From New Jersey:

February 5, 2013

Last week, New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner Announced that teams of volunteer watchdogs  will monitor the legal guardians for tens of thousands disabled and elderly people. They’ll be on the lookout for theft or abuse of power.

The Volunteer Guardianship Monitoring Program will train people to scan the annual expense reports all legal guardians are required to file with the county and look for any “red flags” that suggest possible mismanagement, as The Star-Ledger’s Susan Livio reported last week.

GJS sent this article and thank you very much!

It would be nice to have courtwatchers in Illinois that CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Perhaps we need to organize the ones we already have in our courtrooms (we can identify them by the closed laptops) and let’s get some action going with Presiding Judge Timothy Evans.

We need courtwatchers to go through the probate files making sure that there was a summons and complaint upon the respondent 14 days in advance of the hearing, that all close relatives–adult siblings, children and parents–were notified 14 days in advance of any guardianship.

The files should have annual reports on the ward indicating she or he is well and happy, that the finances do not look suspicious or missing.

Great idea and thanks