GUARDIANSHIP VICTIMS
AND THEIR STORIES

Audrey Miller
TX/FL

My sister, Audrey Miller, lives in Minneapolis, MN.  She and her husband have a condo in Vero Beach, Florida.  After her husband retired, they spent the winters in Vero Beach and the summers in Minneapolis.  After her husband's death in Florida in 2001, Audrey returned to Minneapolis saying she never wanted to step foot in Florida again.  Audrey was trustee of a large estate left by her husband.  She also had money in her own name.

Her daughter, Merrily, noticed that Audrey was beginning to have memory loss and decided to seek a guardianship over Audrey so that she could have control of the estate.  Audrey discovered Merrily's plan and under advice of her attorney, moved to Texas to be with me.  She removed her Florida residency and became a Texas resident.  Her daughter told her that the Florida condo sold and that she needed to return to Florida to sigh papers. Upon returning to Florida, instead of a real estate office, she found herself in Probate court. Her son, Michael Miller of Chicago, intervened creating a need for a trial.

 Judge Hawley, who presided over the probate court, let everyone know that he did not believe in family members being guardians.  He also refused to hear a motion for jurisdiction and called for mediation. At the mediation, four lawyers made a deal with each other to turn her over to one of the lawyers as guardian. They also told the judge that Audrey agreed to be a Florida resident.  Audrey was never allowed to be at any of the court hearings. When hearing what was said, she replied, "that is a damn lie."

We have been trying to get her out of this negative guardianship for two and one half years with no success.

She has been heavily drugged to the detriment of her health and kept isolated in Florida for long periods of time. We know they are stealing money, but are not able to audit the guardian.  We will not stop trying to free her.

                                                                                                                 ~Connie Fanning  

Elizabeth (Betty) Mueller

MO

My mother and I share the same birthday, October 22, approximately 44 years apart. I was very close to both of my parents. When my father passed away in 1996, he left a sizable estate for my mother, and for the descendants he specified in his Will and Trust. My mother’s Will and Trust documents are identical to my father’s. Of utmost importance to my father, was my mother’s welfare, after his death. He left explicit instructions as to how his estate was to be distributed and protected.

My older sister, Cam (Mueller) Fischer had been disinherited and financially disowned for alleged theft of monies from a family business and tax fraud, officially in 1985. She chose to remove herself, and her children, from the family for almost 20 years; this was a source of great pain for my parents. In 1998 she maneuvered control over our mother, through a power of attorney, that mother lacked the capacity to execute. Cam sold the family home for below market value and made herself the recipient of the $500,000.00 + proceeds, along with all the personal property she valued. Items such as cars, jewelry, furs, furniture, oriental rugs, paintings, and silver have ‘disappeared’. Also lost are the irreplaceable mementoes of lives well lived, such as photographs, family keepsakes, and the heritage passed down from previous generations. Cam currently benefits from the ongoing, annual $70,000.00 + per year mother receives from father’s trust; an approximate total of $700,000.00 to date; plus the $500,000.00 + from the sale of my parent’s home, a very conservative total of $1,200,000.00, that does not include personal property, social security monies, or other investments. In November of 2005, in court documents filed by Cam Fischer, Cam lists mother’s total assets as $10,000.00. Where is all the money, and how has it been spent? 

The co-trustee of my father’s two Trusts, Commerce Bank, continues to fail in the fiduciary duty it has been entrusted with, which is to protect the Trusts, and oversee the appropriate distribution of the Trusts assets’. Commerce had been alerted, as far back as 1998, by Mother’s own attorney, that she was already a victim of ongoing financial duress which she was unable to effectively resist. This abuse of the Trust assets has been allowed by Commerce, despite the overwhelming evidence and documentation that has been presented to the bank. In April of 2006, Commerce authorized $10,000.00 to be paid to Cam Fischer’s attorney, Matt Rossiter, and an additional $2,000.00+ to the Probate Court appointed attorney, Jim Wright, for Cam’s portion of the court fees. These monies were paid in Mother’s name, from Father’s Trust-(in which Cam is excluded), for the benefit of Cam Fischer. I have asked Commerce, repeatedly, for an accounting of the monies dispersed from my Father’s Trust, into a checking account in Mother’s name; these monies are to be used for her welfare exclusively. They have yet to perform any type of accounting. In 2006, Commerce assumed sole trusteeship of the Trusts. Commerce disclosed that they had been unable to contact Mother for over a year; their attempts to speak with her had been blocked by Cam Fischer. Commerce performed no investigation into Mom’s competence, or lack there of; nor did they check to make sure she was still alive, and the one receiving the Trust payouts. Commerce neglected to contact me, as well; I am the beneficiary of the Trusts, after mom. Cam’s absolute control includes preventing Mother and I from seeing one another. In 2005 I was forced to obtain a court order to “visit” with my mother once a week. Financially, I have been unable to maintain the visitation order. Cam will continue to have the financial ‘upper-hand’ as long as Commerce continues to disregard its fiduciary duty to Mother, Father, and I. I have seen my mother less than a dozen times in approximately nine years.

 For 8-9 years, I have been seeking justice for my parents and myself. I have battled an apathetic judicial, probate court, and bank system, that disregard my Mother’s welfare; ignoring the evidence of elder abuse, in all its forms, in particular the financial abuse that has been perpetrated upon her. The bank and the judicial court system are the profiteers, acting in their best interest to Mother’s detriment. The personal, emotional, and financial cost of this battle has been high. Daily, I fear for my Mother’s welfare. I know she is not living the life she and my father worked and planned for.

                                                                                                                        - Patricia Mueller – November 2007 - 

Helen Dorothy Ferrari
CA

In 2001 , a San Mateo County judge ruled my Mom could no longer take care of herself and forced her into a conservatorship to “manage” her multimillion-dollar estate and make essential decisions about her care.

The private conservator sold Mom’s home, where she had lived for 45 years, for six million dollars (more money for them!) – and forced her into a nursing home even though she wanted to live with me and I wanted to take care of her.  

The conservatorship was solely in the best financial interest of the attorneys and conservator who feasted off of Mom’s estate as they poisoned the court against me for my efforts to protect her from her predators. 

Because I complained about their abuse of my Mom and questioned the level of care she was receiving at the nursing home where she was imprisoned, I was not permitted to see Mom unless I hired a social worker to “observe” my visit.   I was denied all input regarding Mom’s care and medical decisions about her.  They had stolen her away from her family and the life she had lived and was accustomed to because they wanted her money.  All contact with her friends was also screened, leaving her feeling abandoned and alone and also angry she could not go home.  What she wanted and needed was ignored.   She did not feel safe in the nursing home and I constantly feared for her safety.  Her final days were nothing less than miserable and frightening for her, and for me.

 The attorneys and conservator rationalized their exorbitant fees (hundreds of thousands of dollars) proclaiming to be representing my Mom’s best interest against me – and the court rubber stamped their every request.  They had done an excellent job of setting the stage for Mom’s financial clean out by maligning me and blaming me for their continued litigation. 

No one is safe!                                                                                         ~ Wendy Ferrari

Frieda Traweek Eversole
b. 1910 -

AL

After a lifetime of saving for their old age and making all the needed financial arrangements for themselves, my parents “called in” my 30-year-old promise to care for them in their own home the final years of their lives.  I became their sole care provider in June 1998.  A month after dad’s death in May, 1999, we received an urgent phone call informing us we were “required to appear in probate court” within 32 hours, no reason given.

On arriving, we learned that a fabricated claim had been lodged against me alleging that I “may” be misappropriating my mother’s financial assets.  Even though I turned over copies of all financial records – mother’s, mine, those of my business – no evidence in support of such a claim was found.  None existed. Yet the probate judge seized control then and there of all mother’s assets, denied her access to funds for an attorney, paid out $5,200 of her money to a psychologist to write a “mental evaluation” of mother, though he never met her!  Two of mother’s primary care physicians and an M.D.-Ph.D. exert on dementia, to whom I took mother for evaluation, all read and refuted the court’s “evaluation”, but their statements were refused admission by the court.   

In October, 1999, there was a five-hour “hearing” which mother was not allowed to attend in violation of state law.  Two attorneys and three estranged cousins testified against me with identical charges using the same words and phrases – proof of a pre-planned conspiracy.  On November 1, 1999, an attorney – James M. Tingle, who hired the attorney who brought the court action against us -- was appointed “conservator” over mother’s estate.  In the first six months he embezzled over $93,000 from mother’s trust fund, plus other assets.

 Five attempts were made to take mother from my care.  When I blocked the first one, my $1.7 million small business was seized and shut down, my assets seized and my livelihood destroyed.  We were also locked out of our own home for the next 27 months with only the clothes on our backs. Over the next five years we were subjected to over 65 legal actions. To this day we’ve never been granted a due process hearing.  The legal actions against us ended only when I filed suit in Federal District Court against the probate court, judges, attorneys, conservator and relatives.  See my suit at:  www.lighteagle.net/elderassets.

 In eight years mother has been granted access to a total of one-half of one percent of her money, being denied funds for food, healthcare and other essentials.  Two-thirds of her assets have vanished without a trace.  Forty-plus requests under Alabama law for an accounting of the assets under “conservatorship” have been denied.  This bogus conservatorship has been a “black box” operation from the start and violates state and federal fraud, conspiracy and criminal racketeering laws.

Esther Johnson

MA

When Esther Johnson became vulnerable, her wishes and needs were denied, her estate plundered, and her dignity neglected.    Even though she named her son Taylor as her DPoA and even specified he would be her guardian if needed, she didn’t get what she wanted.  Instead, Esther’s daughter was named guardian.  She confined Esther to her bedroom, denied her visitors, and only allowed Taylor to see their Mother one hour per week and those supervised visits cost Taylor over $100 each.

No one was allowed to mention Taylor’s name or answer Esther when she asked about him.

 The 3 1/2 year nightmare, which Esther Johnson suffered and which directly caused her death, revolves around the Probate Court structure in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the courts absolute refusal to abide by the existing protective laws for the elderly.

Esther Johnson suffered many abuses and torture before her homicide on December 30, 1998. 

As a society, we can and must protect the human, civil and constitutional rights of seniors.  Every person deserves to live a full life with dignity.    Every person must be guaranteed that their wishes will be carried out, assets protected  and  dignity preserved.                         

Catherine Bartlett Roberts – a Human Being

CALIFORNIA

Have you ever watched your mother cry?  Or seen her imprisoned in a jail-like facility, in which, her everyday ends at the window, looking out?  Have you ever seen a pair of eyes that would once light up a room but became dull and lifeless and seemed to beg, “why?” Imprisoned, not for a crime or a contagious disease or mental decline.   “Why?”

 I guess we all have something that we will take to our grave.  Mom took this simple question, “Why?” to hers.  And now I will take it to mine!  Why?  How, in God’s Name, can this happen in our country, or in any country?  Why?  Her only “sin?”………… falling down and breaking her shoulder!

 One bone!  One broken bone and then……….all properties seized, county locks placed on her home!  Possessions, heirlooms, antiques confiscated and put in an impound storage to be sold at an auction!  Hearings, greedy appointed lawyers, an uncaring judge and county Guardians spending Mom’s money like it was theirs!  And Mom…?  Mom, never to see her home or possessions, again, was “dumped” in an “end of the line,” terrible place, in which, you wouldn’t let your dog live!  And me, her only son restrained from seeing her because she cried when I came to visit!  You wouldn’t treat an animal this way!  Well, I wouldn’t, anyway!

 Guardianships are a very lucrative scenario.  Lucrative and beneficial to everyone, it seems, except the very ones it was designed and created to help!  Myself, family members, friends that knew Mom, well, will always know this;  an archaic, unnecessary and corrupt guardianship system and an uncaring, miserable nursing home murdered my Mother!  And took away the last years of her life, for, absolutely, no reason other than greed!

We have fought bloody wars over less than this!  And I would just like to “thank” the Butte County Public Guardian and the Riverside Convalescent home for this “wonderful” memory that I am left with of my Mother.

DORIS DENNEY

 This is my mother, Doris Denney.  Through no fault of her own, she ended up in an Adult Family Home for six weeks and for the same amount of time, she had a guardian of the person, Care Planning Associates.  During her time at the Adult Family Home, she was sheltered, received her medications, had some entertainment, was fed and received assistance with the activities of daily living.  For that she was charged about three thousand a month, totaling about $4500 for the six weeks. For the guardianship of the person, she was charged $18,000 for six weeks.   For this, she had a visit or two.  The rest of the dollars were for conferring, reporting, talking, calling, meeting, and considering.  Since she had considerably more dollars to be stolen, the guardian and its loathsome attorney tried in every way to keep themselves in the picture.  They especially wanted to get her home.  Her wishes were of no interest to them.  I succeeded in releasing her from their greedy, dishonest grasp. 

When I examined the bill, I noted that the charges didn’t match.  They were obviously bogus.  They had just made up calls and meetings and other activities.  They also had neglected her therapy for a broken hip.  She is currently in a wheelchair – a fact I attribute to their negligence.  I tried in every way I could to get Commissioner Velategui’s attention. But that was not going to happen in the Seattle Superior Court where such fraud is routinely rubber stamped.  I brought an action for fraud and submitted thirty or more pages of fraudulent charges.  The judicial joke behind the bench told me I should have shown him this earlier and fined me the guardian’s and their attorney, Henry Judson’s’ legal fees amounting to about eleven thousand dollars.  He never asked about a single bogus charge.  Additionally it is not my responsibility to point anything out to him.  The legislature has written it into the law that the court must monitor this program.  Instead of monitoring, this corrupt court has given the green light to elder abuse and financial exploitation of the elderly.  It defies belief that the one place where theft is permitted is in the King County Supreme Court of Washington. This has nothing to do with justice but rather is indisputable proof of corruption.  

Estela Torrent
FL

Because of a forced guardianship, my mother had to spend over four years in nursing homes against her will.  It didn’t matter to the judge that Mom wanted to live with me.   It didn’t matter that she was terrified and abused while in the nursing home.  And it doesn’t matter now to the judge that my Mom needlessly suffered total loss of her sight due to nursing home neglect, among other atrocities.

She begged me to take her home but I was   powerless  to  do  so        The  judge appointed my brother, an attorney apparently still in “good standing” although on psychiatric disability for at least 10 years, as guardian of the property.   His illness and irrational behavior plagued my efforts to free Mom because the judge favored my brother over our mother’s best interest. And  my  Mother  suffered  for  it. The person  the   judge   was     supposed   to  be protecting was  my  Mother, not my brother.             
               
           -Maritza Torrent-Viola, daughter of Estela Torrent, Miami 

Leona Brown

                                                                                    FLORIDA

WE WANT TO STOP MY MOTHER AND FAMILY’S SUFFERING BY HAVING STRICT GUARDIANSHIP FEDERAL, STATE & LOCAL LAWS & COMMITTEES TO WATCH THE GUARDIANS & THEIR ATTORNEYS!

ALL OF MOM’S DREAMS WERE SUPPOSEDLY PROTECTED IN A TRUST, YET THE GUARDIAN STILL CONFISCATED THEM EVEN THOUGH  I (HER DAUGHTER)  WAS APPONTED THE POA & TRUSTEE, & HAD MOM’S WILL, LIVING WILL & COPIES CONFIRMING ALL DOCUMENTS WERE RECORDED AT THE COURTHOUSE.  

THE CORRUPT GUARDIAN LEGALLY STOLE EVERYTHING IN THE TRUST IN 6 MONTHS, THE WILL, HOME CONTENTS,  & ALL INVESTMENTS AFTER THEY CALLED MOM INCOMPETENT & REMOVED ALL HER CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS TO CHOOSE WHERE SHE LIVES, SOCIAL ACTIVITIES, CONTRACT, VOTE, MARRY, ETC.  SHE IS NOW A “PRISON” ‘WARD’ . THIS IS HAPPENING IN USA DAILY.

 WE WERE TOLD THE POLICE WOULD ARREST US IF WE BROUGHT MOM TO OUR HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. THIS WAS MEAN AND CRUEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 WAKE UP, THIS IS NOT A 3^RD WORLD COUNTRY AND IT COULD BE YOUR PARENTS! THIS HAPPENS DAILY & GUARANTEED YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY’S LIVES WILL BE DESTROYED WHILE YOUR PARENT IS THE VICTIM!

Margaret Korpics
PA

Margaret’s daughter tried to seek assistance from the Lehigh County Agency on Aging. They ignored her pleas for help. Margaret’s son died in 2005. However, his friends remained in her home. Her daughter sought the help of an attorney and eventually a court appointed guardian was assigned to Margaret. Laurie Schnauffer, of the Guardian Support Agency Inc. felt it was in Margaret’s best interest for her abusers to remain with her. Margaret’s bruises, broken ribs, malnourishment, and fear were of no concern to Ms. Schnaufer. However, she made it a point on many occasions to brag to Margaret’s family how much money she made by being a guardian. She restricted visits from people who were concerned about her. She threatened Margaret’s daughter that she would never see her mother again if she continued to speak out about her abuse.

In 2006 the court ruled that Margaret would be placed in an assisted living facility. When her daughter entered Margaret’s home she found it basically empty. The house itself was damaged in many ways. Letters were written to the Agency on Aging, Department of Aging, state officials, and many others. Of the 40 letters sent most were ignored. Those that did respond had no interest in helping Margaret. No one would put a stop to the financial and physical abuse of a helpless old woman. 

Marion Lehto

AZ

 Here’s my Mom and I.  We have been victims of the guardianship/conservatorship business since 2004.  To date, we have lost $400,000 of a 1.2 million dollar investment account.  Our money is enriching two criminal guardianship businesses, their lawyers, our court appointed lawyer, a guardian ad litem and a trust company – all with the blessings of The Maricopa County Probate Court in AZ. Most of my own money was seized and put into the trust.  My income was cut in half and I am subsisting on a $14,000 per year disability.

 The litigation has ruined our health – all because a local guardianship business and their lawyer set out to steal our money.  My Mother was placed into assisted living at exorbitant cost and the current guardian is billing the trust any amount of money she wants.  All with the blessings of the probate court!  This is by far the biggest criminal racket going on in AZ and probably the rest of America. 

                                   No one who has money of their own is safe.

 I have written letters to dozens of agencies to no avail.  My complaints to the courts and judges have been ignored.  Hundreds of lawyers and racketeers are making millions in Phoenix.  The attorney general turns a blind eye.  Our government is corrupt beyond our imaginations and it is about time someone did something!  Once our funds are exhausted, these criminals will move on to the next victim.

Maydelle Trambarulo

Our family’s nightmare began in August 2004. My parents, Ralph and Maydelle Trambarulo, had moved to Delaware to be near son Paul in 2003, after living in Red Bank NJ for 47 years. Mom, now 76, suffers from Parkinson’s disease and related dementia. Dad, aged 81, suffers from normal pressure hydrocephalus, and has difficulty walking and breathing.

After Mom broke her hip, our cousin Teresa Sirico reappeared after an absence of 8-10 years. Teresa is Dad’s niece and is a real estate broker in New Haven, CT.

When Teresa proposed bringing Mom to CT for  treatment, we agreed, wanting the best medical care for our wife and mother. We trusted Teresa as a family member.  Once in CT, she told us Mom couldn’t come back to Delaware.

 In October 2004, we received notice that Teresa had been appointed Mom’s Temporary Conservator by the Probate Court of Woodbridge CT. This was done “ex parte” (emergency), so we weren’t notified until afterwards. We agreed to an independent conservator, envisioning a neutral party who would work with us. Three attorneys were then appointed,  the conservator, Mom’s attorney and the guardian ad litem (GAL). These total strangers advise the court on “what is best for Maydelle”. Their view of us has been formed not through direct knowledge, but through (mis)information supplied by Teresa.

Judge Clifford Hoyle denied our motion disputing the CT court’s jurisdiction of the case, even though Mom has never been a CT resident, never voted in CT, and has never had a CT driver’s license or paid taxes in CT. Ralph, her husband of 50 years, and two daughters live in NJ. Judge Hoyle decided that it was in Mom’s “best interests” that she stay in CT. This effectively ends  my parent’s marriage of 50 years, as Dad cannot travel to CT. We are appealing Judge Hoyle’s decision in Superior Court. Our family (Dad, myself and my siblings, Alice, Margaret and Paul), is united in wanting Mom to return to NJ to be near us in her final years. 

Dad had to obtain a mortgage (at age 80!) because he was denied access to funds in joint accounts.  In a proposed division of the estate,  Judge Hoyle stated that he was being ”generous” in allowing Dad 50% of the joint funds, when in fact Dad was the principal contributor to that estate.

Despite our protests, Mom was moved to an assisted living facility near Teresa. After 2 years of brainwashing by Teresa and her allies, Mom is now separated from us not only by distance, but also emotionally.

There’s a very obvious conflict of interest here: the court and its officers are the ones who get to decide whether the source of their financial “gravy train” stays in CT or is allowed to leave the state! It is clearly in THEIR best interests financially that Mom stay in Connecticut. The Probate Court’s primary function in this case should be the reuniting of Maydelle with her FAMILY, and the true conservation of her person and financial estate, NOT the reallocation of her hard-earned assets to court officers’ own bank accounts!

I would not wish our circumstances on anyone. A loving family has been torn apart by a self-serving legal system containing an insidious corruption of cronyism and greed, used to the utmost by someone who knows how to manipulate the system for her own perfidious ends. Unfortunately, we now know our family is not alone in this horrible situation. As more Americans approach what should be their “Golden Years”, this assault on fundamental rights is being repeated nationwide. Awareness  of the disastrous possibilities is the first step to protecting yourself and your loved ones!

Peggy Greer
MN

Although I’m smiling here, I’m very, very sad inside.
Due to my unwanted and unnecessary
“guardian and conservator”,
 I’m about to loose my home of 50 years!

 ·        My unwanted guardian has wasted over $500,000 dollars of my money in only two years – spending $150,000 in the last three months!

·        The guardian confined me in a nursing home against my will at $6,000 per month even though
 I wanted and only needed assisted living, costing $2,000 a month.

·        Even though I can take care of my basic needs,  the guardian wasted my money on exorbitant  24 hour “care” I didn’t need, costing me a staggering $22,000 a month despite doctor’s orders that 24 hour care was unnecessary and excessive.

Roxaine Reynolds

WASHINGTON STATE

My mother, Roxaine Reynolds, is 81 years old. Mom has diabetes, DVT, and dementia. Starting in January 2004, my 5 brothers and 1 sister wanted mom forced into a care facility. The motive is greed - they wanted to put her into a warehouse, not visit her, sell her house where she lived for 48 years and be done with her.  In August 2005, working with an attorney, I asked for a guardian of the person.  There is a state law that says you cannot force the elderly into a care facility against their wishes.    The  guardian  doesn’t care about following state law.

 In January 2006, we got the guardian and were working to get caregivers into the house. It was starting to work. On March 11, 2006, mom fainted and was taken to the hospital to be checked out. That afternoon, the guardian forced mom into Garden Terrace , Federal Way, Washington against her wishes (but with the blessing of my siblings).  I started asking questions - neither the guardian, the case manager or the facility will answer them. Questions like: How did I abuse my mother? How come mom sat in her feces all day? Mom does not want to be there. 

The guardian and Garden Terrace staff then started telling lies about me. On January 26, 2007, I drove to Olympia to testify before the State Senate Judiciary Committee. In February, the guardian’s attorney presented a letter to court saying I was visiting mom the same day I was in Olympia. How can I be in two places at once? They won’t answer my questions.

When we had the hearing for the guardianship, a psychiatrist said that people’s health deteriorates when they are forced into a facility. That has happened to mom. It is now to the point where the guardian is talking about hospice services 
for her.   
    This is how Unlimited Guardianship Services “protected” my mother?

Ruby Cohen
December 22, 1922 – June 26, 2007

My father Ruby Cohen, owner of Cohen’s Quality Bakery in Ellenville New York, worked his entire life to build a lasting legacy for their grandchildren and financial security for him and my mother in their retirement years, yet it took only a handful of outsiders less than eighteen months to destroy everything they worked their entire lives to acquire.

After my father had a stroke in 2002, causing him to suffer from severe dementia. A distant cousin ceased upon the opportunity to replace her deceased father with mine and gain control of our family’s assets. She convinced him to come “visit” her in Florida and within three weeks of his arrival, had him revoke my mother’s power of attorney, have it reassigned to her and, with the help of a sleazy attorney, Howard Raab, convinced him to file for divorce.

The Florida State Department of Child and Family Services suggested a temporary emergency guardian Jewish Family Services of West Palm Beach, who would end the divorce and return my father home. Neither of which occurred. Instead, they took over all control of my father’s life and began systematically depleting the rest of his estate to pay their attorney, Mark Shalloway and several others. They did their best to eliminate his family from his life, threw him into a nursing home and began giving him anti-psychotic medication.

He suffered total kidney failure, and his health began to fade. Fortunately I was able to rescue him in 2005, but not before the Florida Guardians and their attorneys took every penny. When he passed away on June 23, 2007, there was no life insurance, no stock portfolios, or any other assets, which would have gone to my 82-year-old mother to care for her.

 
My Memoir “Blood Tastes Lousy With Scotch” tells the story with actual court documents and testimony on how this horrific nightmare nearly destroyed our family and began my personal mission to STOP GUARDIAN ABUSE. 



Read Excerpts at GOOGLE BOOKS.com

Stephanie Hordijuk

Jamaica, NY

Mother made me promise I would see to it she could  stay in her home until her final day.  But her court appointed guardian took away her comfort and made her life miserable.

 My Mother suffered from dementia.  Familiar surroundings give a person with dementia comfort, whereas  major changes make the person agitated and uncomfortable. 

 The guardian decided that Mother’s house was not modern enough --- she took down Mother’s prized Ukrainian rug.  She disposed of Mother’s treasured Ukranian dolls and much of her furniture.  Mother’s beautiful living room transformed into a stark room, void of the precious knick knacks and personal items that made it comfortable and familiar for her --- things that made her happy and gave her pleasure. 

 The Guardian also decided to remodel the kitchen.  She had a new floor installed--- it wasn’t necessary nor did my Mother want it, but what Mother wanted didn’t matter to the Guardian.  She replaced the curtains Mother lovingly hand sewed and with ugly gray funeral parlor looking curtains.  A new refrigerator, a microwave, new vacuum, new windows and two air conditioners – all unnecessary expenses.  Mother hated air conditioning, it made her cough and too cold.  The Guardian used my Mother’s money to modernize Mother’s home for the Guardian’s  comfort and the comfort of her staff --- not my Mother’s.  Mother complained of the mess and the mental stress of the construction.
Mother told me it wasn’t her home anymore; and sadly, she was right.  The Guardian turned my Mother’s home from her castle to a prison.

 The Guardian charged Mother $280 an hour, over $46,000 for her fees in the first year of misery alone.  She treated Mother like a child, didn’t do her job, ran up exorbitant and unnecessary expenses, and worse of all, despite my best efforts,  I was powerless to help her.  My complaints and pleas for help fell on deaf ears.

These photographs and testimonials are only a few of the thousands of individuals who have become victims of this abusive "guardianship" system. Many more do not have a voice, have been drugged into silence, isolated from their families and stripped of their basic Constitutional rights by the courts of our "Land of Liberty". 

It is our DUTY, our OBLIGATION and our COMMITMENT to END these atrocities.  A civilized society CAN NOT, MUST NOT and WILL NOT stand by while an entire generation, and generations to follow are suffering.

Together, we will put an END to this abuse!

Robin C. Westmiller, J.D.