the most egregious breach of fiduciary duties we’ve ever seen,” Hamer said in a statement. “Cases involving misappropriation and misuse of assets by family members appointed as fiduciaries are especially distressing for all involved.”
As a result of the decision, all money in the estate has been accounted for, attorneys said. According to court documents, the daughter of the incapacitated woman became conservator of her then-77-year-old mother in 2014. The woman, who died earlier this year, had 12 children.
Join us this evening as Gretchen Rachel Hammond returns! We have lot to talk about!
We will be discussing the do’s and don’ts of survivors of guardianship abuse and, the failure of agencies to act when a crime is reported to them with evidence. It would appear, it is only a crime if someone outside the inner circle does it. If it is one of these tribunal participants like probate examiners, guardians, attorneys and others who routinely traffic the elderly and disabled through these kangaroo courts, nothing will be done. The police won’t respond, nor will any agency whose sole existence is supposed to be making sure these things don’t happen no matter who does it! Obviously if you are connected to these rackets no one will make a move against you.
Gretchen will also speak about her new position with the National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse (NASGA) where she will head up Community Outreach. After her year long investigation on the massive abuses taking place in Michigan probate tribunals, Gretchen is off on a new endeavor!
An FYI on how much state and national organizations care about the abuse of elderly/developmentally disabled people, if nothing else as a time saver for folks who want to report such cases.
Since I have evidence of people endangered in illegal, unlicensed facilities with subhuman conditions, which the Attorney General doesn’t want, I have been keeping a running tally of agencies both inside and outside of Michigan I called with a simple request:
“These are people whose lives are in danger. I would like to report multiple crimes. To whom do I send the addresses of these group homes, home/property owner, names of the victims and the guardians who put them there?”
Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs: Left messages. No response.
Adult Protective Services: Hung up on me.
Office of the Inspector General: No response.
Federal Bureau of Investigation: No response.
Michigan Elder Justice Initiative: “Call the Attorney General.”
State Long Term Care Ombudsman: No response.
AARP: “We have our own plans to address guardianship issues. We don’t want to talk about them.”
National Center on Elder Abuse: Received email September 11 stating they were going to try and reach out to someone in Michigan. No response to follow up messages.
Justice in Aging: No reply to voicemails.
American Society on Aging: “We don’t help people with that.”
National Consumer Voice for Long Term Care: Won’t pick up their phone. No response to voicemails.
Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper: “Good luck with that.”
Michigan State Police: “This is a civil matter.”
US Attorney Michigan, Civil Rights Division: No response.
All State Reps and Senators: No response except two.
Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper: “The Senator does not appreciate your constant attacks on the Attorney General.”
Michigan Sen. Peter Lucido: I can’t help you. My advice is to contact the Macomb County Bar Association, the Michigan State Police or the FBI.”
First time I can remember I’ve tried to report a crime and no one has cared. I guess if they were kids and not the elderly and developmentally disabled and if a group of attorneys and judges were not involved who have paid off people like Dana Nessel and Gretchen Whitmer, something would have been done months ago.
But let’s be honest here, America does not give a fuck about anyone it considers disposable.
I just want it clear and on record. I have attempted to report a crime. I have been fundamentally clear that lives are in danger. For whatever reason, no one wants to hear about it.
If I have to fight alone the Michigan Attorney General, along with all her supporters, the Michigan State Legislature, a collectively apathetic Michigan media, Facebook and this damnable probate court until the attorneys and judges committing atrocities against the elderly and developmentally disabled are in jail, I will.
I know a lot of folks are probably sick of what you could argue had become a single note in my life of late. I can’t share it here at the moment but I’ll be damned if I’m going to stop trying to raise awareness.
But if it was you, and you saw these crimes against the helpless, knew they were still happening and it was equally clear no one, outside the victims, their families or advocacy groups, gave a shit or was prepared to take any action, what would you do?
I accuse you of being complicit in the abuse, neglect, torture, robbery, brutalization and isolation of Michigan’s most vulnerable.
I accuse you of being an accomplice in the destruction of evidence of these crimes.
I accuse you of breaching your duty as Attorney General and of outright deception to the people of Michigan.
Are you sufficiently threatened yet? If so, I dare you to come and arrest me.
Because if you think because I’m alone I’m weak, you understand very little. If you have anything to do with protecting the people committing those crimes and you are not afraid, then you understand nothing at all.
So, for your own sake, understand this:
I’m going to find you. I’m going to expose you and I will never ever stop.
For almost 30 years, tens of thousands of Michigan’s elderly and developmentally disabled citizens have been subjected to neglect, abuse, torture, forced isolation, exploitation and embezzlement by the state’s probate judges and attorneys, professional guardianship companies and public administrators.
Declared incapacitated “wards” by a probate court judge, with little or no corroborating medical evidence, Michigan’s most vulnerable are stripped of their statutory, civil, constitutional. and human rights and handed over to a court appointed guardian.
In as little as a year, wards have been rendered completely indigent and reliant upon social services and benefits such as Medicaid. Their homes are sold off, their savings accounts, IRAs, investment accounts, cars, personal belongings, keepsakes, heirlooms and jewelry stolen.
Nessel’s Elder Abuse Task Force has accomplished nothing.
Judges already do not obey the law as written so it’s announced legislative probate reform initiatives are pointless. Reforms are pointless without consequences to those who have flagrantly violated and continue to violate Michigan law.
Nessel’s recent, unexplained firing of public administrators John Yun. Jennifer Carney, Thomas Brennan Fraser and Robert Kirk accomplished nothing since they can still take roles as court-appointed guardians and conservators.
We, the undersigned, demand that the abuse, neglect and exploitation Michigan’s elderly and developmentally disabled individuals by the state’s probate courts must stop!
We demand criminal investigations into any and all probate attorneys, public administrators, guardianship companies and judges suspected of criminal behavior and abuse of power.
We demand investigations not initiatives.
We demand the immediate resignation of the State Court Administrator.
We demand an explanation as to why no action has been taken against judges or their appointees who have donated to or accepted donations from the Nessel and Whitmer campaigns.
Gretchen Rachel Hammond, investigative reporter, fills us in on the after shock of her expose’ on Oakland county Probate Court, Michigan. Gretchen’s five part series, fully documented in tedious detail the corruption and abuses that have been on going for years! The number of lives destroyed while predators in the system were given ownership and control of vulnerable elderly an disabled individuals, allowing them to warehouse these people and help themselves to their assets is a national disgrace. All of it done within the full view of the state’s attorney general, Dana Nessel. She wasn’t the only AG to turn a blind eye, just the last in a long line.
“It seems the guardians and judges at the Oakland County Probate Court have been doing a bit of house cleaning since August:
Elderly and developmentally disabled victims are getting moved out of unlicensed group homes.
Small refunds are being offered to victim family members on the proviso that they sign a form saying they received a refund for “accidental over billing.”
Guardians are trying to close out cases and get rid of their own assets (such as half million dollar homes).
Files in case dockets are being altered or removed (such as accounts, change of address forms and ex parte orders).
As of last week, the court’s only public access computer (the one my team and I used to research case files without paying $1-per-page) is gone.”
Tune in as Gretchen fills us in on the recent activity in Michigan. Amazing what a top-notch investigative journalist can do!
Lisa Belanger
