Tranquility Base Landing For The Aldrin Family

Buzz Aldrin became the second man to walk on the moon when the Apollo 11 lunar module landed gracefully in the Sea of Tranquility. But in recent years, Aldrin's relationship with his children has been anything but tranquil.

As noted in our July 2018 post,  two of Aldrin’s three children and his business manager had alleged that the 89-year-old former astronaut was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and incapable of handling his own finances. The children sought guardianship over him. Incensed, Aldrin sued them, accusing them of elder exploitation and mismanaging his businesses, the Buzz Aldrin Space Foundation and Buzz Aldrin Enterprises. He claimed his son Andrew had stolen half a million dollars from him.

Then, in March 2019, the feud - at least the public legal wrangling - came to an end. Family members announced that they were dropping their respective lawsuits and were committed to working out their conflicts privately. And the timing could not be more appropriate: 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, and there are many commemorative events on tap that Aldrin and his family will participate in. They want those events, not the family's legal woes, to take center stage. 

Said Aldrin of the end of the legal conflict: “This was the most charitable way to manage a difficult situation, as this year...is too important to my family, the nation and me." His children, Janice and Andrew, echoed that sentiment: “We are pleased to confirm that the legal proceedings for guardianship as well as civil actions have been dismissed by members of the Aldrin family. We truly appreciate the support we have received from so many and ask, again, for your understanding and respect as we continue to work through this as a family, in a private manner.”

By the way, if you haven’t yet done so, see the movie Apollo 11. The filmmakers have cleaned up the fuzzy footage of the 1969 event and it feels like you are seeing this wondrous event for the first time!

Sumner Redstone Estate Battle: The Wheel Has Come Full Circle

It's been as much a Shakespearean tragedy as a legal battle over an elderly billionaire's assets. The story features power grabs, on-again, off-again lovers, betrayal, and money... lots and lots of money.

In my post of 2016 I described the first act of the drama: Media tycoon Sumner Redstone's relationship with Manuela Herzer, four decades his junior. Since meeting her in 1999, the now 95-year-old had lavished  gifts on her totalling in the millions. In 2015, as Redstone's health continued to fail, she was living in his Beverly Hills mansion. He had named her his health care decision maker. She was also included in his estate plan, set to receive $70 million and the California house. Forbes estimates Redstone's worth at $4.5 billion.

Act Two opened in October 2015. That is when Redstone suddenly ejected Herzer from his home and cut her out of his estate plan. He replaced her with his daughter, Shari, as health care surrogate. Shari effectively began taking increasing control of the business, National Amusements, a national theater chain that owns Viacom and CBS.

Herzer did not go gently into the night, however. She launched a series of lawsuits to reclaim her role as health care surrogate and reclaim her expected inheritance. She alleged that Redstone's daughter and his nurses had conspired against her, and that Redstone was competent when he created his estate plan and named her his health care surrogate. Redstone countersued, alleging elder abuse and claiming Herzer had attempted to isolate him from his family in order to bilk him out of his fortune.

A slew of litigation ensued since then. As the legal wrangling unfolded, Redstone's already-precarious health continued to decline. Today, Redstone is unable to speak and is looked after by an army of round-the-clock caregivers. Last month, he was put under court-supervised guardianship.

Last year, the Redstones offered Herzer $30 million to go away. She rejected the offer. It's a move she likely regrets, because now, in Act 3, she's suffered a serious reversal of fortune. The Wall Street Journal reports that a settlement has been reached that requires Herzer to pay back $3.25 million to Redstone for the gifts she received over the years, and to agree not to file any more lawsuits.
 

As Shakespeare wrote in King Lear, "The wheel has come full circle."

Legal battles erupt over far less than $4.5 billion! See a qualified estate planning attorney to devise a thoughtful estate plan, including a plan to protect you from potential financial predators as you age.

Houston, We Have A Problem

Houston, we have a problem.

Nearly 50 years after becoming the second man to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin is undertaking a more earthly mission: fighting guardianship proceedings  to stay in control of his own affairs.

In May, two of Aldrin’s three children asked a Florida court to grant them guardianship over their father so they can manage his financial affairs and make other decisions for him.  Andrew Aldrin, 60, and Janice Aldrin, 51, claim that their 88-year-old father, now a Satellite Beach resident, has Alzheimer’s Disease and is being manipulated by others and spending money at an alarming rate.

The Apollo 11 pilot is having none of it. On June 7 the he filed a lawsuit against his children and his business manager, Christina Korp.  “Nobody is going to come close to thinking I should be under a guardianship,” he told The Wall Street Journal. Aldrin requested an evaluation from James Spar, a geriatric psychiatrist at UCLA. According to Spar, Aldrin scored normal to superior on tests of cognitive ability. Spar concluded that Aldrin is "...substantially able to manage his  finances and resist fraud and undue influence."

Aldrin's lawsuit is multifaceted. It accuses his son, daughter and business manager  with elder exploitation and misuse of funds. He claims that Andrew, who is involved with his businesses and nonprofit ventures, has stolen half a million dollars from him and used his credit card without authorization. He alleges that Janice has failed to perform her fiduciary duties. The lawsuit also accuses Andrew and Korp of seizing control of millions of dollars of Aldrin's "space memorabilia" and "space artifacts." Aldrin claims Korp has been taking, without his knowledge, a 5% commission on all the speaking engagements she has booked for him.

Aldrin claims all three have slandered him and his legacy by telling people that he has dementia in order to "...gain further control over Plaintiff's personal relationships, business contacts and assets." He says that his children have taken his passport away from him, and undermined his romantic relationships by forbidding him to remarry. Aldrin is thrice divorced.

Janice and Andrew deny their father's allegations and have pushed back. Through their lawyer, they issued this statement: "We are deeply disappointed and saddened by the unjustified lawsuit that has been brought against us individually and against the Foundation that we have built together as a family to carry on Dad's legacy for generations to come." Interviewed on Good Morning America about the situation, Aldrin called it "the saddest thing that has ever happened in my family." Watch the interview here. 

Aldrin was scheduled for another mental health evaluation on June 26 and 27. At this writing, the results are not yet known. Aldrin says he expects to pass with "flying colors" - an appropriate boast from the former air force colonel who flew to the moon and back. Aldrin remains an outspoken advocate for travel to Mars. In June he occupied a front-row seat when the president announced the formation of the Space Force, the sixth official branch of the military. 


Remember, you don't need to be an astronaut to find yourself the subject of a guardianship. Your best defense doesn't require a visit to the moon - just a consultation with a competent estate planning attorney.

Be Your Own Superhero: Protect Yourself From Financial Predators

Spider Man. Ant Man. The Fantastic Four. The Hulk. These comic book superheroes sprang from Stan Lee's imagination and made their creator a wealthy man. But at 95, the Marvel mogul's own powers appear diminished, potentially putting him and his estimated $50-$70 million fortune in jeopardy.


No superhero is swooping in to save Lee - but there is Tom Lallas, Lee's former estate planning attorney. Lallas recently filed a petition with a Los Angeles court alleging that Lee is being abused by his business partner, Keay Morgan. Lee reportedly has hearing, visual and possibly cognitive impairments. The court issued a temporary restraining order against Morgan on June 13 and appointed Lallas as Lee's legal guardian, pending further investigation.


Morgan deals in artifacts related to cultural figures, particularly Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson. He met Lee years ago through Lee's daughter and only child, J.C. Both Lee and his wife Joanie have had a combative relationship with their daughter, with disputes often revolving around money (more on that later). When Joanie passed away in July 2017, Morgan stepped in as Lee's caregiver. According to the court filing, Morgan began isolating Lee.  He fired Lallas and other longtime staff members, including the housekeeper and  gardener. He replaced Lee's accountant with his own friend. He changed Lee's phone number and refused to allow family and friends to visit. He also moved Lee out of his longtime family home and into a condo.


The Los Angeles police are currently investigating the matter. It is far from clear-cut; Lee himself has defended Morgan's behavior. On one Twitter post he wrote: "I just want to go on the record and say I have only one partner, only one person who does represent me, and that's Keay Morgan. Anybody else who claims to be my rep is just making that story up." Whether that post was actually written by Lee is not known.


Daughter J.C. is now 67. According to an  April 10, 2018 story in The Hollywood Reporter, she has never been self-supporting and relies on funds from the trust her parents established for her. A prodigious spender who reportedly blows through $20,000 to $40,000 every month, she nonetheless resents the trust's financial restrictions and has been known to take out her frustration on her parents. The family housekeeper recalled that J.C. would phone her father several times a day to berate him about money, leaving Lee hoarse and agitated from fighting with her. At one point he allegedly said he would cut her off completely. Another individual familiar with the family relates that in 2014, J.C. became infuriated when she learned that a new Jaguar parked in her parents' driveway was a leased vehicle in her father's name, and not a gift for her. She physically attacked her mother and father. The Lees did not press charges out of concern about negative publicity and the impact on their daughter. 

Legal Steps You Can Take To Protect Yourself From Financial Predators

Regular readers of this blog will recognize that this situation is not an outlier. Elder financial abuse is becoming increasingly common as Baby Boomers age. Numerous initiatives continue to be taken at both the state and federal levels to protect seniors and to encourage reporting of potential abuse. One recent step in that direction is the federal Senior Safe Act, which you can read about here. 


You can also take your own proactive steps to protect yourself and your assets from financial predation. We often recommend establishing a Predator Protection Trust for clients who are concerned that as they grow older, their adult children or others may try to take advantage of them financially. It is an unfortunate fact of life that it is family members - the ones we should be able to trust the most - from whom we most need protection.

How The Predator Protection Trust Works

A Predator Protection Trust is an irrevocable trust in which you specify how the trustee may expend funds on your behalf. This gives you, the grantor of the trust, the ability to establish a trust for your benefit and anyone else you desire, and put someone else in charge. Then, when demands are placed on you for money - usually from a "loved one" - you can respond that you cannot meet those demands because you have no authority to give money away. 


You may appoint one or more trustees.  Some clients select a financial institution, or their accountant or lawyer as co-trustee along with a family member. 


Here's a case I had that illustrates the value of this kind of trust. My client complained about a conniving granddaughter who was constantly bullying her and demanding money. She had given in to the badgering many times. My client was exhausted from the battle, and was increasingly worried about her own financial welfare. We solved my client's problem by setting up a Predator Protection Trust for her. I then followed up by sending a letter to the client's granddaughter, and to all her grandchildren and children, indicating that the client no longer had control of any of her assets under her new irrevocable trust and therefore would no longer be able to gift any assets to them. I explained that although my client presently had full competency and capacity, she recognized that she could lose capacity in her declining years and become vulnerable to financial manipulation. The Predator Protection Trust provided my client with peace of mind because she now knew her assets were kept safe for her use, and that her loved ones' inheritances were also secure.



Contact our office at 561-625-1100 to discuss establishing a Predator Protection Trust.

New federal law addresses increasing incidence of elder abuse by court-appointed guardians

The Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act became law in October, 2017. The result of rarely-seen bipartisan cooperation in Washington, the law seeks to stem the growing tide of elder abuse and fraud by court-appointed guardians, as well as curb other forms of elder exploitation.

As I noted in a prior post, there is growing concern about elder abuse perpetrated by guardians appointed by the court to handle incapacitated persons' affairs. With lax oversight, an unethical guardian can too easily neglect a ward or plunder his/her assets. Fortunately, most court-appointed guardians are good souls trying to best serve their wards. But, as reports from around the country reveal, not all court-appointed guardians are well-intended, and the problem is getting worse as the population ages.

Florida has introduced some new regulations to better supervise court-appointed guardians. Now, with the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act, the federal government is stepping up to the plate, too. The law designates federal resources to help monitor and prosecute elder abuse and exploitation cases. Some of its key provisions are:

• The Justice Department will assign a minimum of one U.S. assistant attorney (an "elder justice coordinator") to every federal judicial district. The individual will have the authority to investigate complaints about wrongdoing by court-appointed guardians, prosecute cases, and train and bring in FBI agents to recognize, investigate and pursue such cases.   

• The Federal Trade Commission will also appoint an Elder Justice Coordinator responsible for "coordinating and supporting the enforcement and consumer education efforts and policy activities of the Federal Trade Commission on elder justice issues." The FTC will be required to submit an annual report to Congress regarding all the cases of elder fraud it handled that year.

• The Department of Justice will post cases of elder abuse handled by the federal law enforcement and publish them on its website.

• To crack down on scammers preying on the elderly, more severe penalties are introduced. These enhanced penalties will apply to cases in which  the victim is over age 55; defrauding is done by telemarketing, email, text message, or instant electronic message; and the scam gets the victim to participate in a business opportunity, commit to a loan, or participate in a medical study. Enhanced penalties include mandatory forfeiture of property or assets the perpetrator has acquired, as well as property the perpetrator used to defraud the victim.

Of course, the best way to avoid being victimized by an unethical court-appointed guardian is to make legal plans so that you never become the subject of a court-ordered guardianship. At the very least, a well-crafted durable power of attorney and medical surrogate are needed. These plans must be made before incapacity strikes. Check out The Karp Law Firm website for strategies to avoid guardianship.

Read the text of the new law here.

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect A Growing Problem: Here's How to Prevent It, Spot It, Report It

This post on nursing home abuse and neglect is contributed by Attorney Michael Brevda of the Senior Justice Law Firm.

If you have a possible case of nursing home abuse and neglect, please call the The Karp Law Firm to discuss your case, at 800-893-9911.

As America’s population lives longer than ever before, nursing homes and assisted living facilities are enjoying record-breaking occupancy rates. Unfortunately, over-packed and understaffed facilities lead to nursing home abuse and neglect injuries. Arming yourself with knowledge is your best weapon in combating this growing trend of elder neglect.

What is Considered ‘Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect’?

For many, nursing home abuse and neglect evokes horrifying images of physical abuse by a caretaker. It’s important to note that physical abuse only accounts for a small percentage of nursing home abuse and neglect cases. 

Nursing home abuse and neglect is defined by The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) as “failures by a caregiver to satisfy the elder’s basic needs or to protect the elder from harm.” This means nursing home abuse includes:

• Bedsore development because staff did not move the patient in bed. 
• Fractures from falls that could have been prevented
• Unexplained broken bones. 
• Medication mistakes by an overworked or undertrained nurse. 
• Dehydration or malnutrition when facility staff ignores a patient’s food/water intake. 
• Wrongful death caused by staff neglect of a resident’s deteriorating condition.

Startling Statistics

An NCEA research brief cites the following startling statistics:

• Only 1 in 14 cases of nursing home neglect gets reported;
• 1 in 3 nursing homes were cited for deficiencies;
• 95% of sampled residents either were neglected themselves or they witnessed another resident suffer abuse/neglect;
• More than half of the nursing home staff sampled admitted to neglecting or abusing residents in the past year.

Stopping Neglect Before an Injury 

If your loved one resides in a nursing home or assisted living facility, take the following steps to prevent them from being neglected:   

• ETA: Unknown (and unexpected!). Visit often and at random times. Do not announce your visits.
• Q and A, every day. Speak with staff and ask questions. Keep a care journal of who you spoke with. Make sure the staff knows you are following up on prior questions and concerns.
• The squeaky wheel gets the grease. If something doesn’t seem right, make sure you express your concerns to the CNAs, the Director of Nursing and the facility doctor. If your family member has not been showered since you saw them last, bring this to the staff’s attention. If they have a new bruise on their leg, make sure that makes it into the chart. Accountability creates action from facility nurses. 
• Bribe them with sugar. Place a bowl of candy in your family members room. This sounds silly, but the nurses will come in and eat the candy throughout their shift. This ensures the staff will check on your family member often while you are not there.

Steps to Take After a Loved One is Injured in a Nursing Home 

The cycle of nursing home abuse can only be stopped by taking action and reporting the incident. If you do not report it, you are allowing it to happen to the next resident. The Administration on Aging recommends the following steps if you suspect your family member was abused or neglected in a nursing home:

• Call 911 if your family member is in immediate danger or has suffered a severe injury. 
• Next, contact your local Adult Protective Services state agency. Here in Florida, you can call 1-800-96-ABUSE to report elder neglect inside a nursing home or ALF.
•  Have your loved one checked out by an outside doctor who has no relationship with the negligent nursing home. 
• Speak with a nursing home abuse attorney who can gather your records and help you get answers on why the incident occurred. 

Rule to curb senior financial exploitation coming in 2018

Older Americans are losing $2.9 billion to financial exploitation each year, according to a 2011 Met Life survey. That may be too conservative a figure, given the reluctance of victims to report the crime for reasons that include embarrassment over having been duped; fear of being labeled incompetent; and refusal to implicate family members who may be perpetrators. In fact, family members are often to blame: A 2016 Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of its advisers found that when abuse was suspected, children of the victim were the potential culprits in most instances.

Investment firms (broker dealers) are often on the front lines of this problem. Accordingly, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has introduced guidelines (Regulatory Notice 17-11) for its members to follow when financial exploitation is suspected. These guidelines are scheduled to go into effect February 2018. Briefly, the provisions are:

• When a senior investor opens an account, the institution is required to ask him/her for the name and contact information of a “trusted contact person” with whom the institution may communicate if exploitation is suspected. Existing customers will be asked the same question when their customer profile is updated. However, a customer who does not provide this information is not prohibited from opening an account or maintaining an existing account.

• If an institution suspects financial exploitation of someone age 65 or older, or someone age 18 or older who it is believed cannot protect his own interests due to physical or mental impairment, it can place a temporary hold of up to 15 business days on the disbursement of funds or securities from the account. The rule applies only to suspicious disbursements of funds or securities, not to securities transactions (buying or selling stock within an account).  Once the temporary hold commences, the institution must contact the customer and the trusted contact person to investigate the matter within two business days. 

Some critics allege that the FINRA rule lacks teeth because it does not require firms to contact the appropriate law enforcement authorities and protective services. This contrasts with model legislation proposed by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA). That organization's guidelines, already adopted by several states and under consideration elsewhere, has a mandatory reporting requirement. Florida has not yet adopted this legislation.

Read the new FINRA regulation (pdf), click here.

Bad Medicaid advice and a questionable guardian equal a double nightmare for Palm Beach County resident

I frequently remind blog readers of two important planning steps to take: First, get guidance from a Florida Bar Certified Elder Law Attorney when pursuing long-term care Medicaid benefits. Second, make plans to avoid court-ordered guardianship in the event of disability. Frances Berkowitz, now 86, did neither. Her story, reported in the Palm Beach Post on December 11, 2016, is a sad and complicated one with lessons for the rest of us.

In 2012, Berkowitz' late husband Jerry was in the final stage of his battle with cancer. In order to access Medicaid benefits and preserve some of the $1.2 million in assets the frugal couple had scrimped and saved over the years, they turned to Princella Lewis, a "life care consultant" they had been referred to by the nursing home Jerry resided in. Lewis charged them a $55,000 fee for the Medicaid application. In addition, she directed Frances to cash in the couple's bonds and certificates of deposit and to put them into accounts under the name of Lewis' firm, Prestigious Lifecare for Seniors. Lewis also had the couple name her as their agent under their durable powers of attorney, and as their health care decision maker.

The Berkowitzes became increasingly alarmed and ultimately sought legal help to recoup the money they'd given Lewis. They ended up recovering $835,000, with another $312,000 still to be paid to them. Sadly, Jerry died in 2013 and never saw the money. In court documents, he expressed a final wish: that Lewis be held accountable. "How could you rob two sick old people out of their life savings?" he asked.

After the initial $835,000 payout, Berkowitz reportedly said she no longer cared about the additional monies owed her and said she wanted to end her life. Concerned about her mental capacity, the lawyers who had helped her with the Lewis case, Webb Millsaps and Donna Solomon, petitioned the court to appoint a guardian for Berkowitz. In January 2015 a guardian was appointed: Elizabeth Savitt. And that is when Berkowitz became a victim yet again, claim Millsaps and Solomon.

The lawsuit they brought against Savitt requests that she be replaced as guardian, alleging that she has been responsible for "wasting, embezzlement and mismanagement" of Berkowitz' funds. The suit alleges that when Savitt took over as Berkowirtz' guardian, Berkowitz had $400,000, money Savitt has yet to account for. However, Savitt's attorneys claim Berkowitz had only $15,000. The lawsuit against Savitt also claims she settled for the balance of the money owed Berkowitz for mere pennies on the dollar. Reporters from the Palm Beach Post have noted that Savitt paid off a $308,000 foreclosure judgment on her home shortly after being appointed guardian. Nonetheless, Circuit Judge Howard Coates, who is handling the case, has as yet declined to relieve Savitt of her duties, stating that both sides' accusations are "conclusions based on smoke, but no fire based on fact."

The problems of elder abuse in the Florida guardianship system have come under intense scrutiny lately. Reforms have been introduced and more are likely on the way. And while there are far more responsible guardians than not, it is prudent to make plans so that you don't fall into the system should you become incapacitated. A smart plan should include at least a durable power of attorney, health care surrogate and possibly, designation of a pre-need guardian.

As to how to go about Medicaid planning: Relying as Berkowitz did on someone without the appropriate experience and knowledge can not only fail to secure benefits and waste your money; if transfers are improperly handled, you may even be vulnerable to charges of fraud. Always seek the guidance of a Florida Bar Certified Elder Law Attorney.

Financial Elder Abuse: The perfect storm of Sumner Redstone

One in five Americans over age 65 has suffered financial abuse, according to the 2010 Investor Trust Elder Fraud Survey. A study from MetLife Mature Market Institute estimates that financial abuse drains $2.9 billion annually from seniors' pockets. Both numbers could well be higher, since financial abuse is frequently unreported. 

Family conflict and shifting alliances - and of course, money - provide fertile soil for financial abuse. Even when abuse occurs, it can be difficult to identify: The National Center for Biotechnology Information states that "It is difficult, even for experienced professionals, to distinguish an unwise but legitimate financial transaction from an exploitative transaction resulting from undue influence, duress, fraud, or a lack of informed consent."

All these factors came together in a perfect storm for Sumner Redstone, the frail, 93-year-old media mogul and billionaire. As I reported last May, Mr. Redstone at that  time ordered two longtime companions, Manuela Herzer and Sydney Holland, out of his Beverly Hills mansion where they had been living. It was reported that prior to his evicting them, he had come to depend on them and trust them, and believed them when they said his family hated him. Redstone also removed Herzer as his health care proxy and took her out of his will. Herzer sued, alleging that Redstone was not competent to make that decision. But after viewing Sumner's videotaped deposition, a Los Angeles judge dismissed the suit, finding that Redstone, though frail, was mentally competent.

More recently, Redstone filed a suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Herzer and Holland, claiming that while living with him they abused him, charging thousands of dollars to his charge cards and having bags of cash, bundled in stacks of $100 bills, delivered to them daily at his mansion - all to the tune of $150 million, which he now seeks to recover. According to the suit, they "manipulated and emotionally abused Redstone to get what they wanted - jewelry, designer clothing, real estate in Beverly Hills, New York, and Paris, and money, lots of it." Redstone claims he had to borrow money from the private company that holds his voting shares of CBS and Viacom to cover the tax debt on the "gifts."

Determining whether these transactions were legitimate or exploitative is at the crux of the latest lawsuit. Did Redstone knowingly allow Herzer and Holland to spend his money and use his charge cards? Or was there fraud, duress, undue influence, lack of informed consent? Herzer's and Holland's lawyers claim that Redstone knew full well what was happening and chose not to stop it. "Mr. Redstone had many checks and balances between attorneys, doctors, and accounting staff," states Herzer's attorney, Ronald Richards. "All of the gifts Mr. Redstone made to my client and to Sydney Holland were made with his full knowledge and blessing." And Holland has noted that "Doctors have testified twice in recent months that Sumner Redstone was of sound mind and, most recently, that he was mentally competent... This is directly contradicted by the claims in this lawsuit that state that Mr. Redstone's physical and mental state were so impaired that he could be easily manipulated."

Certainly one has to feel sympathy for Redstone's emotional plight. But, abuse or no, he remains an extraordinarily wealthy man. Most people who are similarly abused tend to suffer far greater losses, relative to their resources. All of us need to be vigilant to protect ourselves, and our aging loved ones, from this kind of exploitation. For more on preventing financial elder abuse, click here.