Elder Dignity & Power Living Media Release Video Explaining the Rising Crime of Adult Guardianship Exploitation
Features Top Elder Justice Advocates and Families Affected
NEW YORK, NY, JULY 2, 2019: How much do you value freedom? Do you believe you have a choice in how you live your life? Don't be deceived... you could be a target. The Deception of Protection, released today by Elder Dignity and Power Living Media, provides a primer on adult guardianship exploitation in the U.S. Written and produced by Elder Dignity Founder Teresa Kay-Aba Kennedy, the 20-minute video features two of the most prominent advocates, Rick Black and Sam J. Sugar, M.D., as well as families of victims across the country. It also offers preemptive measures so you can actually protect yourself and survival tactics if you get entrapped.
"If it's involuntary, it's fraudulent," said Black, Director of the Center for Estate Administration Reform (CEAR) which advocates for victims and is working to bring forth new legislation.
Guardianship laws intended to protect the vulnerable are being used to entrap unsuspecting people to control their property. This rising crime can render you a "non-person" within days, wipe out all of your assets and even sequester you away from loved ones. It's all under the guise of protecting you. Once you are deemed incapacitated, your life is not your own.
"Incapacity has nothing to do with a medical diagnosis. Nothing. All it is is an excuse to apply the legalistic term of incapacitated to a person who was doing just fine in society," explained Sugar, founder of the Americans Against Abusive Probate Guardianship (AAAPG).
In the United States, it is estimated that 1.5 million adults have guardians who control $273 billion in assets. The U.S. has 75 million baby boomers, 10,000 of which reach retirement age every day. We're entering the biggest generational wealth transfer ever--$68 trillion over the next 25 years. This could be a windfall for rogue guardians causing a disaster for families and charities counting on those planned donations.
"What is freedom when it can be so easily stolen?" said Kennedy who's aunt has be entrapped in a guardianship for eight years in Florida and sequestered away from her sister and 50+ nieces and nephews for over 1,032 days. "These vicious human rights violations are being committed through color of law and we must engage the public on this issue," Kennedy added.
