References & Resources
The Family War – this book was written by three prominent Canadian estate litigators. It looks very good, we have not read it ourselves yet. There may be important differences between Canadian and US law but the human interactions remain the same. See http://thefamilywar.com
EstateofDenial.com – GREAT summary of experiences with Guardian Abuse and the dark side of estate mismanagement. Be sure to see their resources and links sections.
Connecticut Elder Law Blog - (Michael J. Keenan, Esq.) – lively, informative, entertaining. Insights and strategies to help you protect loved ones from the dangers criminals and inadequate planning and support present.
This book was recommended… “Combatting Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults” by Steven Hassan
See also the listing here provided by TV Fields
If you have questions email us: Contact at StealanEstate dot com
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Or StealanEstate at Yahoo dot com
July 6, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Our experience with an “estate thief” was so similar that he could have actually used this parody as a guide book.
During the last several years, as my father and stepmother became more and more physically and mentally frail, a third party began to intervene and in his “support” of them convinced them that my brother and I were determined to put them in a “home”, steal all their money, etc. At the time we had no idea that this was going on, and since he had access to them every day, and we lived 400 mile away, my parents eventually became convinced that these lies were true. In 2005, we discovered what had been happening, but it was too late. By this time my father at age 92 suffered from increasing dementia, and my stepmother was becoming increasingly paranoid and agoraphobic.
Meanwhile, this third party provided sub-standard care in their home provided by people with no expertise in medical care and hygiene, rather than allowing their asserts to be used to provide them the in-home care and nurture they deserved. While my stepmother was in the hospital in April 2006, my father slipped and fell at home while his caretaker was asleep. He died a few days later from the blow received to his head.
Additionally, of course, the third party did the very thing he accused us of doing, stealing their money. Under the auspices of a sham real estate transaction in the 1990s, under which this third party bought millions of dollars of my family’s real property with no funds of his own, and by co-mingling the estate funds and the proceeds of these properties, which he now “owns”, he undermined the true intent of my parents when they were mentally and physically healthy. In June of 2005, my father suffered from dementia to the extent that he did not even know who I was, yet in October 2005 he and my stepmother, with the help of their long time attorney, who is also an adviser to the third party and who borrowed a substantial amount of money himself from my father, modified the existing trust, which had designated my brother and I as successor trustees, to make my stepmother the successor trustee and this third party the next successor trustee. After my father passed away last year, my stepmother became the trustee. This third party, however, is the de facto trustee, and he continues to use the assets of the estate for his own ends.
The estate is worth a minimum of $14,000,000, and perhaps a great deal more. Our family has spent almost $300,000, almost all we have, trying to pursue this matter through probate court since October of 2005, but to no avail, due mostly to the bad faith tactics of my stepmother’s attorney, who was clearly working for the third party, not the interests of my stepmother or the estate.
Apparently the main obstacle to challenging this abuse is the “no contest” provision in the trust, which is still honored under California law.
I hope from the tenor of your website that you might be able to provide some advice or resources in this matter. Probate attorneys here do not seem to have an answer.
July 8, 2007 at 9:33 pm
http://rileyleagueofjustice.blogspot.com
Please Read –Any and all help is appreciated!!!
July 18, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I need to talk to some people who are going through similar situations. My sister and her husband convinced my father that my brother and I want to steal his money and put him in a nursing home. My sister and her husband are such evil people. I thought my sister loved me. What a big fat joke!
My brother and I have been disinherited I am certain. My father has dementia. It is all so sad. I lost my mother less than a year ago. Now my father wants nothing to do with me. My sister and her husband turned against my brother and I. It is almost too much to deal with. I really need a support group of people who have similar stories.
April 24, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Two outstanding books and their authors are:
(1) Dr. Diane Armstrong is a nationally recognized expert on contested or involuntary conservatorships and guardianships. Her book, “The Retirement Nightmare: How to Save Yourself from Your Heirs and Protectors” is a painstakingly documented and frightening expose of the spread of involuntary conservatorships (guardianships in some states) wrongly imposed on the elderly.
(2) Florida police detective Joseph Roubicek is a nationally recognized expert on the exploitation of the elderly who currently works for Florida’s state attorney. His book, “Financial Abuse Of The Elderly; A Detective’s Case Files Of Exploitation Crimes” tries to correct some of the public’s misconceptions about the adequacy of our existing laws, misconceptions which too many other experts in the field propagate and perpetuate.
I am personally familiar with both authors and their books, which are available from Amazon. I am quite familiar with the problems which these experts address, having personally addressed for nearly two decades the inadequacies of existing laws regarding legal instruments like wills, deeds, trusts and POAs. See, for example, the legal reform which I addressed to delegates to the White House Conference on Aging in 2005 that is reproduced online at http://members.aol.com/tvfields/2005WHCOAHandout/Frameset01.htm
For additional information, please follow the other links which I provide online at
* http://members.aol.com/tvfields/Directory.htm,
* http://members.aol.com/tvfields/dir.htm,
* http://members.aol.com/tvfields/ILF_Links/Frameset001.htm ,
* http://members.aol.com/tvfields/MTDirectory.htm,
* http://members.aol.com/tvfields/OSMAReport/Frameset05A.htm ,
* http://members.aol.com/tvfields/OlderAmericansActRevision/Frameset01.htm,
* http://members.aol.com/tvfields/OtherLinks/Frameset001.htm
Dr. Armstrong is one of at least three acquaintances who have testified before the Senate Committee on Aging. Two others are Ila Swan and Bee Becker.
During these past two decades, I have probably communicated about these problems with thousands of individuals.
There are many facts and questions which need to be aired in public. One that is of special interest to me is “Who would take advantage of a hospitalized cancer patient on the day he died, while he is being administered morphine under a Do Not Resuscitate order that was started as a result of the cancer rupturing his stomach earlier that same day?” The answer to this question is provided by the evidence which is linked above.
I hope you will join me in advocating the legal reforms which are needed in order for our legal system to deserve the respect to which it wrongly believes it is entitled.