Elderly Woman Whose Conservator Case Helped Spark Legal Reform In California Dies
Helen Jones, a widow from Yucaipa whose conservator case exposed the shortcomings of the conservatorship system in California, passed away from pneumonia and other complications last week at the age of 88.
During her lifetime, Jones had amassed over $560,000 in savings from working a number of blue-collar jobs. Four years ago, Melodie Scott, the head of CARE (Conservatorship and Resources for the Elderly, Inc.) filed emergency court papers and petitioned a California probate court with the request to become Jones’s conservator of her estate. The court awarded Scott control over Jones’s finances. Jones, then 82, was living alone, had trouble hearing, and needed help walking long distances and maintaining her home. But when she signed the one-paragraph document that had been given to her, she thought she had enrolled in a low-income utility plan. She hadn’t intended to appoint Scott as her conservator.
In a number of interviews, Jones stated that she did not want or need a conservator. For the next four years, however, CARE spent Jones’s savings on household repairs, appliances, and legal fees that she did not want. She was unable to reverse the appointment of Scott as her conservator, despite her best efforts.
The LA Times, which had interviewed Jones and reviewed over 2,400 cases of conservator abuse, contacted Jones’s in-laws and stepgrandson, Tomazin, to let them know about Jones’s situation. Her stepgrandson filed a petition in court requesting that Scott be replaced. Scott resigned soon after and Tomazin became her conservator last March.
Following the reports in the LA Times, California Assemblyman Dave Jones began spearheading efforts to create new laws to regulate the conservatorship system throughout California. The Omnibus Conservatorship and Guardianship Reform Act of 2006 was approved and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last year.
In California, even when an elderly person appoints a conservator, the conservatee still has the right to:
· Have control over their own salary.
· Choose their own lawyer.
· Decide whether to marry.
· Make their own will.
· Receive mail.
· Vote.
· Make their own health care decisions (unless a judge decides otherwise).
· Have their wishes and wants considered by the conservator.
· Be treated well by the conservator.
· Request that a judge end a conservatorship.
· Request that a judge find a new conservator to replace their current one.
The estate planning attorneys at Sagaria Law, P.C. represents clients in conservatorship matters and other estate planning-related issues, including the making of living wills and wills. Our firms also set up different kinds of trusts. Many of our estate planning clients come from Monterey County, Santa Clara County, Alameda County, and the surrounding areas, including the cities of San Jose, Fremont, Berkeley, and Los Gatos. To schedule a free consultation with one of our attorneys, contact Sagaria Law, P.C. today.
Woman in California conservator case that led to legal reform dies, LA Times, January 25, 2007
New Landmark Laws Overhaul California's Troubled Conservatorship System, California Progress Report, September 29, 2006
Related Web Resources:
Duties of A Conservator, California Courts: Self-Help Center
April Trial Set for Woman Seeking to End Conservatorship, LA Times, December 3, 2005
Bookmark: 
