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YES YES YES!

PLEASE FAX THIS ALSO TO TOM DELAY:

What's REALLY Driving the Death Train for Terri! EXPLOSIVE Revelations About Judge Greer and Pinellas County "Guardians!"
"Outside of execution, guardianship is the most radical remedy we have." — Elias Cohen, Philadelphia Attorney and Gerontologist

Is Pinellas County using guardianship as a cover for robbing the handicapped and elderly?

If you had found a way to steal thousands of dollars from wealthy elderly, where would you find the most victims? Yes, Florida is the first state that comes to my mind.

I never bought into the “right to die” thing. It is as much spin as the term “reproductive rights” is for abortion. "Right to die" is spin, but spin for what? While I know evil exists and admit I can’t understand the rational of being in favor of killing people; I felt there just had to be more than a pro-death “belief.” I think I found what is behind this “belief.” It isn’t about death with dignity. I think you will be shocked and horrified at what I found.

Pinellas County Internal Auditor, Robert W. Melton has been assigned by Florida legislators to address guardianship reform. He says, “….the practices I have seen in the short time I have been involved in guardianships is shocking. It is time to put an end to unscrupulous practices at the expense of our state's most vulnerable citizens."

Court appointed professional guardians in Pinellas County have a great system going under the protection of judges like George Greer. Most of these guardians handle cases for wards who are mentally or physically incapable of doing so themselves. Even though Michael Schiavo is not a “professional” guardian, this case will set a precedent for the treatment of the disabled. Right now the abuse robs these people of their life savings and assets, while accusing family members of being the greedy ones and these “guardians” are only “protecting” these vulnerable citizens.

A GREAT example of how they operate to gain guardianship and then “protect” their wards is below.

Here are just 10 of the "dirty tricks," as outlined by Pinellas County Internal Auditor Robert W. Melton:

Guardian creation of a trust: Remove all oversight by the court as a provision of the trust agreement; guardian becomes trustee; provide that the trustee can do whatever they want at their sole discretion.
Sell real estate at lowball price: Use "lowball" valuations as a benchmark; don't list property with Realtors; sell to a land trust, where nobody knows the beneficiary; watch property resold a few months later for a huge increase.
Maximize your (or your crony's) profit from investments: Hire money manager for "financial expertise" and let the manager select an investment broker; invest in volatile stocks and trade frequently to generate commissions; if you run up a large gain, don't selectively liquidate over time to pay the taxes but hold a "fire sale" to raise funds all in one day.
Undervalue beginning inventory: Have a used-furniture "friend" value a house full of antiques for $3,000; "forget" to put some of the more expensive items on the inventory; "forget" to include a $40,000 certificate of deposit.
Pay yourself first: Make payment of guardian and attorney fees the highest priority; disregard mortgage payments and let ward's home go into foreclosure; squirrel away money in the attorney's escrow account for possible future expenses.
Maintain guardianship at all costs: Keep family members uninformed; if family members try to become guardian, accuse them of stealing; use the ward's assets for legal fights to retain guardianship.
Improper financial reporting: Bury asset-management and brokerage fees as aggregate capital losses "due to market fluctuations"; don't classify disbursements separately; file incomplete or incorrect safe-deposit box inventories.
Forced incompetency: Visit assisted-living facilities and establish employee contacts; obtain voluntary limited financial guardianship; if there is money in the estate, do paperwork to force an evaluation of competency; get control over everything and the ward loses all rights.
Pay your attorney well: Let attorney bill full rate to shop for a computer and set it up for the ward; let attorneys bill their full rate, even if work is done by a paralegal or assistant.
Forget to file federal tax returns: Ensure there is a refund; wait till the ward dies; get check without oversight.

One way to prevent improprieties, according to Melton, would be to make public the initial inventories of wards' estates and the annual accountings of assets that guardians are required to file with the court. "The lack of public scrutiny breeds misdeeds and misappropriations because people who may know the truth would not have access," says Melton.

In Melton’s own words, "When we have both guardians and judges trying to keep auditors out, we have a system ripe for corruption and fraud."

"Absurd......" was the reaction of George W. Greer, a Pinellas circuit judge who hears probate cases, to Melton's proposal for more openness in guardianships. "I'm at a loss to see what that would accomplish."

As for auditing guardianships, Melton told the task force that his office is getting stonewalled.