[sonytechrep]

Mine and my daughters possession which were stored at my parents home were included in the theft, destruction and sale of every item at their home.

70 years of possessions were narrowed down to 31 items of vaule which were sold for $1,200.00

I am expected to believe that everything else went into a dumpster, Im not that stupid.

But the question is what recourse do I have about my possessions which amount into the thousands of dollars, no one seems to have the answer.

My parents by the way are still alive, but have nothing now! This was a forced guardianship, and my father was diagnosed the remain compentent to make legal decisions but denied by Judge.
They are also the only married couple to ever be declared incapacitated at the same time in Indiana!

Isn't there something I can do?

[Emland]

You mention theft and sale in the same sentence. Was the home foreclosed? Can you give a little more detail?

[sonytechrep]

Well the home is a whole different problem of which I am currently appealing.

The theft I speak of is the fact that 8 people were allowed to enter my parents home who have no connection to my family what-so-ever.

An 8 foot high dumpster was in their driveway, home had not been moved out of, there were antiques and family heirlooms throughout.

I see it as a take what you want throw the rest away, my father had at least $30,000.00 worth of working equipment and tools in his work shop, but as I stated 31 items went to the auction and sold for $1,200.00

More details are at Indiana Probate Nightmares "The American Holocaust"

But again what about mine and my daughters possession can they just take our possessions too, because they were stored there? And are went just out of luck!

[Emland]

I still don't get it. Who allowed them access to your parent's home? Why was a dumpster there? Did your parents still have legal title to the home and contents? If you had possessions there why didn't you remove them?

And sorry, but don't get the point of the link, either. It just looks like someone ranting.

[ScottGem]

Emland's right, you need to provide more details here. But I can tell you this. Let's assume that the removal of the items was done under a court order. Unless the court was made aware previously, that items belonging to someone else was stored on the premises, then it could be assumed that anything there was the property of the owners.

But for us to really give advice, we have to know the whole story. Who forced the guardianship and why? What court hearings were held. Who was responsbile for cleaning out the home under what conditions?

[sonytechrep]

Sorry if you found the site to be ranting, its meant to be informative, the worst case scenario, of what can happen.

My mother has Alzheimers, my father was taking my mother to see relatives in another state, he got lost and has a minor accident, in another state and becamse confused, they were placed into a nursing home in that state where they were kept for 5 weeks, by my sister, who hasn't been on good twrms with them for over 20 years. She because she was the one that got the call, next day she went to probate court and had herself and my brother in-law appointed temp guardians, then contacted me, but wouldn't give me any information.

The nursing home in which my parents were placed for 5 weeks made a diagnosis that both of my parents were incapacitated and began their treatment of drugs, which lasted 5 weeks.
They were then transported into a nursing home in Indiana, where my sister planned for then to live their remaining years.
That's not what my parents wanted.

See it seems I am ranting, but how else do I explain?

An Emergency hearing was held my sister withdrew, I was appointed guardian of their persons and allowed to move my parents to Florida which I did, the guardian continued to receive most of their retirement income and did not pay their mortgage he simply let it fall behind then gave it back to the mortgage company, but in between he wrote up a document asking to sell their possessions, which of course was approved, so he used the property manager he had hired and his employees to empty the home and sell what was of any value, he never took an onventory, however I know exactly what was there.

There I have attempted to tell the story.

[ScottGem]

Ok, now we have some meat that we can base some advice on. So you were awarded guardianship of their persons, but another guardian (court appointed? ) was placed over their financial affairs? And this guardian was receiving their retirement income but failed to keep up their mortgage? Then this person asked for permission to sell off the possessions and it was granted (by whom, the court?) This sale occurred without your knowledge? Was the guardian aware that you had possessions stored in the house?

In any case, you would appear to have a strong case against the guardian for failure to fulfill his fiduciary responsibilities. A guardian, when they take on the role, agrees to certain responsibilities with respect to the income and property they are responsible for. It would appear from what you have told us, they failed in that responsibility. You have the right to demand a full accounting from the guardian. If it can be shown they violated their ficuciary responsibility, they can be held financially responsible.

You probably will not get your possessions back, but you should be able to extract a pound of flesh from this guardian. But you NEED to get an attorney, one versed in elder care laws to act on your behalf.

[sonytechrep]

Thank You for the quick response.

Yes Guardian of Estate was appointed by the court, no he did not know that my possessions were stored there, there was never an inventory that I know of, as far as I know he never even visited the residence which is in a different county than the court.

But it would seem to me that a young girls clothing neatly hung and packed some very expensive, or a football signed by all of the 2005 Colts signed TO Christa or a complete DJ System or thousands of Albums and other misc items, seems it would be obvious that they didn't belong to 70 year old Edith & Ken

2 employees of the property manager were caught by the police loading up their cars with their children present on a Saturday, with possessions from inside the house, a neighbor called me in Florida, I called the Police, the employees did not have the paper work with them ( I am assuming because they were not supposed to be there) so the officer made them return what they had loaded up, back inside the home, but he stated there was nothing he could do because it was a civil matter!

Thanks for your reply!

[Emland]

I agree with Scottgem. Your problem is with the first guardian. I am confused why the financial matters were still left with them once you were appointed. You have recourse, but you will need an attorney.

[sonytechrep]

One final thing, all of this happened after I had both of my parents examined, at the Lee County Memory Clinic in Fort Myers Florida, my mother of course was only taken part of the way through the exam, because after the MRI it was obvious where she was in her Alzheimers, however they took my father through the complete exam over a 3 month period including a 2 hour written exam, and the neurologist and his team of specialists came to the conclusion that my father remained compentent to make changes in his will, to appoint a guardian of his choice if need be, and to attend to any probate matters affecting him and my mother in Indiana, but this diagnosis was sent to the court in Indiana and within days of receiving it the home was emptied.

And by the way it's the same court, same Judge that allowed guardians of Ruth Lilly to take 80 people on trips to Paris and Hawaii, spending 2 million dollars of her money.

[ScottGem]

Sounds exactly right. But it would also mean that you may have a case against the property manager as well. The nature of the items really has no bearing. Young girls clothing could just be momentos for the grandparents.

But you definitely need to get an accounting from the guardian and then get a lawyer.

Another thing I would do is keep an eye out on e-Bay for that football.

[sonytechrep]

Well I did get the accounting and only the items which went to the auction were listed and it was written up such a 1 box of misc, 1 antique dresser 3 boxes mics, misc tools in all $1,200.00 was all they got.

[ScottGem]

I'm not talking about just the sale. I'm talking about the retirement checks etc. Why weren't they paid to keep up the mortgage? Why did he let the property go back to the bank? How much was the property sold for?

[sonytechrep]

Well Im not real sure why the mortgage payments we not paid, but I do know, he paid himself $13,950.00 according to the accounting.

The home brings up a whole new problem, he was ordered to have it sold in 6 months, but when the time was up he stated he couldn't sell it, so he simply handed the mortgage and the home back to the mortgage company, but what he didn't realize is that the home sits on 2 lots, and the lot that he didn't know about, was purchased on contract and paid in full in 1990, and was never part of any mortgage, so now the mortgage company wants it too, so I am appealing that!

[ScottGem]

This guardian sound pretty incompetent. Again he has a fiduciary responsibility. He needs to justify what he did to earn the $14K he took. Now that doesn't seem like too much for a guardian for 6 months work. But he needs to show what he did to sell the property. He needs to account for EVERY penny of your parents money he received. He needs to document EVERYTHING he did on your parents behalf.

[sonytechrep]

Well I filed a motion asking for any Real Estate contracts, newspaper clippings or any methods used to sell the property, it of course was denied.

His payment to himself just about equals the amount of the retirement check he kept of my fathers.

I believe there is something else going on here, my father is retired from the Marion County Sheriff's Department, and the guardian used to be a Deputy Prosecutor in the same county, back when my father was a deputy, that's just something that sticks in the back of my mind, matbe he had something against my father from way back when.

This case is still open even though he filed his final accounting in 2005, this situation has completely consumed be for the last 4 years now.

Seems to be no end in sight.

Both parents are still alive.

[ScottGem]

Have you thought of getting the media involved? If this has gone on this long and you aren't getting justice, maybe talking to a consumer or elder care advocate for a local media outlet can start to shed some light on things.