A cautionary tale of elder abuse and the system that perpetuates it. Two years ago John Wyman’s mother Carol walked out of a nursing home in Rockford, Illinois. She had been placed there for the convenience of others, not for her own well-being and had suffered mentally, physically and emotionally. When she ended up at John’s home outside of Aspen, Colorado his journey began. Hairdresser by trade, rebel at heart, John took on the challenges of dealing with nursing homes, courts and family members to provide the best possible situation for his mother. What he experienced woke him up to the inequities and injustices lurking in the systems which have been established to help our older population. He decided to share his story to make us all aware of the catastrophic possibilities that lie in wait if we don’t take action to change these systems. A must read for all who may become old.
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The book is an excellent read and below is my review:
The nursing home and elder care services are often wired in and corrupt, charging excessive fees and sometimes whatever they want to churn huge profits. The judges get campaign contributions from the attorneys and wired in nursing homes and elder care services appearing before them.
Mr. Wyman is completely correct in saying that a family home should NEVER be sold to pay for any attorney fees, elder care services required by the probate court, and I have a list of oh so much more on my blog at […] From the get go, that pot of cash creates a huge incentive for the GAL’s and the nursing homes to churn up discord which directly relates to fees for all the attorneys.
You need to protect yourself from Probate and the evil that happens there too frequently. Use advance directives and get a skilled attorney. Watch out for the relative that petitions first but is greedy and estranged from the family.
There should be more, so much more, put in place to protect the elderly from the nursing home business and ensure they can stay in their homes without fear of a sale until both husband and wife pass and all other dependents such as grandchildren and disabled persons they were caring for.
Today, you walk into Probate court and you see a whole lot of evil. Judges summarily ordering out dependent relatives in wheel chairs (totally illegal), judges appointing family members as guardian who were actually estranged from the senior! Judges that never ask prior to an appointment, “did you serve notice of the Motion to Appoint a Guardian on all close relatives-adult siblings and children-14 days prior to this hearing.” How about, do you even know who all the adult siblings and children are? You can’t appoint a guardian without proper service and notice, but it happens.
All kinds of evil and greed goes on and the wolves are guarding this chicken house.
Mr. Wyman gives a lot of good tips and tricks on how to make your life easier in Probate, so it’s an excellent read to anyone facing Probate and a disabled senior.
Highly recommended and 90% accurate–which is excellent for a layperson.
The real key reason Mr. Wyman did so well in Probate 1) his father (the guardian) was infirm himself and had no way to fight a probate proceeding because he was in a nursing home himself, otherwise an extended fight between siblings could go on for years; and 2) he researched, researched, researched anything and everything. As in all cases, if you go to court by yourself, expect to do hours and hours of research to be successful.
Good for you Mr. Wyman, you are true inspiration for change in the Probate system and in federal laws to protect grandma and grandpa.
Against Her Will by John Howard Wyman
MaryGSykes.com 
Reblogged this on Justice for Everyone Blog.