My sister challenged our father’s
directives to his grave in late 2007, dispensed with them
beyond it, moved into our mother’s house, endangered her
life and exploited her funds. Co-agent General and
HealthCare Durable Power of Attorney (P/sOA) status
provided legal basis for the actions. Until then, we shared
authority on paper, only; our parents delegated
responsibilities to me because they did not trust my
sister. They had visibly confirmed the fact when they
ripped up POA drafts that named her as their sole legal
agent and refused to sign redrafts without my name. I filed
petitions to appoint a guardian and conservator in February
2008, toward more binding accountability of authority over
my mother’s life and estate, regardless of appointee. With
POA and legally designated nominees as primary candidates,
the court was required to validate the legal documents. My
mother signed her POA papers too late, under legally
questionable circumstances, at my sister’s insistence. The
attorney who created the documents is my mother’s godson, a
family relation, my sister’s lawyer and our parents’ legal
advisor. The godson-attorney fashioned a contested
case for my sister’s autonomy and influenced the court,
Guardians Ad Litem (GAL) and the future appointee. He
offered the court a perfectly sound reason to usurp
authority when he sent his son/law partner to the hearing
with a false allegation of major criminal embezzlement to
counter my relatively minor charges of financial
mishandling.
Macomb County Probate Court,
Michigan: Sins of guardianship can be traced to the
doors of a derelict court. Among Michigan’s 83
probate courts, several preserve the archaic practice of
appointing lawyers as guardians and conservators — Macomb
is one. The court was subject to media attention just
after my mother’s hearing with former Chief Justice
Kathryn George. Suspecting cronyism, the Michigan
Supreme Court ordered an audit of some of her
conservatorship cases and found what it was looking for. In
May 2008, she lost her crowning title and all of her cases
were transferred to her political rival, Judge Pamela
Gilbert O’Sullivan.
Vowing to monitor the court’s
shenanigan’s, the State Court Administrative Office (SCAO)
told the court administrator to “Leave”
and sent an acting chief justice to bring order to the
court. This court and its appointee have violated nearly
every statute relevant to my mother’s cases.
Hearing on Petition to Appoint a
Guardian and Petition to Appoint a Conservator
for an Alleged Legally Incapacitated Individual — former
Chief Justice Kathryn George: The GAL
filed a biased report, to my denigration. He failed to ask
the court to appoint an attorney for my mother. The court
ignored its obligation to do so, nobody represented my
mother’s interest and she did not attend her protective
proceeding. The judge failed to validate PsOA and legally
designated nominees and ignored the entire guardianship
petition. The godson-attorney’s son alleged
embezzlement; Judge George declared “schism”. The
young attorney committed perjury in defense of his
conflicted interests. Judge George said she needed time to
“unravel this mess,” stated her Decision to
appoint an “Interim Conservator” from among the
court’s stable of public attorneys, closed the hearing and
dismissed parties. After the hearing, she wrote an Order
for a Full Guardian and Full Conservator (G-C).
I sent a letter to the court about the hearing’s
deficiencies and legal inconsistencies; somebody edited the
transcript – point ●
by
●
point.
The godson-attorney, my sister and the
G-C formed an alliance. She received valuable collections,
property of choice, authority to sell remaining possessions
(including mine) and the right to use fraudulent, “revoked”
PsOA to claim title to additional property and oversee our
mother’s medical care. To me, the G-C granted the privilege
of spending three weeks with my mother after the hearing.
Her house had been ransacked; I took her to the hospital,
again. Five days after I left, the G-C and my sister moved
her from her home for 44 years to a ‘granny dump’ in a
remote location — 15 minutes from my sister and a day’s
drive from me. She arrived at Belle River Pines
Adult Foster Care home on May 14, 2008 with two garbage bags
of clothing and the first of two letters from the G-C
prohibiting “all contact” with my husband, my son and me —
and anyone with our surname. Somebody created a “restricted
list” of more prohibited contacts. I located my mother on
May 23 but could not speak with her. Eventually, persistent
family, friends, State workers and other professionals
induced the G-C to relax restrictions. After seven weeks,
he said my mother could call me “just once,” on my
birthday. She cried for 17 minutes:
I’m all
alone. Nobody can find me here.”
My Mother, Belle River Pines, June 2008
Two weeks later, the G-C said I could
visit my mother — if supervised, if I agreed not to “kidnap”
her. She was hard to find, 20 minutes from the nearest
4-corners’ town. Staff said one person had visited her “a
few minutes —a couple times” during more than two months of
personal rights restrictions. The guardian does not contact
me when she is ill or in the hospital. My visits are
limited, due to the court’s interference. She is alone,
most of the time.
"Dear Mr.
(G-C],
I have enclosed photos of
my mother illustrating her physical deterioration between
May and December 2008 under your guardianship . . . deprived
of contact with her loved ones for months . . . forced to
take sedating drugs when distressed over her apparent
abandonment. . . she suffered from negligent injuries,
including concussion, contusions, lacerations and an alleged
broken arm, unset (not to be confused with two broken wrist
bones that were not set in a cast before she arrived at
Belle River Pines) . . . classified as “independently
mobile” with a walker for placement in an unsupervised
setting . . . .unaided, she bumps into walls and stumbles. .
. cannot seat herself or raise herself from a sitting
position now . . . has fallen over, into and out of
furniture and on the floor while wrapped in her bedding . .
. has not received customary in-residence therapies
following hospital treatments . . . has sat for hours in . .
. sacrificing her dignity and health. Repeated infections
of obvious derivation were untreated for months, during
which time her health was jeopardized in every conceivable
way . . . unable to eat her dinner due to “shaking” . . .
fails to distinguish some foods on her plate because of
dramatically aggressed vision disturbance . . . has also
adapted to living without bras, wearing others’ clothes,
trying to walk in slippery socks with slacks dragging on
floors and more, for the convenience of others. She has
suffered from utter neglect. Her injuries, illnesses and
aggressively declining health are not a natural result of
pre-existing physical or mental conditions. Were it
possible to prove otherwise, shortsightedness would be as
obvious as apathy. "
[My Mother] received the
best personal care and medical attention available until her
husband of 62 years passed away. Shortly afterward, you
assumed the court-appointed roles of Guardian and
Conservator. You have acted against her husband’s wishes,
against her physician’s advice, in exclusion of one person
critical to her well-being.
You have failed to protect
her life and to provide for her care in the manner to which
she was accustomed, according to her means; you have failed
as her Guardian.
The
only way you could have sped up her demise would have been
to put her on a block of ice and float her out to sea.
Hearing on Petitions to
Revoke the Guardianship and Conservatorship —
Judge Pamela Gilbert O’Sullivan: The court
suppressed subpoenaed evidence. The judge said she was not
familiar with communications and case records about my
mother’s plight because Judge George appointed the G-C and
“I’m not Judge George!” Concerning the G-C’s and the
court’s failures to observe rules governing moving my mother
to a ‘more restricted environment’ and reporting an
Inventory of her estate, this Judge
stated on the record, “We don’t do that here,”
and “We don’t follow those laws, either.” She said
she based her Decision to support the G-C on GAL #2’s
Recommendation, expressed as my mother’s wishes in
the following idiopathic logic:
The GAL stated,
“I am certain that she did not understand much of what we
talked about.”
“She had
no opinion regarding
the conservatorship and guardianship when I asked her.”
“She lacks
sufficient understanding or capacity to make or
communicate informed decisions.”
The GAL
concluded, “She is completely satisfied with
Attorney [M.] as her
Guardian and Conservator.”
The conservator’s Inventory was
due within 56 days of appointment. He filed a fraudulent
Inventory nine months after legal deadline, seven months
beyond Notice on Deficiency, two months after a
private Show Cause Event — the Court accepted
it. He declared one personal asset – a car under-valued at
$1,220 — and omitted all other required listings. He failed
to file the required Annual Accounting of the estate
and his Letter of Authority lapsed. He retains
control of my mother’s estate, to date.* After the SCAO
asked for information, the court scheduled another Show
Cause Event. When the Event takes place, if it
does, the attorney will have evaded his annual reporting
duty by 6.5 months. Cumulative Inventory and
Annual Accounting delinquency will be over 16 months,
with no major assets reported to the court; e.g. rental
income, VA benefits, appraised collections and sold
property. ‘Home Clear of Mortgage’ figures do
not add up.
He also failed to file an Annual
Report on Condition of the Guardianship. His Letter
of Authority lapsed. Two months later, GAL #3
conducted the mandatory Annual Review of the
Guardianship. The G-C did not return calls to discuss
the guardianship and the GAL expressed concern over
incongruous estate figures that he faxed.
“My recommendation is as
follows: . . . that this Court review
the required annual filings on both the
Guardianship/Conservatorship files andupon the filing of
said documents it would be prudent for the Court [sic]
look to the accuracy and content of the information
submitted.”
Guardian Ad Litem #3
May 25, 2009
Three days after GAL #3 filed her Review, Judge
O’Sullivan reissued his guardianship Letter for three
more years; at the time, the Annual Report was two
months’ overdue. His filing dates conflict on the docket.
The G-C failed to copy me with his delinquent Annual
Report, precluding statute procedure toward a hearing in
the matter. With hundreds of probate cases, the attorney
exerts profound influence over courts in two Michigan
counties.
*September 21, 2009