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Tag: Conservatorship

Avoid Probate

Probate Loves Family Fights

July 26, 2020
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While you fight, strangers get control of your money and your family’s inheritance Joyce Marie Johnson, 74, once was a real estate broker who owned multiple properties in the mountain town of Lytle Creek, north of Fontana, as well as in Long Beach and Seal Beach, all in California. Now she sits in an Orange County California board-and-care home, dementia eating away her mind, while a court conservatorship liquidates her real estate and isolates her from family members. Johnson’s problems began after her two daughters disagreed on who should have power of attorney. The family squabble was taken to probate…

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Betty Lou Lamoreaux

No One Is Immune

July 25, 2020
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Retired Judge with Courthouse Named After Her is Exploited by Probate Betty Lou Lamoreaux was a giant on the Orange County California Superior Court bench. Her work with children was so impressive that the county named the seven-story family courthouse  after her — the Lamoreaux Juvenile Justice Center. Duff Lamoreaux McGrath in 2016 outside county courthouse named after his Aunt, Betty Lou Lamoreaux, whose life savings is is in danger of being financially drained, in part by the very justice system to which she dedicated her life. (Courtesy of Duff McGrath)   Lamoreaux, now 94, has Alzheimer’s disease and is…

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Money Draining Probate

Money Draining Probate System is Like a Plague

July 24, 2020
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How can legal professionals have such power over the life of a person, to the point that even family has no voice? It’s called probate court, which can open the door for high-priced professionals to swallow a person’s life savings and the family’s future inheritance. An investigation by the Southern California News Group reveals that conservators, guardians, fiduciaries, their attorneys and judges become almost cliquish in running people’s lives. “Often there is a little buddy-buddy system going on … sometimes a judge has friends who are attorneys,” said Thomas Coleman, a Palm Springs lawyer who specializes in representing the disabled….

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Conservator Stealing Money

Court Appointed Conservator Steals Over $1 Million

July 23, 2020
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Nashville attorney John E. Clemmons was sentence to 25 years in jail for stealing more than $1 million from wards entrusted to him in probate courts in Davidson and Rutherford counties in Tennessee. The Metro Nashville government will be paying $300,000 to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of the estate of William Link, a man who was cheated out of nearly $800,000 by Clemmons. Clemmons was first apponted as Link’s conservator in 2003, and he was placed in charge of Link’s estate following his death in 2004.  The estate funds were earmarked for the benefit of Link’s disabled daughter….

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Oak County Probate, Michigan

Michigan Oakland County Probate Court Retaliates

July 22, 2020
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The Oakland County Probate Court in Michigan has a reputation that’s no secret to attorneys practicing Michigan estate and probate law. Attorneys claim that openly criticizing any of the four judges or Oakland County Public Administrators, whether in court or in public, can lead to sanctions placed against them; or the possible removal of their license by Michigan’s Attorney Discipline Board. Families claim there are very few Michigan attorneys who are willing to take their cases against an Oakland County Public Administrator, and that those who do charge retainers that are far out of a family’s reach. One attorney, who…

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Elderly Care Taker

Crooked Caretakers: ‘Easier than you think’ to steal from the vulnerable

July 20, 2020
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Scott Teter, head of the Michigan Attorney General’s Financial Crimes Division, said “it’s easier than you think for rogue guardians and conservators to steal from wards.  Spotting exploitation is often left up to family members, but most families don’t have the resources to do that.” Teter continued with, the system is set up to respond to complaints, not search for evidence of exploitation.   Michigan: Flaws In The Law In Michigan conservators have to file an annual financial report, but guardians don’t. Additionally, the financial report itself doesn’t require any receipts or backup documentation to account for the money. “It’s…

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Joann Bashinsky, heriss of Golden Flake

Friends and Employees Tried to Seize Money Using Guardianship

July 16, 2020
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The Supreme Court of Alabama on Thursday, July 2, 2020,  released a unanimous, scathing opinion outlining that the Jefferson County Probate Court “egregiously violated” the “basic due-process rights” of Joann Bashinsky, heiress to the Golden Flake fortune. Joann Bashinsky had been deprived of controlling her own assets, managing her own personal affairs and making her own legal decisions, since October due to orders issued then by recently retired Jefferson County Presiding Probate Judge Alan King. Judge Alan King order came after former allies and employees of Bashinsky, the wife of Golden Flake’s founder, allegedly moved to try seizing the fortune…

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