(WXYZ) — Local families have been demanding changes to Michigan’s laws after the 7 Investigators' years-long investigation into the state’s guardianship system. After a vote today, several bills that would reform some of the guardianship rules are as close to becoming law as they’ve ever been.
The bills that moved forward Thursday do not have everything in them that Attorney General Dana Nessel’s Elder Abuse Task Force originally wanted, but experts say the bills are a major step forward in protecting Michigan’s vulnerable adults.
RELATED STORY: Legislation offers protection in MI guardianship system
Since 2017, 7 Investigator Heather Catallo has raised the voices of Michigan families who say the state’s guardianship system has devastated them.
“This is not right. This is illegally keeping me. Might as well go to jail, at least I got more people to talk to,” said Gerald Harten, a 77-year-old Vietnam veteran from Macomb County. Harten alleges a court-appointed professional guardian has kept him from his loved ones for months, and says he feels like he’s been kidnapped.
If a judge declares you legally incapacitated, you lose the right to make your own medical and financial decisions.
This is how Gretchen Sommer described losing her aunt and uncle in 2019 to a professional guardian: “Kept them hostage, took them from their families, locked them behind a six-and-a-half- foot privacy fence and just drained their estate.”
Today the Michigan Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety sent four guardianship reform bills forward to the full senate.
“Family is always held to a different standard when they’re in these roles. Because I continue to fight, press, retain counsel, I have been retaliated against by the courts – told to schedule visits with my own mother in my childhood home that I grew up in for 21 years,” Roslund Harris told state senators during Thursday’s hearing. “No stranger should have priority over family. I pray your hearts are convicted today to pass these bills and go back and amend what we need to do.”
Elder advocates said the bills will add much more due process and help for those facing guardianship, such as making sure your rights are clearly explained to you if someone’s trying to put you under guardianship. They would also beef up the current requirements that a ward can attend their own court hearings, something legal experts say is often ignored.
“These bills are a very, very, very long time coming. And I know we have people here who have been wronged by our system, we have people who have had family members essentially cut out of their lives because of our guardianship system. We’ve had people lose their homes, their freedoms, all because we have an antiquated system that desperately needs reform,” said Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi). Breen is one of the sponsors of the legislation.
“We require a court to state on record why a sale of a ward’s property is in the best interests of the ward,” said Senator Stephanie Change (D-Detroit), the chair of the Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety, as she pointed out one of many proposed changes.
Despite those reforms, some on Thursday expressed disappointment that the bills do not require professional guardians (guardians with multiple wards who are guardians as a ‘business’) to be certified or have any state oversight.
“The one thing that was probably the most important thing – that should come first -- is these people have to have some place that they register. My gosh, my daughter has to get a license to polish nails. And we’re letting people take over people’s lives,” said Sen. Ruth Johnson (R-Holly).
“The [bills] are not perfect by any means, but they are good and they are absolutely better than what we have. The status quo not acceptable,” said Rep. Breen.
The Attorney General’s Elder Abuse Task Force had originally introduced a bill to create an Office of the State Guardian to provide oversight and certification of guardians, but that’s been dropped for now. Members of the task force have said they want to get that concept introduced again in the next legislative session.
If you have a story for Heather Catallo please call 248-827-4473 or email her at hcatallo@wxyz.com