Regarding the legal industry and its “never waste a good crisis” mentality, James R. Copland from the Manhattan Institute has a good column out today entitled Litigating over the environment makes big bucks for trial lawyers.
The story of a California bank teller who stole money from two accounts poses a thought-provoking question for those in our audience who like legislation that elevates crimes against some people over others. The teller stole $40,000 from the account of her elderly aunt, but also stole a $33,000 inheritance from the account of a teenage girl that was received upon the death of her mother. One of the charges facing the teller is for felony elder fiscal abuse. We’d love to hear explanations that could be offered to this teenage girl as to why stealing from the elderly woman was worse than stealing the inheritance from her dead mother. Something to ponder….
More public administrator/guardian office drama comes from Nevada as one county looks at reconfiguring the office while next door in California, controversy still surrounds the firing of Orange County ADA Todd Spitzer.
In the Stories of Denial section, several new letters are posted. A reader from Nevada makes the ever so important point about people’s reactions to those of us having experienced Involuntary Redistribution of Assets (IRA) actions:
I think the hardest part (besides the obvious) was the fact that people would give me that strange sideways look as if to say, “what are you leaving out of this story….you had to have done something to deserve this…….this stuff just doesn’t happen in America to the innocent.”
She is absolutely right. Too often, people find comfort thinking that IRA targets must have done something to deserve what happened or somewhere must have done something wrong. Sorry folks, but as the reader observes ” it DOES happen everyday to good people just trying to do the right thing.”
And Richard from California describes an estate looting action allegedly occurring via a trust. This case illustrates a couple of EstateofDenial.com favorite points. First, it’s sometimes hard to know who first broached the idea, but partner disgruntled family members and/or wannabe heirs with a dishonest attorney and the formula for estate abuse is quickly created. Second, while estates of high value or high profile individuals often get media attention, estates of more modest values can be equally appealing targets. We’ve said this repeatedly over the years and the case described again makes the point.
Our friend Dean Libey from Washington has sent notice that he’s posted a video regarding the guardianship of his mother. We’ve also added a couple of links to give additional background on the situation and one county’s effort to thwart transparency at any cost.
As numerous stories today involve county governments, have we mentioned lately our strong view that this is probably the most incestuous, corrupt and totally unaccountable level of American government?
And last, but certainly not least, Bill Dedman has a new story out today about Huguette Clark. Familiar patterns are emerging, but we’ll save that until tomorrow.
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.
