APRIL 19, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 42 Edmund Gernannt suffered from dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. Confusion and agitation sometimes combined in Mr. Gernannt to make him combative. While most Alzheimer’s patients can be easily redirected and ultimately calmed, Mr. Gernannt’s aggressive tendencies got him committed to the county hospital in Bergen Pines, New Jersey.…
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APRIL 12, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 41 Kathryn Gordon’s will named her sister, Nancy Molet, to handle her estate. Based on that will Ms. Molet was appointed as personal representative. Like most individuals in such circumstances, Ms. Molet hired an attorney to help her get through the probate process. Eventually Phoenix attorney Harvey Finks billed…
APRIL 5, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 40 A Florida court found Alvarado Kelly incompetent in 1960, and appointed a guardian to manage his property. Fifteen years later Mr. Kelly moved to a facility in Mississippi operated by Sarah Cuevas; he lived in that facility until his death twenty five years later. After his death Mr.…
MARCH 29, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 39 Thomas A. Smith had two daughters from his first marriage and two step-children from his second wife. In 1996, shortly after his second wife’s death, he changed the beneficiary designation on a $100,000 life insurance policy so that the four children would share the policy proceeds equally. In…
MARCH 22, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 38 Claude Baldwin, Jr., prepared a living trust to avoid probate of his estate. His trust directed a distribution to be made at his death to his sister Bernice Branch. The trust was silent as to what would happen if Ms. Branch died first. Of course Mr. Baldwin could…
MARCH 15, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 37 Louise Friar worried about what would happen to her modest estate if she ever needed to go into a nursing home. She owned her home, and she had two certificates of deposit that represented her life savings. Whether she got the idea from friends, professional advisors, her own…
MARCH 8, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 36 In June 2001, four national advocacy organizations and an individual plaintiff sued Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Tommy Thompson. The lawsuit sought the court’s help to force Secretary Thompson to follow the law’s requirement that comparative written information about what participating Medicare+Choice…
MARCH 1, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 35 When a recipient of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid benefits receives money, the benefits may be reduced or even terminated. That is why most parents of children with a disability should consider establishing a “special needs” trust to handle any inheritance or gifts. Making the decision to…
FEBRUARY 23, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 34 It makes sense that someone seeking to qualify for public benefits would want to argue that they do not have assets available to them. Sometimes, however, an applicant will want to argue that more assets are available, as Charles Smith and his wife did—unsuccessfully. Mr. Smith, an Arizona…
FEBRUARY 16, 2004 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 33 In 1999 the Platte County, Missouri, courts appointed a guardian of the person and conservator of the estate for Linda Werner. Because of her schizophrenia and her resulting difficulty in making responsible decisions the court decided that Janet Waddell, the county’s “public administrator,” should handle Ms. Werner’s personal…