Father: "I Do Call it Gestapo Justice."

[A]fter three decades of raising their daughter, Frank and Chila Covington have been cut out of Ceci's world. They are allowed to see their 39-year old daughter, who lives in a nursing home, just a few hours a week.

 

Article and Source:
Arlington Couple Seeks Return of Disabled Daughter, After "Secret Hearing"

See Also:
Families Lose Guardianship in Secret Hearings

Arizona Supreme Court Committee Makes Suggestions to Rein in Fees

Arizona's Probate Courts need better-trained judges and a better way to monitor the costs and care of people who can't manage their own money or affairs because of advanced age or illness.

These are among the dozen initial recommendations by an Arizona Supreme Court committee assigned to help improve the way Probate Courts in each county care for stricken adults and children.

But the committee's toughest assignment still lies ahead: Find specific ways to stop fees charged by attorneys and for-profit fiduciaries, who manage their financial affairs and health care, from draining much or all of the life savings of an incapacitated person, or ward.

An Arizona Republic investigation, which began with a series of columns, found that Probate Court judges can fail to step in and stop the hemorrhaging of a ward's assets through fees. The cases often involve court-appointed private fiduciaries and various attorneys whose charges soar because of legal fights spurred by family disputes.

Full Article and Source:
Maricopa County Probate Court - Panel Makes Suggestions to Rein in Fees

Legislation Aimed to Help Seniors Remain in Their Homes Moves Forward

A program of Housing and Urban Development, Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly, is headed for expansion and improvement, according to an announcement from the office of U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Special Committee on Aging.

The Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development last week approved Kohl’s legislation, S.118.

The Section 202 program provides capital grants to non-profit community organizations for the development of supportive housing and provision of rental assistance exclusively for low-income seniors.

“Through such housing and supportive services, the program allows low-income seniors to remain safely in their homes,” according to the news release.

Full Article and Source:
Legislation Moves Forward to Increase Low-Cost Housing Options for Senior Citizens

Fraud Suspects Appear in Federal Court

Two former Modesto men accused of bilking $10 million from elderly homeowners pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court in Fresno.

Jim Lankford, who owned Century 21 Apollo, and his roommate, Jon McDade, were released Friday in San Francisco after posting unsecured property bonds of $1 million each. They surrendered passports and were ordered not to sell assets or take out lines of credit, a Department of Justice spokeswoman said.

According to an indictment, the men gained the trust of elderly property owners, lied to obtain lending, forged documents and moved property among them to secure multiple loans. Lankford is charged with 49 counts of mail fraud. McDade faces 10 counts of mail fraud and one of bank fraud.

Full Article and Source:
2 Modesto Fraud Suspects Appear in Federal Court

TN: Lawyers Talk About Judicial Mistreatment

Lawyers and citizens were on the witness stand to talk about not only how they were mistreated by judges but what happened after they complained in a special hearing Tuesday, which was part of an official examination into how judges are disciplined in Tennessee.

John Jay Kooker, a constitutional lawyer who ran for governor three times, sued former Gov. Don Sundquist for hosting fundraisers in the governor's mansion. His suit was called frivolous, he was fined $5,000 and his license was revoked.

He wanted his judge investigated, but it didn't happen.

The story held weight with state Sen. Doug Jackson.

"If we are looking for specific examples for a potential problem, this might very well be one of those examples," Jackson said.

The special judiciary committee is studying how judges are reprimanded and what needs to change.

Their recommendations could lead to new laws. Many in state government said they think judges are given too much special treatment, such as private reprimands and being allowed to stay on cases where they have been found to have acted inappropriately.

Full Article and Source:
Lawyers Talk About Judicial Mistreatment

See Also:
Tennessee Lawmakers Consider Making Judicial Discipline Public

Former Court-Appointed Guardian Pleads Guilty

A former court-appointed guardian and conservator pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to two theft counts and two counts of abuse of vulnerable adults in connection with the theft of more than $240,000 from three wards.

Dinah Turrentine-Sims, 59, faces up to 50 years in prison when she is sentenced in December.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said his office was prepared to file more charges against Turrentine-Sims if she didn’t enter the pleas. Turrentine-Sims was suspected of stealing more than $400,000 from at least eight wards over a two-year period.

With her attorney, Martin Cannon, by her side, she entered the pleas to the four original charges she faced in the case – charges that stemmed from her oversight of three wards.

A World-Herald series exposed several shortcomings in the system that allowed Turrentine-Sims to bleed the estates of the people she was assigned to protect.

Those shortcomings, among others, prompted Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike Heavican, to assign a committee to look at ways to shore up the state’s guardian and conservator system.

Under the system, judges appoint volunteers to oversee the physical and financial welfare of incapacitated people.

Full Article and Source:
Guardian Pleads Guilty to Theft

See Also:
Guardian Overcharged for Handyman's Work

Insurer of Juvenile Detention Facility Has No Duty to Defend in Luzerne County Suits

Gregory Zappala, the owner of the juvenile detention facility at the heart of the "kids-for-cash" judicial corruption scandal in Luzerne County, suffered a setback this week when a federal judge ruled that his insurer has no duty to defend him in a spate of civil suits.

Prosecutors have never charged Zappala with any wrongdoing, but the civil suits allege that he was part of a RICO conspiracy and was aware that kickbacks were being paid by his former partner to judges in order to guarantee that a steady stream of youths would be sent to a juvenile detention facility owned by Zappala's company.

Zappala, the owner of Mid-Atlantic Youth Services, has argued in court papers that he never knew that former MAYS co-owner Robert Powell paid kickbacks to former Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan.

Full Article and Source:
Judge: Facility Owner's Insurer has no Duty to Defend Luzerne Suits

Former Judge Mark Ciavarealla Facing New Indictment

A federal grand jury issued a new indictment against former Luzerne County judge Mark Ciavarella that drops nine of the original 48 counts that had been filed against him and former judge Michael Conahan relating to the county juvenile justice scandal.

The 39-count indictment is virtually identical to the previous charges that had been filed against the former judges, except it drops four counts of honest services fraud that were filed against Ciavarella relating to his mailing of false statements of financial interest to a state office.

The revised indictment also drops one count of money laundering conspiracy against Ciavarella and four counts of tax evasion that were filed against Conahan, who has entered a plea deal with prosecutors and is not named as a defendant in the new document.

Perhaps the most significant difference between the two indictments relates to modified language that is included in the new document, which more directly ties charges of honest services wire fraud to a bribery and kickback scheme.

In a press release, U.S. Attorney Peter J. Smith said his office sought the new indictment in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision issued in June that declared portions of the honest services fraud statute unconstitutional.

Full Article and Source:
Ciavarella Facing New Indictment

Tennessee Lawmakers Consider Making Judicial Discipline Public

If a Tennessee judge does something illegal, inappropriate or acts beneath the office, a special group of judges investigates the charges. Now those investigators are on the witness stand as lawmakers consider making judge investigations completely public for the first time.

The investigation of judges in the state of Tennessee is a largely private affair.

For example, an average of about one complaint per day was reported in 2009, and 95 percent of those complaints were dismissed without investigation. Of the handful of cases where the court of the judiciary found problems with judges, five were settled with private letters, five were settled with public letters and censure and seven were retired because the judge quit.

Sen. Mae Beavers, chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that everyone should have the benefit of knowing both the allegation and the outcome.

"I just don't ever think it's a good idea to be so secretive," said Beavers. "There are judges that may have done something that's rather egregious, and yet it's kept private."

Full Article,Video, Online Poll and Source:
Lawmakers Consider Public Judge Investigations

CT: Accountant Ordered to Repay Tusts $4.2 Mil

Probate Judge James Kelley has ruled that Norwich accountant F. Robert LaSaracina "willfully mismanaged" nine family trusts known collectively as the Kauppinen Trusts and must repay them more than $4.2 million.

Kelley, in a decision filed in Norwich Probate Court, rejected LaSaracina's accounting of his handling of the estate as trustee, finding that LaSaracina engaged in self-dealing with regard to trust assets; commingled trust assets with personal business assets; and encumbered trust real estate with "ill-advised and excessively expensive loans … for no reasonable purpose discernable by this court."

LaSaracina, Kelley found, "has caused irreparable harm to the trusts by 'lending' money … to other clients … family-owned business interests and client-owned businesses in derogation of the fiduciary duties (as trustee)."

Full Article and Source:
LaSaracina Ordered to Repay $4.2 Million to Family Trusts

Indiana Appellate Court Upholds Ruling

The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling by Bartholomew Superior Court Judge Chris Monroe that Will Miller and Sarla Kalsi acted properly in the handling of the estates of his Miller’s parents, J. Irwin and Xenia Miller.

In their ruling, members of the court dismissed many of the points of contention raised by appellant Hugh Miller, eldest son of J. Irwin and Xenia Miller and Will’s brother.

Hugh Miller had originally charged in a lawsuit that his brother and Kalsi, a long-time advisor to the Miller family, had breached their fiduciary duties and that Will Miller had personally benefited from actions he had taken while handling his mother’s business affairs.

Many of Hugh Miller’s complaints focused on repairs and improvements made on the family properties at 2760 Highland Way and the Irwin Home and Gardens on Fifth Street as well as an estate in Canada.

In that Xenia Miller had become incapacitated in the years following her husband’s death in 2005, the court agreed with Judge Monroe’s rulings that Will Miller and Kalsi as attorneys in fact were acting as they believed Mrs. Miller would have acted had she been able.

Full Article and Source:
Appeals Court Upholds Handling of Miller Estate

OH: Judge Raises Ethics Questions

New Probate Judge Alan S. Acker appointed his sons to a $20-an-hour job looking for valuables despite ethics rules against nepotism.

And during his four months on the Franklin County bench, Acker also has continued to run a family business that collects fees from probate lawyers. The Ohio Supreme Court’s rules tell judges to avoid any situation that “involves the judge in frequent transactions or continuing business relationships” with lawyers who come before the judge’s court.

Acker, a lawyer for 33 years, said he’s done nothing improper since Gov. Ted Strickland appointed him to a vacancy in the spring.

“I believe the bar knows my integrity,” he said. “I’ll rule honestly and impartially based on what the law is without concern of who is standing before me.”

Others say he might have breached the judicial canons, or even state law.

Full Article and Source:
New Judge's Acts Raise Ethics Questions

Georgia Businesman Indicted for Bilking Elderly Out of Millions

A federal grand jury has indicted a Peachtree City businessman on charges that he bilked elderly investors out of $15.8 million.

U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks in Dallas said Eldon A. Gresham Jr. was indicted on 10 counts of mail fraud in connection with a foreign currency exchange trading company he operated.

Prosecutors say that Gresham recruited at least 90 people in Georgia, Texas and several other states to invest in his business.

Jacks said he targeted elderly Christians, telling them that their investments would "further God's work."

Source:
Indictment for Bilking Elderly of Millions

Judge Cuts Woman Out of Trust Fund

In addition to cutting her from her family’s fortune, Hillsborough County Probate Court Judge Gary Cassavecchia accuses Elizabeth Tamposi of several transgressions, including making false statements about her income and debts.

Cassavecchia’s 54-page order cuts Betty Tamposi out of the trust fund founded by her father, the late developer Sam Tamposi of Nashua, and also orders her to pay back any money she received over the past two years.

The judge’s order also suggests that Tamposi made misrepresentations on a mortgage loan application, a relatively common offense for which relatively few people are ever prosecuted.

Describing the former U.S. State Department official’s conduct regarding two loan applications on pages 23 and 24 of the order, Cassavecchia wrote that Tamposi applied for a loan from Sovereign Bank in 2007 to finance renovations to her home on Governor’s Island in Gilford.

In the application, he wrote, “Betty falsely reported that she had been self-employed at Citrus Hills Construction for 21 years and had a monthly income from employment of $98,876.66.”

In fact, Cassavecchia wrote elsewhere in his order, Betty Tamposi had “no employment income” at the time.

Betty Tamposi also failed to note in the application that she had just co-signed a loan for her daughter’s college tuition just a few weeks earlier, and claimed that she was not involved in any pending litigation, Cassavecchia wrote. She also misstated the value and her ownership of a property in Nashua, he wrote.

Tamposi offered an explanation, but the judge didn’t buy it, he wrote.

“Betty’s effort to attribute these falsehoods and the omission to the assistance rendered by others is not found credible, especially given her level of education, experience with legal matters, and general level of sophistication,” Cassavecchia wrote.

Knowing and willful false statements about employment, income, assets and debt... on a mortgage application would likely constitute a crime under federal law,” [Assistant US Attorney William]Morse said.

Just because someone gives false information doesn’t mean that they’ve done so knowingly and willingly, however, he noted. Also, the misinformation must be “material” in order for it to be criminal; it must be information that affects the decision to grant or deny the loan.

Full Article and Source:
Judge Writes of Falsehoods By Betty Tamposi

One Year, Restitution in Exploitation Case

A 36-year-old Wahpeton, N.D., woman will serve at least three months in jail after stealing $260,000 from an elderly man she befriended, a prosecutor said.

After pleading guilty in May to charges of exploiting a vulnerable adult, Rhonda Thiel was given a 10-year term with all but one year suspended in a sentencing hearing in Richland County District Court, said Ronald McBeth, Richland County State’s Attorney.

McBeth said Thiel must serve at least 90 days in jail, but she can do the rest of the one-year term while on house arrest.

She was also ordered to make restitution payments to the man’s estate – a lump sum of $10,000 by Sept. 30, $600 a month for 10 years, and mortgage payments on the man’s house.

Thiel will be on supervised probation for 10 years and could have her probation revoked if she doesn’t make the payments, McBeth said.

Full Article and Source:
One Year, Restitution in Exploitation Case

Britney Spears Remains Conserved

Pop star Britney Spears still cannot enjoy complete independence. Her personal and business affairs will remain under the conservatorship of her father, a Los Angeles judge ruled on Thursday.

The 28-year-old ‘Toxic’ singer privately met up with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Reva Goetz, who ruled that the conservatorship that Britney has been placed under is not to be yet altered.

Britney’s father Jamie Spears also met the judge separately, behind closed doors.

Though in last few status meetings with Spears’ lawyers, the judge had discussed about freeing her from the legal control of her father and attorney, but after meeting with Britney and Jamie Spears, she decided on keeping the conservatorship in place.

After talking to Spears in court chambers, Judge Goetz thought that although the singer seemed to be in improved health, she remained “susceptible to undue influence.”

Full Article and Source:
Britney Spears Remains Under Conservatorship

See Also:
Britney Spears Seeks to Regain Control of Her Estate

Georga Probate Judge Kenneth E. Fowler De-Benched

The Georgia Supreme Court took action against Judge Kenneth E. Fowler of the Twiggs County Probate Court. The state's Judicial Qualifications Commission also found that Fowler told defendants they had to prove themselves to be innocent, placed money from the "buy out" of the community services into a bank account in which only he was authorized to release the money, failed to disclose an account to the county, and failed to turn over the money to the county, among other violations.

"Judge Fowler readily admits to much of the misconduct, as the evidence showing the misconduct is substantial ... he is simply unwilling to live up to his legal and ethical responsibilities as a judge," the justices wrote in a per-curiam decision.

Fowler is barred from ever holding an elected or appointed office in the state of Georgia.

Full Article and Source:
Georgia Probate Judge Removed from Bench

See Also:
Text of Supreme Court's Decision

PA Lawyer John Karoly Jr. Disbarred

A prominent eastern Pennsylvania attorney has been disbarred after being convicted of tax evasion and money laundering.

The state Supreme Court on Monday accepted the resignation of 60-year-old Allentown attorney John Karoly Jr. He pleaded guilty last year to charges stemming from a case in which he was accused of forging a will after his wealthy brother and sister-in-law died in a plane crash.

Karoly was later convicted in a charity fraud case for steering a $500,000 tax-free donation back to himself. He was sentenced to more than six years in prison in May.

Karoly was well-known in the Lehigh Valley after winning more than $10 million for clients in police-abuse lawsuits. He can reapply for his license in five years.

Source:
Attorney Disbarred Following Convictions

Appellate Court Upholds Lawyer's Suspension

The state Appellate Court has upheld a 15-month law license suspension for a New Britain lawyer accused of overcharging his clients in a contentious Plainville probate case.

A Superior Court judge in New Britain imposed the suspension last year against the lawyer, Jacek Smigelski, as part of a lawsuit brought by the Statewide Grievance Committee, which investigates complaints of misconduct by lawyers.
Smigelski appealed the decision to Appellate Court, which upheld the lower court's decision this week.

Smigelski could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the grievance committee said that the suspension has been stayed as Smigelski appeals to the state Supreme Court.

Smigelski had been hired by two brothers, Stanley and Kazimierz Kosiorek, to file a lawsuit against their late father's widow, Bronislawa Kosiorek.

She was 19 years younger than her husband, Stanislaw Kosiorek of Plainville, and the couple had married just a year before he died.

Six weeks before his death, Stanislaw Kosiorek transferred the title to his home to Bronislawa Kosiorek. The brothers believed that their father's signature on the deed had been forged, and they sued Bronislawa Kosiorek in an attempt to reclaim possession of the house.

Bronislaw Kosiorek eventually settled and gave back the house in return for $35,000 from the proceeds of its sale.

The house was sold, and after she took her share, $120,000 was left. According to court documents, Smigelski then took $65,833 of that amount and told the brothers that represented his fee. The brothers had already paid him a $5,000 retainer.

Plainville Probate Judge Heidi Famiglietti later ruled that Smigelski should only receive a fee of $16,000. He did not comply, and the brothers filed a complaint with the Statewide Grievance Committee.

Full Article and Source:
Appellate Court Upholds Lawyer's Suspension

Editorial: Impeach This Judge

How badly does a Connecticut probate judge have to misbehave before the Council on Probate Judicial Conduct really lowers the boom?

As outrageous as his conduct was, as destructive as it was to the public's trust in the probate system, Southington Probate Judge Bryan Meccariello last week was only censured by a weak-kneed Council on Probate Judicial conduct.

Judge Meccariello deserved harsher discipline for his mishandling of the estate of Josephine Smoron. He deserved the ultimate that the council could hand down — a recommendation for impeachment.

The judge should resign his office immediately or face impeachment by the General Assembly — unless the voters in the newly combined Southington-Cheshire probate district throw him out in the Nov. 2 election.

And if state prosecutors aren't looking for possible criminal conduct on the part of one or more people involved in the virtual hijacking of the Smoron estate, they should.

This is a frightening story.

Full Article and Source:
Impeach This Probate Judge

Public Guardian Suing In Behalf of Mentally Disabled Man

A mentally disabled man lost his life savings when a friend of his late mother's took control of his finances and bilked him of tens of thousands of dollars, Cook County authorities alleged Wednesday.

When that friend died, his son continued the scheme, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars more for gambling and other expenses, according to the sheriff's office and a lawsuit.

Ernest R. Rokosik, 40, of Chicago, was charged with one count each of senior exploitation and theft of more than $100,000, authorities said. Bond was set at $250,000.

Sheriff's officials said that after his mother died in 1998, the 63-year-old victim — said to have the mental capacity of a child — inherited about $600,000, including money he had earned working 26 years in the mailroom of a finance company and held by his mother for safekeeping.

According to the sheriff, Rokosik's father — identified in court records as Ernest W. Rokosik, a Chicago police officer who was said to be a trusted friend of the victim's mother — later obtained power of attorney over the victim and regularly withdrew money from his bank account without his authorization.

After the elder Rokosik's death, his son then persuaded the victim to let him assume the same control over his finances, the sheriff alleged.

The two drained the victim's bank account of more than half a million dollars in less than a decade, according to the sheriff's office.

The lawsuit, filed by the Cook County public guardian on behalf of the victim, showed the victim lived in a "very austere fashion" on just $850 a month.

Full Article and Source:
Chicago Father and Son Accused of Depleting Disabled Man's Savings

Ohio Lawyer Kenneth N. Shaw Suspended

A Warren attorney has been suspended for up to two years for professional misconduct.

According to a statement issued Thursday, the Supreme Court of Ohio suspended Kenneth N. Shaw's law license for two years, with the second year of that term stayed on conditions. The Court said Shaw displayed professional misconduct in his handling of legal matters for two sets of clients. He also failed to cooperate with authorities investigating the complaints against him, the Court said.

In a 6-1 per curium opinion announced Thursday, the Court adopted findings by the Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline that Shaw obtained and then defaulted on a $13,000 personal loan from an elderly client of his law practice, then drew up a trust agreement for the same client that named Shaw's five children as beneficiaries. This action violated the conflict of interest rules.

The Court also found that in a separate case, Shaw collected legal fees from two clients for whom he had prepared a guardianship application without first obtaining the approval of the local probate court. Shaw was found by the probate court to have engaged in concealment of assets in the case, and ordered to refund $1,200 of the legal fees he had improperly collected from those clients.

Full Article and Source:
Warren Attorney Suspended by State Supreme Court

Laurie Roberts - What Fiduciaries are Saying About Probate Abuses

Somebody sent me the e-mails going around among fiduciaries across the state, in response to the The Republic’s stories last weekend on abuses in Maricopa County’s probate system.

The e-mails were written under the heading: AFA Membership Call to Action

Having seen that subject line, I was hoping that it would be a call to fix the problems outlined in The Republic’s Sunday package. But that, apparently, isn’t exactly the action the fiduciaries of the state have in mind. Instead, the talk is about hiring a PR expert, somebody who can “use language and events effectively to the benefit of their clients."

Nice.

Here’s the e-mails going around around yesterday on the Arizona Fiduciaries Association list-serv when they think we can’t hear them. I am taking their names out, but it’s the sentiments expressed that are important – and quite telling, I think.

The string begins with a few words of commiseration from a California colleague:

Dear Arizona Colleagues:
We have been dealing with this nonsense in California since 2000. There were a series of articles in the LA Times which lead to California enacting the Fiduciary Licensing Law SB1550 in 2006. There are a number of factions out there that do not understand the probate law or the courts. They have had some kind of experience, usually when family members have been robbing Mom or Dad blind and get caught, who are quick to criticize and get some newspaper or television reporter to buy into this nonsense. They have personal agendas.

There is a website called StopGuardianAdbuse.org. It has lists of people that are being targeted. It is total nonsense and I am sure they will be all over this story in short order.

And a reply by someone in the Arizona Fiduciaries Association:

They already are. They have been posting comments to all of the articles with a link to their website. Can you send me a private email with your number? I know I had it but I have since misplaced it and I want to chat with you about how fees work in CA since that is one of the examples being brought up by the committee. Thanks!
Also, for those of you not yet aware, I have been elected to the NGA board of directors. I will be attending the conference this weekend in PA and plan to solicit the assistance of the NGA in managing the press/image issues. So I should have more to report on that at the summit.

Full Article and Source:
Here's What Fiduciaries are Saying About Probate Abuses

Conservator Fought Him, Then Billed Him

For 10 weeks, Matthew Keenan lay in a coma, the victim of a hospital error that plunged him into respiratory arrest and cut off oxygen to his brain. A judge appointed his mother to serve as guardian and conservator for her comatose 37-year-old son. Twice, his father called a priest to perform last rites. Then he awoke.

He had no idea where he was. He could move nothing but his eyelids. Then his fingers.

It was the start of a long, remarkable, some might say miraculous recovery. He learned to use his arms again, to sit up, to feed himself, to use a wheelchair, to regain a brain that survived a nearly fatal injury.

Yet when he rolled into a Boulder courthouse three years ago and petitioned to be free of his guardian, he ignited a legal battle that persists to this day.

The bank chosen to manage his money jumped into the case, allying itself with his guardian. Both billed him for the time they spent challenging him in court.

[H]is bid to lose his guardian and conservator escalated into a nasty, costly court fight.

Although Keenan's guardian resigned months later, his conservator — Colorado State Bank and Trust — has charged almost $300,000 for litigation costs before and after a judge summarily replaced it.

Full Article and Source:
Bank Appointed as Disabled Man's Conservator Fought Him, Then Billed Him

Judge Appoints Temporary Guardian for David Leyton's In-Laws

The county’s chief Probate Court judge on Thursday put a temporary guardian in place for county Prosecutor David Leyton’s in-laws after a new report by an elder abuse prevention agency said conditions in their home were getting worse.

Chief Probate Judge Jennie Barkey put Flint attorney Jim Trembly in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the elderly couple. Three of their children — including Leyton's wife, Therese — are fighting a request by another sister for the appointment of a permanent guardian and conservator.

Leyton, who is not a party to the case, has said he has not involved himself in the family controversy, and is simply acting as a support for his wife.

The hearing came after the county's elder abuse prevention team's filed a report this month saying Leyton's in-laws "are not getting the appropriate medical care they desperately require for their declining physical and mental conditions."

Attorneys for Therese Leyton and her siblings have said reports by the elder abuse agency have been inaccurate in describing conditions in the home.

Barkey also ordered a 90-day adjournment in the case after attorneys for Leyton's mother-in-law and father-in-law requested it, saying they believed the cooling-off period could help promote a settlement in the case without a trial.

Full Article and Source:
Judge Reappoints a Temporary Guardian For In-Laws of Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton

See Also:
Judge Orders Investigators Visit David Leyton's In-Laws

CO: Bill Would Clarify Conservator Laws

The clash in the case of a man who came back from a coma could spill over into Colorado's legislative halls next year.

Probate lawyers are working on a bill that would help define how much and when they can be paid.

Chester "Skip" Morgan, Matthew Keenan's attorney, said they are trying to codify into Colorado law the decision a Boulder judge made in Keenan's case — that his former conservator, Colorado State Bank and Trust, and its lawyers deserved to be paid because the bank acted "in good faith" when it opposed Keenan's petition to drop it as his conservator.

The stakes in that case are growing. Keenan, who recovered from a coma and successfully petitioned to lose his guardian and change conservators, asked for a refund of about $65,000 that the bank had spent challenging him in court. In a 2009 trial, the bank successfully argued that it was acting reasonably — and won an additional $222,000 for its costs and legal fees in that case.

"You can fight him and say, 'I didn't think he was ready,' and that's good enough for good faith," Morgan said. "That shouldn't happen to anybody, ever, ever again."

Marc Darling, the lawyer spearheading proposed revisions to the payment rules for guardians, conservators, trustees, estate representatives and others involved in probate cases, calls it "a comprehensive rewrite of the compensation structure" intended to clarify and simplify court decisions.

He said the project was undertaken partly at the request of judges, who found the existing statutes scattered and confusing and wanted laws dealing with payments consolidated in one place. It also sets forth, for the first time, a procedure for resolving fee disputes, he said.

The draft proposal allows court-appointed fiduciaries to charge a percentage of an estate instead of an hourly rate for work, a change that some critics fear will lead to client-gouging.

The current draft also troubles the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, an advocacy group for people with disabilities.

"It still will allow someone to use your money to fight you," said Julie Reiskin, its executive director. "I'm not OK with that."

Full Article and Source:
Bill Would Clarify Conservator Laws