How an Unwanted Guardianship Cost a Firefighter His Freedom and His Fortune
Norman Baker is an American hero who has been detained against his will for more than three years.
His “crime”: owning too much property.
His sentence: a court-appointed guardianship on the brink of costing him everything he spent his life building.
His rights in this case: virtually none, significantly less in many ways than an actual law-breaking criminal.
His future if this continues: long-term de facto imprisonment, followed by abject poverty, if he has anything left at all.
A retired firefighter who once helped save a child’s life, Norman Baker is not suspected of terrorism. He has never been charged with any statutory infraction, and has never been in any kind of trouble with the law. But he has been stripped of his right to vote and access to his own assets, which appear to have been well in excess of $1 million as little as three years ago.
Until he was placed in a nursing home against his will by the court-appointed attorney he is trying to reject, Norman Baker owned and managed two dozen rental properties, many of which he designed and built himself. He also owned a 33-acre farm, with four horses, an array of tractors and other heavy farm implements, a carefully preserved century-old barn, a restored farmhouse from which he drew steady rental income, and a 3,000-square-foot brick home, which he also designed and built.
All Norman Baker’s properties were free of any liens or mortgages. Before he was confined against his will to a nursing home, Norman Baker also had some $250,000 in cash and liquid investments above and beyond his real estate holdings. He rented his properties and lived a quiet, private life.
Today, without writing a check or using a credit card or making a single bad investment, Norman Baker has less than $20,000 in cash. Most of his rental properties are vacant. Some have been flooded. In one, a broken pipe has resulted in a water bill in excess of $19,000. Nearly all his properties, which were once entirely rented, are now vacant. Some have been seriously vandalized. A rental property business, which yielded a steady cash flow, is now bleeding cash every month.
Baker’s farm implements—including a tractor owned by his brother–were sold by his unwanted guardian without his permission. The guardian also sold the slate off the roof of Norman’s carefully preserved antique hay barn, which may now be ruined by rainwater. The roof of his farm house has also been damaged and left unmended.
The comfortable brick ranch home Norman built by hand is boarded up and rotting. Its plush carpeting has apparently been stripped out. Its interior fixtures are gone or rotting. The concrete backyard swimming pool whose construction Baker oversaw is cracked and in ruins. When we visited the property, Baker could only peer into the windows of his wrecked home. It is posted against “trespassers.”
At one point in his involuntary guardianship, a medical examiner hired at Norman’s expense found him competent and recommended that he no longer need a guardian. But the attorney running Baker’s guardianship refused to surrender control of Norman’s assets. He then brought back the same medical examiner for yet another examination. This doctor then proclaimed he “changed his mind” and that Norman needed a guardian after all. Norman was then billed some $2,000 for both examinations.
Since then, a Harvard-trained medical examiner has repeatedly tested Baker, who just turned 80. This doctor, whose most recent examination has been videotaped, has consistently found Baker competent to manage his own affairs and to hire his own professional help.
More than a year ago, a physician for the nursing home where Norman has been confined recommended that he be given an immediate discharge to the community. Baker walks three miles a day inside the home, and does his own laundry. He is dependent on no medications.
Norman Baker’s case is not an isolated one. Usually guardianships are necessary where someone has no assets or no family and there has been no estate plan appointing a fiduciary. However, throughout the United States, tens of thousands of elderly citizens with significant assets have been placed under court-appointed guardians.
Though regulations vary from state to state, the attorney-guardians are required to report periodically to the county probate court on the disposition of the assets. Commonly, the attorneys charge fees for “managing” the property of their wards.
The law requires a guardian to act in the ward’s best interests. But often that is a major issue between the guardian and his ward that must be balanced by the Probate Judge, who is expected to act as the “superior guardian”.
By and large, legal guardians are expected to pay regular visits to their wards. According to Baker, his court-appointed attorney has visited him just twice in more than two years.
Norman Baker has continuously requested that he have input in to the property management of his estate. But he has been ignored. Decisions have been made about Norman’s bank account and his properties without his knowledge or input, and over his continued objections and complaints.
Baker’s court-appointed guardian was recently more than six months late in providing the court with a report on the status of Norman’s assets. Such reports are required by the Fairfield County court every two years, although the better practice is an annual account. Baker’s cash assets have been drained, and many of his properties have been brought to the brink of ruin. But it is unclear whether or not all his bills have been properly paid.
Acting on his own, Baker has managed to contract with independent counsel. Susan Wasserman and Lewis E. Williams of Columbus have asked, on his behalf, that Fairfield County Probate Court Judge Stephen Williams set Baker free of his guardianship. But Judge Williams has refused and Norman Baker remains confined to a nursing home against his will.
Baker’s troubles began in January, 2005, when he suffered a urinary tract infection. Reports for elder abuse are confidential and it is unclear who made the recommendation that his affairs be turned over to a guardian.
Whatever the situation at that time, Baker has long since recovered. But he still remains under a guardianship established at a hearing in front of Judge Williams where Norman was not represented by legal counsel, and was not in the presence of a blood relative.
This fall, after numerous attempts to terminate the guardianship, Attorneys Wasserman and Williams moved in the Fairfield County court that Baker’s guardianship be vacated.
Ohio law stipulates that someone being subjected to a guardianship has the right to have his closest relative from within the state be present at the determination hearing. Norman Baker’s daughter was not notified because she was out of state, and notification to her was therefore not required by law. But it was mandatory under the law that Norman Baker’s brother Robert be noticed, as he lives in-state and is “next of kin.”
Because guardianships are invasive proceedings, strict requirements are meant to safeguard situations in which a probate court has such unfettered power over a human being. Norman’s brother, Robert Baker, of Celina, Ohio, has since stated under oath that he would have attended the hearing had he known about it, and that he would have argued then–as he does now–that his brother did not want or need a legal guardian then, and does not want or need one now.
Robert Baker also charges that the attorney appointed by the court to be his brother’s guardian sold his own personal antique tractor–inherited from his father–from his brother Norman’s farm, and has never accounted for the proceeds.
Norman Baker’s farm has also been stripped of many of its accouterments without a full accounting. Its buildings have been left to rot. The land itself may be worth a million dollars or more. Baker’s guardian has stated that he has gotten numerous calls from developers wanting to buy it.
Judge Williams has repeatedly refused to vacate the guardianship. Nor has he set for hearing the objections filed by Baker to the late and incomplete accounting as to what precisely the Guardian has accomplished on his behalf.
By Ohio law, such an accounting was many months overdue until Norman Baker demanded that the account be filed. In December, 2007, at Norman Baker’s behest, Attorneys Wasserman and Williams filed a motion with the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Thomas Moyer, asking that Judge Williams be removed from the case. Baker’s chosen attorneys argued that Judge Williams’s handling of the case “gives the appearance” that there is little hope of Norman Baker escaping his unwanted guardianship, and regaining his freedom with due process of law as guaranteed under the Ohio and U.S. constitutions.
Chief Justice Moyer has recently established a high-level commission charged with looking into the guardianship system in Ohio. Nationwide, hundreds of cases similar to Norman Baker’s have been reported at places such as the www.stopguardianabuse.org web site. The Los Angeles Times ran a major expose several years ago which has resulted in reform in many states. Extreme as Baker’s case may seem, numerous state and local court records are filled with cases of guardianship discord.
Moyers turned down the request that Judge Williams be removed from the case. An appeal on Judge Williams’s denial of the motion to vacate the guardianship has been filed in the Ohio Court of Appeals, Fifth Appellate District.
Thus far, Norman Baker has been in constant litigation for three years against the guardian appointed over him by the court. Norman’s guardianship was imposed in a hearing at which he was unpresented by counsel, and had no relative at his side, even though his brother lives in the state. He is no longer allowed to drive a car or vote. He has been deprived of the management of his properties and of his cash accounts, which by all indications have been seriously mismanaged. The home Norman built with his own hands has been largely ruined through neglect. He has been unable to obtain a full accounting of what has been done with his assets.
In essence, someone who has committed a murder or robbed a bank has more rights than have been granted Norman Baker.
Though the furthest thing imaginable from a terrorist, Norman Baker has no access to habeas corpus, or to a speedy trial.
Every night, Norman Baker goes to bed in his unwanted nursing home, praying for his freedom. If anything, his case stands as a bizarre warning against getting inconveniently ill, even briefly, while being in possession of enough assets to attract a legal guardian to “protect” you in your later years.
As a Franklin County firefighter, Norman Baker worked to save lives. Now he must fight to save his own. “I never dreamed such a thing could happen in this country,” he told the Free Press. “I just want to go home.”
Letters of support for Norman Baker can be sent to Box 09683, Bexley, OH., 43209 or to Harvey@Freepress.org.
Robert Fitrakis is an attorney, and publisher of the Columbus Free Press. Harvey Wasserman is author or co-author of a dozen books, and senior editor of the Free Press. He is the spouse of attorney Susan Wasserman.
Sounds like a swindle to me. Someone ought to see if there’s a connection between the person who filed the complaint of elder abuse and the court-appointed guardian. And all this over a urinary tract infection? Everybody gets those. Reminds me of the old Soviet Union, where they would put dissidents in mental hospitals.
First of all, you could make the argument that the ‘guardian’ was the one who was incompetent! if the assets are now gone.
I know of a case, in Ohio, where a couple was given a guardian by a judge when the husband was perfectly competent. The guardian sold their house and kept the money. The judge would not rescind the order on the advice of doctors. There appeared to be collusion between the lawyer guardian and the judge. How does the judge manage to choose the one lawyer who will take all of the assets?! Is Ohio a particularly bad state for this?
This was my first awareness of what is known as elder financial abuse. On a support site for elder caregiving, I found this to be not uncommon. A friend, who is a private investigator, has come across such cases also. People are old, have assets and no family nearby. Or, the abuser can even be a family member.
What a hair-blowingly disgusting story. Good thing Norman Baker has the Wassermans on his side. This coherent article by Wasserman may be the best chance of a good presentation of the facts Baker has.
The guardianship sounds like a criminal mismanagement is taking place. Given the presentation in the article, it would be surprising if there’s no unhealthy loyalty-bondings between the judge and the attorney-guardian. The attorney is obviously disqualified by the dispositions of the estate he has made already.
Great to see Wasserman being involved on this local, human level too, in addition to his other fine writings and research.
What a chilling, nightmarish story! But I was left extremely frustrated by the fact that the MECHANISM by which the attorney managed to get the guardianship was never revealed. Norman Baker got a urinary tract infection — but by exactly what chicanery did the attorney become his guardian??? This is what those of us getting on in years need to know.
Thanks for this article. There are victims of the legal system all over the US. It is so bad, that I ran for State Attorney General in the last election in an attempt to expose some of the problems. Here is a link to another nightmare in the courts.
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/jackowski01252006/
AdeleTheCzech reread this paragraph.
“Baker’s troubles began in January, 2005, when he suffered a urinary tract infection. Reports for elder abuse are confidential and it is unclear who made the recommendation that his affairs be turned over to a guardian.”
Apparently the guardian was appointed to protect him from “elder abuse”, a complaint that is confidential and likely greases the entire corrupt system.
That the judge and guardian are still practicing law in the state of Ohio speaks volumes.
so what’s new? anyone who who has dealt with the legal system in this country can tell you the thing stinks. i have many friends who have quit the legal ‘profession’ out of disgust with it. a once proud nation . . .
This is a story about the elderly and nursing homes, nursing homes that most often say that they are delivering care even as that care borders on being nothing more than incarceration. It’s the American way of letting people die, with a big push from the rear.
As a senior/VA advocate, I have heard such horror stories as well - and have had to hire attorneys to fight competency hearings on the behalf of quite-competent (but justifiably angry) people in similar situations. It is heart-breaking to hear such horror stories from people incarcerated under such draconian laws - and nobody cares what happens to them because it’s all to easy to say ‘don’t listen to him/her - she’s crazy, you know’ - wouldn’t we all be just a bit crazy if it happened to us?
Fascism is an ugly system - and it’s the one we now have to live under, until the prisoners revolt. Don’t hold your breath.
I am my brother’s keeper. Unless of course, the state and some attorneys decide they’re my brothers keeper. In which case the first keeperor, is supplanted by the second keeperor for the rest of the keeperee’s life, even against the will of the keeperee. Such are the perils of living in the land of the emporers and emporerees. The acrid breath of the beast is upon us all. Breath deep citizens and be fearful.
Sounds like the judge is corrupt as well….
Some info to clarify some aspects of the story/comments.
I have a unique position in a nursing home/rehab center where I spend most of my day with the residents but also attend many management meetings ao I have a perspective from 2 sides.
It is very common for elderly people with Urinary Tract Infections(UTI)to develop temporary dementia, delusions, confusion, and behavioral problems. Eliminate the UTI with antibiotics (usually) and the usual personality/abilities return and the person easily goes back to their previous life pattern .I’ve seen this phenomena hundreds of times with elderly both inside and outside the facility. Whenever there is a rapid decline in anybody’s cognitive abilities it is a good idea to check for a UTI and that is common practice in every facility I’ve worked in.
I don’t know if this man’s lawyers have checked it out but the facility this man lives in has a legal responsibility to protect this man from fidiciary and other abuses as long as he is living in the facility.And this does sound like fidicary abuse. The facility can call adult protective services and other agencies. Also the lawyers could do this.
This action could at least take it out of the courts hands temporarily and into the hands of a state regulatory agency.
I don’t know what nursing homes safiyyah has been to but that comment does not apply to any of the 5 I have worked in. But mine have all been in Oregon which has some of the stictest nursing home regulations in the country.
I disagree with the incarceration line. We have residents who leave the building daily or weekly on their own without supervision to go into town . The only people we prevent from leaving on their own are those whose physical and/or mental abilities would put their lives or safety at jeopardy. But we can enlist companions for them.
However this sounds like an obvious case of a mans freedom being taken away though more by the judge and guardian because unfortunately the facility has to listen to the court even when the staff knows the man is competent.
Is it safe to retire with assets in th USA? Perhaps it would be better to bring your assets to Venezuela.
The only good lawyer is a dead one. Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s only 97% of them that gives the whole profession a bad name.
When I retire I want to be a guardian!
I’m sure I could find some sucker I can make look like an idiot for my judge buddy!
I might as well start now on one of these hate filled Neo-cons, get him riled and spouting nonsense, and then spin it so they sound incompetant.
I think I just found a way to make a living in hard times!
Good point hillside; I’ll hide the cranberry juice too.
” Lord Trigo March 23rd, 2008 10:21 am
Sounds like a swindle to me. …”
I’ve only read around half of the article, so far, but based on this part, the above causes me to laugh and think, ‘duh?’. Definitely is a swindle from what I’ve read so far, and his attorney guardian is a damn schmuck who should be as severely sued as possible. Norman Baker should be provided with all of the due reparations, including restoring the stolen slate from his barn’s roof, and etcetera. And this attorney guardian shouldn’t only be sued and firmly so, he should be disbarred or prohibited from being able to earn an income as a guardian; either one, but one of these should be applied.
Maybe the rest of the article will cause me to alter my view a little, but the above is what I think for now.
One wonders if a guardian would be appointed to a person with no assets!
This is the modern version of declaring someone a practicer of the “dark arts”, burning them at a stake, and then looting their properties. With a fast burning, though, there’s no years of false hope and nightmarish confusion.
I want to know who appointed this judge, and what is the connection between the judge and the guardian. I have personally see a man lose his freedom and assets in a similar way in TN.
I want to know who appointed this judge, and what is the connection between the judge and the guardian? I have personally see a man lose his freedom and assets in a similar way in TN.
Many european witchcraft cases were essentially guardianship cases. After the inquisitor killed the wealthy widow, he got the fortune. Seven million women were killed as witches.
This case points out the need for advance estate planning, including a living trust and a durable power of attorney. This simple steps, if well thought out and properly written as to be legally airtight, largely prevent these nightmare scenario.
PLEASE, COMMON DREAMS, TELL YOUR READERS WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP REVOKE THIS HORROR STORY!!!
SOME OF US CAN OFFER LITTLE FINANCIAL SUPP[ORT, BUT IS THERE SOME WAY OF EXERTING GROUP PRESSURE ON THIS SHOCKING SITUATION?
Don’t get old in America.
Someone should file a complaint with the state bar about this lawyer. His conduct violates lots of professional ethics and violates any lawyer’s obligation to be competent and professional.
Someone should carefully research the ties between the judge and the lawyer. Judges are supposed to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Someone should file complaints about the judge to the appropriate institution. Judges are held to standards and this judge appears to be violating them.
someone should organize a letter campaign to all the local media where the judge and the lawyer live. Give me addresses and I’ll bombard letters.
I tried to write to the email address given in the story: harvey@freepress.org is not a valid email address. whazzup with that?
I guess I should disclose that I have a brother who is a probate court magistrate in Ohio. I am now recalling that my mother had to face a probate court in Ohio when her second husband died intestate. There was a shocking amount of chicanery in the probate system. I know scum bags are everywhere, not just Ohio but it seems to me that the legal system in Ohio is more corrupt than most places. I could tell some stories that no one would want to believe — and I would be risking lawsuits. Ohio probate courts are corrupt.
nowadays, if text messages can be tracked down to reveal that the mayor of a major U.S. city is having a sexual affair with a woman not his wife and if the governor of NY’s rendezvous’ with high-priced call girls can be traced, someone ought to be able to find evidence of collusion between the scumbag judge and the scumbage lawyer. Perhaps people trying to help Norman need to look with fresh eyes at the situation. Here is something I would try: find out who bought the tractor and try to discern the buyer’s ties to the corrupt lawyer or the corrupt judge. Find out who bought that slate and research the buyer’s ties to the crooked lawyer or the crooked judge. There is clearly serious, criminal behavior: find it.
Dog eat dog world!
As the family caregiver for mom and her sister (77 & 82), I find this story despicable, horrific, and utterly disgusting. It also signifies what is wrong with a large portion of the United States and allows us to see why Bush, Cheney, Clinton, etc., are able to get away with their crimes. The person(s) exploiting Mr Baker are worse than child rapers and should be punished in the same manner with their crimes and location after serving in prison being broadcast to all and sundry. Actually, I would go so far to acccuse the exploiter(s) of attempted murder, for the upshot is his life is being destroyed for personal gain.
The guardian and the judge in this case should both get whacked. No trial, no legalities–just two rounds from a .44 Magnum. Until scum like this starts paying for these kinds of atrocities with their worthless, stinking lives, nothing will ever change.
This kind of situation was common is rural counties in California also where “guardians” would be appointed by judges for temporarily disabled retirees who had moved to the country to live out their rural dream life. The guardians and the judge who appointed them were mysteriosly all part of the same closed religious community.
They typical run of events was that the guardians had a list of legally billable services that they would pump through in several years ordering repeated medical examinations from the same list of doctors and property repair services from yet other members of the same community. Of course each “service” done on behalf of the “client” would have to be supervised and recorded for which a billing was submitted.
Despite the fact that repeated “guardianships” of this type resulted in the consumption of considerable client assets within 2 years and extensive billings to the guardians the judge never seemed to notice the problem. The judge however seemed to be unusually “lucky” in his real estate investments always buying below market price and selling above market. Just enough to be questionable but not outright fraudulent.
The legal system in the US exists for the benefit of attorny’s and judges and has nothing to do with justice.
Looks like Ohio likes to steal things. Last I heard they still hadn’t recovered those stolen elections.
NZ
Story points out why one should support Ron Paul for president. It is too much government that protects its self, not we the people.
Why would anyone want a govenment that fabricates pre-empt wars, refuses to impeach those who fabricate pre-empt wars, to take care of them? Our government is so big it is the world’s latrgest prison system…not health system..the war machine..not love machine…I can see asking a LOVE machine to take care of you…but a war machine…and Ron Paul, Mike Gravel and Ralph Nader are the only choices for president.
Some one help ths guy please.
The very peculiar thing about this horrifying article is the complete lack of information about the names of the perpetrators and how they manage to get and retain control of the assets and avoid prosecution and civil action.
Utterly disgusting. What a God damned (Rev. Wright was right) fascist country we live in.
I guess my comment of yesterday was a little too intemperate as it has been removed since then. Sooo…let me put it this way:
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson