The Conservatorship of Barbara

December 27, 2021

The Honorable Mark Stone P.O. Box 942849 Sacramento, CA 94249-0029

Dear Assembly Member Stone:

I am reaching out to you as Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee since you will be integral in shaping upcoming legislation and oversight related to conservatorships and the Master Plan on Aging. The Judiciary Committee should also be aware of issues related to In Pro Per petitioners who are routinely denied equal access to the justice system, despite statutory requirements for affirmative assistance from the courts.

For the sake of full disclosure, I am currently the Legislative Analyst for the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services. I have worked for DHHS over 20 years now with much of that in child welfare clerical and as the Social Services Director’s Analyst. I do NOT represent my department in this matter — I am reaching out to you as the daughter of an Alzheimer’s patient and my experiences are definitely not unique.

For a super-short background (that I would love to expand on if you have the time) — my mom, Barbara L. Keller has Alzheimer’s that we have seen coming on for years now. Her short-term memory is gone at this point and her medical provider (Open Door Community Health in Fortuna) signed the court forms required to declare a person legally incapacitated (GC-335 and GC-335A) in July of this year. What the family didn’t see coming was her fifth husband (Ronald W. Keller) also losing his mental capacity quietly in the background — the extent of his paranoid delusions only became apparent too late. The pandemic has absolutely contributed to the rapid decline of both Mom and Ron which is a common story that we’re seeing everywhere unfortunately.

My mom and Ron both have long-standing wills and a living trust which designated myself and/or my brother (Tim Jenkins) as their caretakers if and when the need arises. The need had certainly arrived and I applied for a conservatorship in June 2021 with my brother’s full support. We had a stack of documentation such as the will and the trust so the conservatorship application should have been relatively straight forward and expeditious. I am doing this In Pro Per for the conservatorship petition but I am fluent in bureaucracy and paperwork which makes me a little better prepared for the process than the average family that also can’t afford a high-priced attorney — nor should they have to.

The court investigator involved in my petition issued her report supporting the conservatorship and recommending the Judge assign council to represent my mom and protect the civil rights of an Alzheimer’s patient. The Judge never did that for some reason — no council has been assigned for my mom which should be standard practice for the proposed conservatee. Ron’s family (previously totally unknown people) came forward represented by a local prominent attorney who specializes in elder financial fraud cases — Chris Johnson Hamer of Stokes, Hamer, Kird, & Eads, LLP. Attorney Hamer produced a fraudulent capacity declaration (attached) along with a legal form she had my mom sign on August 25th (same attachment) that gave the conservatorship to this previously unknown nephew of her fifth husband — despite my mom having been declared legally incapacitated back in July. Judge Timothy A. Canning of the Humboldt County Superior Court — who had refused to assign council to represent my mom — gave the conservatorship to the unknown family members in direct opposition to the declared wishes of my mom from her will and her living trust. It is inexplicable and I am pursuing any avenues available to me to oppose this however I am In Pro Per and the court has so far refused to take any official notice of the will or the living trust or any of the other documentation that I have provided. In Pro Per is simply ignored (treated as bothersome) and there is no affordable legal assistance that is practically available to families. Legal aide groups are great and they do good work but they are overburdened, underfunded and frankly these types of conservatorships aren’t a priority for anyone except to the families.

However, this letter is NOT asking for your help with this individual case. What I am asking you for is to help all of the families like ours that are trying to do the right thing and help our loved ones but the courts and attorneys are operating to block equal access to the justice system for the unrepresented. There are statutes on the books that require affirmative assistance by the court for In Pro Per parties but they are routinely ignored without regard for any repercussions. After all, what is an unrepresented person going to do about it?

There is also the issue of no enforcement mechanism for the Elder Financial Fraud statutes that are on the books already. I have discovered that there is no agency or department that oversees this enforcement — it is left to the individuals and families to try and find assistance through the court system. If the court refuses to protect the vulnerable then who will do it? I have contacted the State Attorney General’s office for Elder Fraud but was told they are only interested in Medi-Cal fraud or nursing home abuse — they had no other office to direct me to so I could file a report.

I would also draw your attention to the attachment which is the fraudulent Judicial Council form that was completed and signed by a Nurse Practitioner (NP) solely despite their not having signature authority without a countersignature by a physician or a psychologist. The recent passage of AB 890 (Wood) last year, which created an avenue for NP’s to apply to the state (starting in 2023) for an expanded scope of practice, laid bare the strict regulations governing NP’s and limitations over their current scope of practice. California has some of the strictest regulations over the authority of Nurse Practitioners in the country. The attorney altered the Judicial Council form to add a box for “Nurse Practitioner” as having independent signature authority and they submitted this to the court who accepted it without question - despite my having pointed all of this out in my filings.

The day long conservatorship hearing that you recently chaired included some limited testimony of the family experience but there simply wasn’t enough time in the day to include all of the issues that families are facing if they can’t afford an attorney. The system is not designed to help families navigate it — it is instead a wall that they must find a way to climb. Couple this with a court system that literally ignores In Pro Per petitioners and the state has created a system that effectively prevents families from caring for their loved ones unless they have the means to hire an attorney.

The development of the Master Plan for Aging (MPA) in California is an opportunity to make real changes that will dramatically help the lives of Californians — both the elderly and their families. I am watching the Justice in Aging committee closely and will be looking for opportunities to provide information on what the legal system looks like for the individual and their families. This needs to be a core component of the MPA — families are the best resource available for their loved ones and it is mutually beneficial for the state to make that possible. As you know, there are not enough care providers or beds available to provide care for the number of Californian’s who need it now and those numbers are only getting worse. The state cannot succeed with the goals of the Master Plan for Aging without relying heavily on the families and loved ones of vulnerable adults.

I would like the opportunity to work with you and other members of the legislature to make meaningful changes for the benefit of everyone and not just those with the financial means to manipulate the legal system to their benefit. I look forward to speaking with you and/or your staff to provide any and all information that I can to assist you going forward. We all have parents and loved ones who will need care at some point.

Cc: Assembly Judiciary Committee