People across this country are increasingly finding their rights threatened through a variety of probate instruments and proceedings, but the conservatorship case (known as guardianships in other states) of Nashville musician Danny Tate is a cautionary tale of which folks in Austin, with its own concentration of musicians, should be aware. While Danny Tate’s case has been receiving attention on many specialty internet outlets, an Associated Press story written by Sheila Burke is providing Tate’s plight more exposure – 4,930,000 results in a recent Google search – while at the same time alerting unsuspecting Americans of the unchecked power that probate courts in general and conservatorships specifically can wield.
Here’s how the story opens:
A court stripped away songwriter Danny Tate’s control of his life — removing his right to make his own legal, financial and medical decisions — at a last-minute hearing he didn’t know about and didn’t attend.
With the drop of a gavel, the Nashville musician who’d written a top 10 hit and was making around $125,000 a year writing music for TV shows was declared mentally disabled and in need of someone to manage his affairs. The decision was made at an “emergency hearing” with no medical testimony and no lawyer to represent Tate’s interests.
When Tate finally got his day in court three weeks later to challenge allegations that he was in the grip of a life-threatening drug addiction, the judge refused his request for a lawyer and he had to represent himself.
He was again declared disabled, handcuffed and put in a locked psychiatric facility for six days.
“What they’ve done to me is wrong, and it shouldn’t ever happen to anyone again,” the songwriter said.
Danny Tate is right. This shouldn’t happen yet it occurs to people across this country on a daily basis. Many conservator abuse stories center around the elderly or the disabled. While these two groups certainly represent some of our society’s most vulnerable people, unsubstantiated allegations as a basis for targeting anyone for a suspension of their personal liberty and hijacking of their assets is wrong!
The case of Danny Tate, a 54-year-old man having no legal disability, deserves – at the least – scrutiny as a potential abuse of power. But moreso, recognize that Tate remaining in this conservatorship sets precedent on a new, lower threshold in defining incapacitation and effectively positions even more Americans as potential guardianship targets.
Tate acknowledges his drug problem, but believes an 18-year run of sobriety to be proof that he also is capable of managing his problem.
Being a drug addict or alcoholic alone is not grounds enough to be declared mentally incompetent, legal experts say. The question is whether the addiction was so disabling that he could no longer manage his own affairs.
Danny Tate, a tall man who chain smokes and now lives by the credo of Alcoholics Anonymous, maintains that he was a functioning addict and was not in a crisis so severe that a court would have grounds to hold a hearing without him and strip him of his rights.
He said there were no claims that he’d ever been arrested, overdosed on drugs, been committed to a psychiatric ward or hurt anyone. Only that he’d been spending lots of money on drugs and his brother feared his habit would kill him.
His case, Danny Tate says, should serve as a stark warning about how easy it is to have someone declared disabled and should be chilling to anyone in Nashville’s music industry with an addiction and some money.
“If this could happen to me, they’d have to bust 75 percent of Music Row and go down before Randy Kennedy for a mass conservatorship hearing,” the songwriter said.
Michael Hoskins, Tate’s attorney, echoes this sentiment:
An attorney who now represents Danny Tate said the petition that led to the emergency hearing was based entirely on unsubstantiated allegations by the brother.
“It’s scary,” Michael Hoskins said. “All you’ve got to do is make the allegation” to force someone into a conservatorship.
A May 24 hearing is scheduled with Tate’s continuation under the conservatorship as the topic. With his “temporary” conservatorship status in place since Oct. 2007, this hearing is in response to a Tennessee Court of Appeals ruling that Tate is entitled either a chance to get out of the conservatorship or else to appeal it.
Prior to the hearing, a May 23 awareness concert and other activities are scheduled as part of the Friends For Danny Tate’s Defense Extravaganzascrutinizationfest.
Read the full AP story here. Learn more about Tate’s case at Friends for Danny Tate’s Defense Facebook page or at FreeDannyTate.com.
For more info:
Musician Danny Tate’s conservatorship brings scrutinization of probate issue (May 18, 2010)
Musician Danny Tate shows “fight for your life” aspect of Nashville (and other) probate courts (May 3, 2010)
Austin musicians (and others) beware the guardianship plight of Nashville rocker Danny Tate (April 11, 2010)
Lou Ann Anderson is an advocate working to create awareness regarding the Texas probate system and its surrounding culture. She is the Online Producer at www.EstateofDenial.com and a Policy Advisor with Americans for Prosperity – Texas Foundation. Lou Ann may be contacted at info@EstateofDenial.com.
Estate of Denial® provides news, analysis and commentary on abusive practices occurring in probate courts and via probate instruments (wills, trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney). We provide original perspective to educate the public regarding this growing threat to both individual freedoms and property rights.
Danny Tate conservatorship cases sees increased media activity with AP coverage
People across this country are increasingly finding their rights threatened through a variety of probate instruments and proceedings, but the conservatorship case (known as guardianships in other states) of Nashville musician Danny Tate is a cautionary tale of which folks in Austin, with its own concentration of musicians, should be aware. While Danny Tate’s case has been receiving attention on many specialty internet outlets, an Associated Press story written by Sheila Burke is providing Tate’s plight more exposure – 4,930,000 results in a recent Google search – while at the same time alerting unsuspecting Americans of the unchecked power that probate courts in general and conservatorships specifically can wield.
Here’s how the story opens:
Danny Tate is right. This shouldn’t happen yet it occurs to people across this country on a daily basis. Many conservator abuse stories center around the elderly or the disabled. While these two groups certainly represent some of our society’s most vulnerable people, unsubstantiated allegations as a basis for targeting anyone for a suspension of their personal liberty and hijacking of their assets is wrong!
The case of Danny Tate, a 54-year-old man having no legal disability, deserves – at the least – scrutiny as a potential abuse of power. But moreso, recognize that Tate remaining in this conservatorship sets precedent on a new, lower threshold in defining incapacitation and effectively positions even more Americans as potential guardianship targets.
Tate acknowledges his drug problem, but believes an 18-year run of sobriety to be proof that he also is capable of managing his problem.
Michael Hoskins, Tate’s attorney, echoes this sentiment:
A May 24 hearing is scheduled with Tate’s continuation under the conservatorship as the topic. With his “temporary” conservatorship status in place since Oct. 2007, this hearing is in response to a Tennessee Court of Appeals ruling that Tate is entitled either a chance to get out of the conservatorship or else to appeal it.
Prior to the hearing, a May 23 awareness concert and other activities are scheduled as part of the Friends For Danny Tate’s Defense Extravaganzascrutinizationfest.
Read the full AP story here. Learn more about Tate’s case at Friends for Danny Tate’s Defense Facebook page or at FreeDannyTate.com.
For more info:
Musician Danny Tate’s conservatorship brings scrutinization of probate issue (May 18, 2010)
Musician Danny Tate shows “fight for your life” aspect of Nashville (and other) probate courts (May 3, 2010)
Austin musicians (and others) beware the guardianship plight of Nashville rocker Danny Tate (April 11, 2010)
Lou Ann Anderson is an advocate working to create awareness regarding the Texas probate system and its surrounding culture. She is the Online Producer at www.EstateofDenial.com and a Policy Advisor with Americans for Prosperity – Texas Foundation. Lou Ann may be contacted at info@EstateofDenial.com.