California Woman Claims Her Late Mother’s Conservator Withheld Medical Care And Kept Faulty Books

In California, Beth Fairbanks appeared in court on Wednesday to testify against her mother’s conservator. Beth is the daughter of Elizabeth Fairbanks. Elizabeth died last May while at a hospice.

Beth claims that conservator Melodie Scott did not properly fulfill her fiduciary duties as her mother’s conservator. She is accusing Scott of nearly dissolving her mother’s savings, worth $239,000, within the first four years of managing Elizabeth Fairbanks’s estate, was faulty in her bookkeeping, and withheld medical care from Elizabeth when she fell out of bed in 2005 and when she died from pneumonia last year. Elizabeth, then 80, had been staying at Braswell’s Ivy Retreat in Mentone.

Wednesday’s hearing took place because at an October 13 hearing in San Bernardino last October, Beth had raised an objection to the final accounting made on her mother’s estate. She also refuses to believe that her mother ever agreed to the living will that Scott had signed in 2002, which stated that Elizabeth Fairbanks didn’t want any “heroic measures if death is imminent.”

Scott is denying the accusations.

By law, attorneys and conservators are paid from the conservatee’s estate, but only after a judge has approved the accounting. Court records show that when Scott began managing Elizabeth Fairbanks’s estate in 2002, the balance of her savings legitimately went down to $27,000. Also according to court records, Scott moved Elizabeth to different 24-hour care facilities in 2002 when her health improved for awhile. Scott also managed to reduce Elizabeth’s monthly expenses.

Probate judges had reviewed the expenses associated with Elizabeth Fairbanks’s care, for appropriateness and accuracy, on three separate occasions, beginning 2003, and had approved Scott's decisions.

Scott’s company, Conservatorship and Resources for the Elderly Inc., reportedly billed Elizabeth’s estate over $31,000 for the 587 hours that she served as the conservator. A $7,000 bill to the estate was blocked after Beth Fairbanks voiced her objections last October.

Conservatorship & Resources for the Elderly Inc. manages trusts and conservatorships.

California Courts: Self-Help Center Offers The Following Information For Conservators On How To Manage An Estate’s Assets:

· Make smart investments. Manage the estate's property carefully. Remember: You are taking care of someone else's property. Do not make risky investments.

· Keep estate assets separate. You must keep the estate's money and property separate from anyone else's, especially your own.

· Never deposit estate money in your personal account.

· Never mix estate money with yours or anyone else's, even for a little while.

· Stocks and bonds must be held in a name that shows they belong to the estate and not to you.

· Use interest-bearing accounts and other investments. You can set up checking accounts for everyday expenses. But the rest of the estate's money must be in accounts that earn interest.

· If you're chosen to be conservator of an estate, you must make and keep a list of what the estate owns.

Restrictions
Unless you have a court order, you can't:

· Pay yourself or your lawyer with the estate's money.
· Give away any part of the estate.
· Borrow money from the estate.

You'll have to prepare an accounting report of:

· All income, money, and property you get,
· What you spent,
· The date of every transaction,
· The purpose of every transaction, and
· What's left after you pay the estate's expenses.
· Court review of your records. A year after you become conservator, you must file a petition to ask the court to approve your accounting. After that, you must do this again every two years. Save your receipts. The court may want to see them.

If you don't file your accounting, the court will order you to file it. And you may be removed as conservator.

Sagaria Law, P.C. represent clients in estate planning matters—conservatorships, living wills, living trust, trusts, organ donations, probate guardianships, etc.—throughout Santa Clara County, Alameda County, and Monterey County, including the cities of Emeryville, Berkeley, San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Carmel. If you would like to set up a conservatorship for yourself or a loved one, or if you would like to request the removal or replacement of a conservator, we can help you. To schedule your free consultation, contact Sagaria Law, P.C. today.

Riverside woman to challenge conservator of mother's estate, Press-Enterprise, January 31, 2007

Duties of a Conservator, California Courts: Self-Help Center

Related Web Resource:

Help For Adults and Elders, Probate Court: Self Service Center