Public Fiduciary Offices in Arizona
SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 35 When an individual living in Arizona becomes incapacitated, or needs financial protection because of diminishing capacity, a family member, friend or private professional fiduciary might be appointed to act as guardian (of the person) or conservator (of the estate). But what if there is no one available to […]
Arizona Probate Court Changes Coming in 2012
DECEMBER 19, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 43 It is not exactly a secret that the Arizona probate court system has been widely criticized over the past two years or so. The Phoenix-area newspapers have been filled with stories about alleged abuses of the probate process. Many of those stories have focused on practices in the […]
Arizona Legislature Adopts Probate Changes
APRIL 25, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 15 Last week the Arizona Legislature adjourned for the year. Just before closing down the session legislators adopted a number of new measures dealing with probate court, trusts and especially guardianship and conservatorship matters. Most of the bills passed by the legislature are still awaiting the Governor’s signature, but […]
Ward Has Burden of Proving That Guardianship Should End
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 […]
Déjà Vu: Another AZ Public Fiduciary Charged In Thefts
MAY 14, 2001 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 46 In 1997 a rural Arizona county Public Fiduciary stunned the state’s advocacy community when he acknowledged taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from his ward’s estates (“Mohave Public Fiduciary Pleads Guilty, Faces Certain Jail Time“). Thefts by private fiduciaries (and lawyers representing fiduciaries) are all too common, but […]
