Monday, March 14, 2011

NASGA Press Release

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release

March 14, 2011
For more information contact:
Annie McKenna
NASGA Media Liaison
info@StopGuardianAbuse.org

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NASGA Releases its Second Open Letter to Congress and the White House
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NASGA continues its mission to reform unlawful and abusive guardianships and conservatorships with the release of its second “Open Letter to Congress and the White House,” mailed to approximately 300 members of Congress, including every member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

In its previous white paper, NASGA warned that unlawful and abusive guardianships can be dangerous to the health and are dangerous to the wealth of all Americans. The focus of NASGA’s second white paper is the growing threat of fraudulent and/or unlawful non emergency “emergency” hearings leading to “temporary” guardianships and conservatorships – without prior notice to the prospective “ward” of the state – whose assets are seized, leaving respondent without means of hiring counsel to defend.

Wards' families aren’t the only victims affected by these fraudulent proceedings. In the end, after the fiduciaries have bled the once-ample estates dry, they withdraw from the case and move on, thrusting their wards onto the taxpayer’s backs via Medicaid. With the growing Medicaid crisis, it is of paramount importance that the unlawful aspects be addressed and resolved without further delay.

NASGA continues to advocate for federal intervention to bring about swift and meaningful reform in all “protective” proceedings.

Read "An Open Letter to Congress and the White House-2"

14 comments:

Barbara said...

I am proud to be a member of NASGA.

Terry said...

Go NASGA!

Anonymous said...

Thank you, NASGA.

izzy said...

Thank you for continuing to shine light on a serious brokenness in our judicial system.

helensniece said...

Great job NASGA! Who else will be the voice of those poor souls who have been forever silenced?

Who knew...what they knew...when they knew it....and what if anythiing they did about it?

We are watching with eyes wide open.

b inberg said...

Bravo Professor Mark Heryman the members of NASGA agree!

"...the primary problem, which is fraud"

In response to Illinois legislation introduced in 2009 requiring certification of some guardians and training, Mark Heryman, clinical professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School didn’t believe good training will stop someone who wants to steal a person's money. He said, "I think it's a nice, interesting piece of legislation… I don't think it will address the primary problem, which is fraud."

Professor Heryman was right, and still is.

Mark said...

My situation started with an "emergency" hearing. There was no emergency at all. I am pleased to see NASGA shining a bright light on this offense.

Norma said...

This is great news! Very well done!

Linda said...

I am so happy to see this from NASGA. My case started from a temporary guardianship. What a joke - there is no such thing as temporary in guardianship.

Anonymous said...

the rush to get a guardianship or conservatorship case established asap has many benefits #1 being that the wards assets will fund team probate while any opposition to that party will need to use their own funds which is a long dangerous road to bankruptcy with very little possibility the guardianship will be terminated while team probate drains the wards assets gosh they just love a court battle more billing billing billing then the wards end up on medicaid if they survive the ordeal this is big business the cost to society is beyond staggering and they have their eyes on me and on you

honeybear said...

There is no holding us back!!!

Rachael said...

Bad guardians eating up estates and then throwing their wards on Medicaid represents how many billions or hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer burden? With all the focus on cutting Medicaid services, are they even looking at how much money is just running through each state's fingers?

Family of Helen Fabis said...

Ten years ago, on March 8, 2001 in Rock County Wisconsin in a secret hearing a temporary guardian of person and estate with full powers was appointed without notice of hearing to anyone including family members.

Helen Fabis' sisters received the notice of emergency hearing several days several after the ex-parte hearing; no transcript of the hearing exists.

All guardianship records in the STATE OF WISCONSIN are sealed closed.

IF guardianship cases and court events could be accessed via the Internet;

IF all temporary guardianships had enforced safeguards with limited powers with no access to bank accounts and other sources of income / assets;

IF the laws were enforced, Helen Fabis would have been better protected from personal and financial harm from total destruction.

IF only we had known the truth, known the dangers, no one is watching the guardians;

IF only we had known then what we now know Helen Fabis would have been able to avoid needless suffering, being forced to spend her final weeks, her final days and hours of her life in a stripped down Medicare room;

Helen Fabis was afraid, she was forced to endure a painful death by starvation and dehydration.

On April 30, 2001, Helen Fabis passed away in that stripped down barren Medicare room.

Although Helen Fabis was forever silenced, her family had promised her we would be her voice:

Criminal Case: #1) STATE OF WISCONSIN vs Kathleen A. Simane 2005CF000301;

July 20, 2006:
Judge James Daley sentenced Simane, 36, St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday for two counts of theft by bailee in a case in which her great-aunt, Helen Fabis, and other relatives were swindled out of more than $78,000.


Civil Cases:

#2) Rock County Guardianship Probate Case No. 01GN35 (closed/sealed records no accounting/inventory)

#3) Dane County Probate Case No. 2001PR1252 assets: $00.00;

#4) Dane County Case No.: 2002CV003962 Estate of Helen Fabis vs
William Skibbe;

#5) Rock County Case No.: 2004CV000375 Estate of Helen Fabis vs Bank One/Kathleen Simane

#6) US Bankruptcy Court District of MN Case No.: 4-37370 Petitioner: Kathleen Simane

#7) US Bankruptcy Court District of MN Adversarial Case No.: 5-3083 Estate of Helen Fabis vs Kathleen Simane

Carl said...

Thank goodness there's an organization like NASGA to speak up for the silenced and their families.