We came across this podcast in which Tamera Bennett, a Texas entertainment and intellectual property attorney, interviews California probate attorney Jennifer Sawday regarding her state’s probate code and what might be ahead for the Jackson family.  Things obviously are changing on a daily basis with a will having surfaced and Debbie Rowe reportedly considering custody claims in the time since this audio was recorded.  Nevertheless, this interview gives good background.

Michael Jackson’s life was full of many twists.  His death will likely be no different.

Latifa Ring of Elder Abuse Victims Advocates is asking for assistance with a guardianship survey.  The survey may be accessed here.  Contact Latifa at Latifa.Ring@comcast.net for the password.

ADULT GUARDIANSHIP SURVEY

We as Elder Abuse Victims Advocates need your help. We need your help collecting hard data that can be use to prove to our leaders that great harm is being done in guardianships. We will be able to show that we are willing to provide information about these guardianship cases so they can see for themselves the great harm that is being done. Note: For the purposes of this survey Conservatorship and Guardianship are interchangeable terms.

While the experts and the media decry with impunity that family members are the perpetrators who are to blame for the horrendous guardianship cases we hear about, we the family members do not agree that families are responsible for the lion share of financial exploitation of elderly and disabled citizens that is occurring in guardianships.

We believe when you follow the money that it will become clear who is benefiting from financial exploitation in guardianship cases. It is not the people in guardianships, it is not their families and it is not the taxpayers.

We believe that the numbers will reveal and the real perpetrators are. Filing a petition for guardianship of a loved one, regardless of the motive, where others who step in seize control and loot the estate after the family member is denied their request to protect a loved one is clear evidence that the petitioner is not the perpetrator of the financial abuse in guardianship. They are being used as the scapegoats to explain away the siphoning off of millions of dollars from the estates of wards, where they have no say, where it does not benefit them and where others pay the costs to care for a ward who had enough money set aside for their care.

We must come together to collect the data to back up our findings. Many of us have worked tirelessly every single day for a long time to study this problem. We conclude that guardianship is terrifying threat not just for those of us that will be old one day but also for our children.

Today we have the first piece of legislation in 17 years to address elder abuse that has passed the house and is now in the Senate. It will look at the guardianship systems in every State. We believe that we families in America must come together and that we must have a say in any reform effort as we and our families are the ones who will suffer the most from this horrendous system of abuse.

BUT, we need your help. Please, if you have been involved in a guardianship matter, will you help by participating in this survey. If you know someone who has forward this detailed survey to them. I know it is a lot of questions but this is a complex issue. Just answer what you can or are willing to answer. If you would like us to add a question we missed please email it to elderabusevictimsadvocates@gmail.com.

Lastly, we urge every senior citizen and every baby boomer to familiarize your self with the Filial and Family Support Laws that may have been passed in your State and also to learn and understand the Medicaid Recovery Rules for your State. This is very critical and gaurdianships as they stand today have a very negative impact on families. We must reform guardianships and protect the elderly and their families from further abuse.

Thank you for your support and this information will be sent to leaders so please use appropriate language.

Elder Abuse Victims Advocates
Latifa Ring (Founder)

Thank you to our friends at Huliq.com for posting an EoD guest blog entitled Lawyer Facing Criminal Charges For Redistribution.  It discusses the difference in responses by the financial and medical communities opposed to the legal industry when high-profile news stories suggest or expose misconduct on the part of their peers.

EoD’s Lou Ann Anderson is now a Legal News Examiner for Examiner.com Austin.  Her first article entitled Anna Nicole Smith estate still pursuing Marshall fortune is based on an interview with legal commentator Horace Cooper about Marshall v. Marshall having recently been back before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Remember also that Lou Ann, as a Policy Advisor with Americans for Prosperity - Texas, will speaking about the threat facing Texans with regard to inheritance rights issues on Saturday at the Take Back America Tea Party on the State Capitol grounds in Austin.  If in the area, we anticipate a great event and hope you’ll stop by!

Michael Jackson’s will has been made public.  Debbie Rowe says “I want my children.”  The DEA is now investigating and the tour might go on.  See all the details here.  This story isn’t going away and we’re watching to see how events unfold.  It certainly is a scenario ripe for exploitation on so many fronts.

Testimony continued today in the trial against Anthony Marshall and Francis Morrissey for their alleged Brooke Astor estate looting effort.  In addition to the accountant who this week provided interesting insight, the testimony of Lia Opris, a maid in the Astor household, serves as an important reminder that the manipulation of documents is a common tactic used by Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA) perpetrators.

The ancient Chinese energy system of fung shui is coming under scrutiny thanks to fung shui master Tony Chan Chun-chuen being accused of using this age-old belief to influence Nina Wang into leaving him her multi-billion dollar estate.

We’re absorbing the ongoing revelations and response to Michael Jackson’s death as well as implications of the probate battle generally agreed as being on the horizon.  In the upcoming days, we’ll have additional analysis.  By the way, we posted an interesting article yesterday by author Ian Halperin.  His long-term access to the pop star provides unusual and timely perspective.

Meanwhile, these comments were received this afternoon from an EoD reader who well understands becoming a target of Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA) perpetrators who use probate venues and/or probate instruments (wills, trusts, guardianships and powers of attorney) to loot assets of the dead and disabled/incapacitated.

They’re reading the contents of Michael Jackson’s will on CNN and are making a HUGE deal about the fact that the Executors have all the power and control!  They’re being very clear to explain that everything becomes theirs (estate administrators, trustees or executors) and theirs alone to do with as they want. No one gets anything unless they say so.  Everyone’s acting as if it’s news?   Reporting it as if no one knew that executors have been  inheriting  everything all along!.  Maybe this is the break we all need!

Wouldn’t it be something if Jackson’s death helps people finally understand the increasing potential (and existence!) of probate corruption?  We hope the folks administering Jackson’s estate will do right by his heirs,  but only time will tell.  Unfortunately, California has an exceedingly ugly reputation when it comes to estate abuse.

When recently listening to some Michael Jackson tunes, it was ironic that these lyrics from Beat It so aptly describe experiences of IRA targets and the legal industry.

You Have To Show Them That You’re Really Not Scared
You’re Playin’ With Your Life, This Ain’t No Truth Or Dare
They’ll Kick You, Then They Beat You,
Then They’ll Tell You It’s Fair
So Beat It, But You Wanna Be Bad

Just Beat It, Beat It, Beat It, Beat It
No One Wants To Be Defeated
Showin’ How Funky Strong Is Your Fight
It Doesn’t Matter Who’s Wrong Or Right
Just Beat It, Beat It, Beat It, Beat It, Beat It