NJ.Com: Nursing Home Residents Were Pushed to Sign Over Their Money to a Guy they Never Met Lawyers Say (February 9, 2023)

Court records show Future Care also sought to gain access to the savings and other assets of nursing home residents through guardianships— a legal process involving the appointment by a judge of someone to make decisions for a person can no longer able to take charge of their own affairs.

Experts, though, say it is not uncommon for long-term care providers to tap the resources of residents through guardianships. A study by The Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging at Hunter College found nursing homes and hospitals accounted for 25% of the guardianship petitions filed in New York, although the courts have questioned the use of guardianships for such purposes, with one judge finding that “was not the Legislature’s intended purpose.”

Using guardianships in nursing homes, however, is worrisome to Eric Carlson, director of Long-Term Services and Supports Advocacy for Justice in Aging, a national non-profit legal advocacy organization that fights senior poverty.