John Hartman said he was a 23-year-old janitor with no legal, medical, or psychological training when he was hired as a professional guardian in 1976. He found a system with practically no oversight.
A decade later, Hartman testified before a U.S. Congress committee in a hearing titled “Abuses in Guardianship of the Elderly and Infirm: A National Disgrace.” Hartman, a tavern janitor-turned-guardian and convicted thief, testified that the probate court’s guardianship system almost encouraged abuse.
“It allows those who choose to do so to abuse the rights of and steal from mostly helpless people,” Hartman said.
Nearly four decades have passed since that hearing, but very little has changed about the probate court system, according to Rick Black, co-director of the Center for Estate Administration Reform. Black’s group is dedicated to stopping what he considers the organized plundering of assets owned by court wards….