California Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

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.

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

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.

Continue reading "Elderly Woman Whose Conservator Case Helped Spark Legal Reform In California Dies" »

Jennifer Ann Wenger, 53, a court-appointed conservator accused of embezzling more than $900,000 from a 92-year-old woman’s estate says she is not guilty of the charges. Wenger was arrested last month on suspicion of stealing money from Goldie Carlova’s estate. Carlova is a former London fur designer whose husband wrote novels.

According to family members and probate documents, after her husband died in 2000, Carlova suffered from health problems and needed help handling her finances. A court appointed Wenger to help Carlova. Wenger was a private conservator who worked in Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties.

After Carlova’s death in 2004, Wenger succeeded in petitioning the court to become the appointed administrator of the estate. Carlova's estate, which included her Lake Forest home, several bank accounts, annuities, and a 1982 Buick as assets, was valued at $1,064,700.

According to prosecutors, Wenger wrote 65 checks to herself from Carlova’s estate between 2004 and 2006. They are also accusing her of taking the eight annuity checks that were erroneously issued to Carlova after her death and placing them in her own account. Patricia DeRousie-Webb, Carlova’s niece, said she notified the Orange County Sheriff’s department after the bank had contacted her to let her know that there was suspicious activity taking place in her aunt’s account.

Continue reading "Conservator In California Pleads Not Guilty To Stealing $900,000 " »

When the will of Mildred Erle Veatch, 95, was read after she passed away last summer, there were 10 beneficiaries named to receive assets from her $824,766 estate.

Among these beneficiaries were:

· Judge Windle, the probate judge who oversaw her case, was to receive $50,000.
· Duane Coker, the court-appointed attorney representing Veatch, was to also receive $50,000.
· Beverly McCure, Veatch’s court-appointed guardian and the ex-wife of Judge Windle, who was to receive $100,000.
· Roy Anderson, court-appointed guardian of Veatch’s estate and Windle’s personal accountant, who was to receive $50,000.

Judge Windle has said he did not know he was included in Erle Veatch’s will and, he will not accept the money.

Continue reading "While Under Court Appointed-Guardianship, Elderly Woman Revised Will And Leaves Money To Probate Judge, Probate Guardian, And Court-Appointed Attorney" »

A mentally challenged Chico resident who went missing on November 6, right after he attended a court-ordered conservatorship hearing regarding his mental issues was found at a home in Orland, California on November 14.

Mark McDonald, 49, had walked away from a medical transport van on the drive back to Eureka. Orland police say they don’t know where McDonald spent time during his disappearance. He was given a good physical condition report by the Enloe Medical Center last Tuesday. Although not considered violent, McDonald lives in a lockdown Facility in Eureka.

Under California Law, the courts can appoint a conservator to oversee the care and finances of any adult who has become mentally or physically incapable of making personal or financial decision.

There are two types of conservatorships. There is the conservator of the person and the conservator of the estate. The person who is appointed as conservator can fulfill both roles.

Continue reading "Mentally Challenged Man Placed Under Court-Ordered Conservatorship Is Found In Chico, California After Missing For Eight Days " »

In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a group of reform bills into law that will protect the rights of the elderly and the disabled by improving the way conservatorships are supervised by the courts. The new law will help prevent conservators from abusing their handling of the personal and financial affairs of adults whom the courts have ruled as incapable of handling their own affairs.

The package of bills, called the Omnibus Conservatorship and Guardianship Act of 2006, consists of the following:

•AB 1363 by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento
Mandates improved court oversight, increased information sharing with relatives of conservatees, and expanded assistance to non-licensed conservators and guardians through conservatorship and guardianship court proceedings.

Continue reading "California Governor Schwarzenegger Signs Conservator Reform Bills To Protect The Elderly And The Disabled" »