PEP, YOU ARE MY HERO! MORE AMMO TO FAX:
"Dirty Tricks of Guardianships ‚ The Need for Change."
by Robert W. Melton, Chief Auditor, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Pinellas County
Pinellas County Internal Auditor Robert W. Melton recently lectured at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg on: "Dirty Tricks of Guardianships ‚ The Need for Change."
Here are just 10 of the "dirty tricks," as outlined by Pinellas County Internal Auditor Robert W. Melton:
1) 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.
2) 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.
3) 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.
4) 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.
5) 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.
6) 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.
7) 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.
8) 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.
9) 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.
10) Forget to file federal tax returns: Ensure there is a refund; wait till the ward dies; get check without oversight.
http://www.justiceforfloridaseniors.org/dirty-guardian-tricks.html
And let's not forget that Richard LaBelle is in charge of the Florida Pooled Trust in his capacity as Disability Advocate for the State.
FAX sent.
Judge Greer doesn't have to probate many estates of wards because they so completely finish them off through robbery before a probate file can be established. When my dad died, I told mom to skip sending paperwork to Judge Greer because it didn't matter to the courts or to Clerk of Courts Karleen DeBlaker. That was 1996. I had no idea it was even worse than I imagined.
You my hero, too. You talked to Delay's office. I love Delay. He seemed so worred about Terri over the weekend. You're lucky to have him.
Thanks for the great new article. The link helps too.
Thank you for this post. Much easier to read to grab their attention. I'm sending this one.