Legal Document Case Gone Wrong
If you’ve been following along here for any length of time, you’ve seen us write quite often about the need for every adult to have specific legal documents in place. What we haven’t written about quite as much is why legal documents themselves simply are not enough to ensure the well-being and care of your family when something happens to you.
Case in point: the story of Milo, a United States Veteran. Milo had a legal document in place giving his son, Greg, written authority to manage his financial affairs in case he could not. Yet, his financial affairs still ended up under the authority of the Court, and he lost his entire estate (and possibly his freedom too) as a result.
Here’s what happened:
Milo was living in Maricopa County, Arizona, where his stepdaughter lived (his son lived in Northern California). Milo’s stepdaughter was frequently “borrowing” money from Milo and Milo asked his son, Greg, to step in and help to stop it because Milo didn’t feel he could say no to his stepdaughter.
Greg, wanting to protect his father’s limited estate (he only had about $140,000 plus a $3,700/month income from social security, a pension and veterans benefits), applied for Guardianship over his dad’s person.
The Court granted Greg’s guardianship petition and, at the same time, took an action that would eventually cost Milo (and Greg) the little that Milo had plus could take Milo’s freedom altogether. The Court, without proper notice, appointed a financial Conservator over Milo’s estate. This meant that now Milo’s money would be used to pay someone other than Greg to watch over Milo’s money.
Unfortunately, the person appointed Conservator of Milo’s money (the keeper of Milo’s money) drained the estate of the little resources that were there. When Greg tried to stop this from happening, he was unilaterally barred by the Court from filing any more motions.
To make matters worse (if that’s even possible), the professional Conservator then tried to take Milo from the assisted living facility he was in and move him into a horrible lock-down facility where Milo wouldn’t even have had access to the outdoors. Why? To free up more of Milo’s resources, which could then go to pay the Conservator.
When Milo’s son caught wind of this plan, he went to Arizona and “rescued” his father and took him to California where they are currently on the move so as not to be caught by the Arizona authorities who have already tried to get them back once. Greg and Milo are both now out of assets and need to raise $15,000 to hire attorneys in both Arizona and California to untangle this mess.
You Can Take Action and Help
If you would like to donate to Greg’s campaign to raise the money to save his dad’s freedom, please donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/savevetmilo
This could happen to you and your family. Milo and Greg are good people. They thought they were doing the right thing and they got caught up in a Court system that has cost them everything. Even though Milo had legal documents in place.
What was the one thing that could have saved Milo and Greg from this awful experience? If Milo had engaged trusted legal counsel during his life, legal counsel who would have been there for him and his son when he no longer could be.
THAT’s why we do what we do, the way we do it. The legal documents we provide for you and your family are important, but they are not THE most important part of what we do. They are the byproduct of the relationship we create. They will help us help your family when you need our help, but what will really help you is your relationship with us.
We could have protected Milo’s assets and kept control of Milo and his money in the hands of his son. That’s what we want for you. Keep your family out of Court. Secure your (and their) financial future today. Even if you don’t feel as if you have a lot of money, you want to protect what you do have, what you’ve worked so hard for, for the people you love.