Mother of Member Irene Rabin
My 88 year old Mother, Joan A. Cingari, a resident of Brunswick County, NC, escaped the financial and emotional abuse by her estranged daughter D1 (Petitioner) 5 years ago, only to be made broke and broken by NY State Guardianship in June 2022. Supreme Suffolk County, NY. She is now destitute and, locked up in NY, 700 miles from her home.
While Joan was temporarily in NY in respite care, she was hit with a second guardianship by a disgruntled family member. In August 2018, when Joan decided to move out of her home in Nassau County, New York to greener pastures in North Carolina, her eldest daughter, we’ll call her D1 (Daughter 1), tried to stop her by imposing a guardianship over her. In January 2018, Joan realized the financial abuse committed by D1 while she was in the hospital and D1 telling friends and family that Joan has dementia, which she did not. Joan knew D1 did not have her best interests in mind, Joan quickly changed her advance directives. Joan’s new directives, executed under the guidance of her own attorney, appointed Daughter 2 (D2), her other daughter, to be her health care proxy, designated guardian, power of attorney and successor trustee of her irrevocable trust.
The 2018 guardianship, brought in Nassau County, quickly dissolved when the Court Evaluator found that Joan did have capacity and that she had advance directives in place. The Court Evaluator’s report attached a letter from Joan’s neurologist confirming Joan had no cognitive deficits. D1 had to withdraw the proceeding.
D1 set out to get Joan’s license be revoked. Joan had to take a new driving test, which she passed with ease. D1 also filed a Lis pendens to prevent her mother’s NY home from being sold, after Joan listed the property for sale in June 2018. It took several extra weeks to sell the home, as a result of the filing. Understandably, the relationship between Joan and D1 fell apart in early 2018.
D1 made no effort to visit Joan while she was living in North Carolina. Joan was thriving and loving life. She chose a home where all her needs were on one level. And she was excited to be living with her disabled son, J. since this Guardianship, J. who is in late-stage Parkinson’s Disease has been missing. No one has seen or heard from him since April 2022. Joan’s goal and Irrevocable Trust was to ensure he would always be taken care of, but NY State doesn’t care.
An emergency on D2 part caused her to seek respite care for Joan in May 2021. She checked Joan into a luxury assisted living while she left the state for a few weeks. D1 caught wind of Joan’s presence in New York and hit her with another guardianship proceeding, this time in Suffolk County. Joan’s court-appointed counsel rubber stamped everything. He spent no time alone with Joan, who was objecting to the proceeding, and failed to ask even a single question of anyone at the months long proceeding. It was an effective assistance of counsel for Joan. To make matters worse, the court ordered Joan held for 11 months at the assisted living facility without a hearing and without any authority to confine her. This Court appointed attorney never met with his client in person or ALONE. He affirms he had a 30-minute video conference with the AL’s Ex. Director, L.R. at Joan’s side. L.R. was also a witness for the Petitioner! The Court Evaluator testified that she AND counsel had just a 5–10-minute video conference with Joan, and always with L.R. at her side. Interestingly, these “Court” players have all admitted they work on these matters together all the time! L.R. was at Joan’s side every Court appearance, and made sure to keep D2 away from her. The court appointed counsel sat next to Joan like a potted plant during the months long Court appearances. (This Guardianship Should never have taken so long). He did not have any medical evidence, he never called Joan as a witness, in fact he never spoke up in Court on behalf of Joan. In the 1st hearing, via video conference, he did in fact, ON THE RECORD, ask for L.R.’s phone number to speak with Joan.
Joan has suffered terribly in the facility, gaining 40 pounds, affecting her hypertension and can hardly walk, she’s back to excessively drinking wine; she suffered a broken nose from 1 of many falls, had 2 bouts with covid and pneumonia. And yet, NYS sees nothing wrong with this.
Joan went from a thriving golden gal, to a fragile elderly person, life sapped from her, overnight. She was taken from a very active over 55 community that she chose to age in place with so much neighborly involvement. Joan was stripped of her life and her freedoms. This did not even come close to taking the “least restrictive measures”. The court appointed an “independent” guardian, has drained Joan’s assets without doing anything to preserve them. She received the Court’s permission to sell Joan’s house in North Carolina. All Joan wants is to come home. The home is in an irrevocable trust, which forbids the payment of creditors, which is exactly what the guardian wants – her fees! This has to be one of the worst miscarriages of justice. D2 has appealed to the New York courts, however, because the court-appointed attorney actually works for the court system, he is untouchable. The NY State Court of Appeals will not even look at this injustice of Joan’s civil rights.
To date, the Guardian has paid herself 28% of Joan’s liquid assets, has let Joan’s credit dive into collections, failed to pay Joan’s bills for the past 10 months and let her house fall into a lien for back taxes/fees. A temporary stay at the $9k a month AL- The Bristal (acknowledged by all parties) turned into 2.5 years being forced to be there is unacceptable by this Court appointed “Fiduciary.” The Guardian has not looked into options that have been available. She completely drained Joan’s funds to put her on Medicaid and Joan is dumped somewhere in a NY state facility. The Guardian has done NOTHING to protect Joan and her assets AND is isolating her, hundreds of miles from family. She left Joan in this $9k a month assisted living facility while her new house in NC remained vacant and deteriorating. It cost Joan under $1600 to live in NC and was designed how she wanted it with an extra bedroom for a live-in aide when the time came. This should not have been ignored. The ones to have protected Joan, have destroyed her.
This is exactly what Joan did NOT want. Joan has always been afraid and intimidated by the Petitioner’s aggressiveness, knew her intentions were to put her in a facility against her wishes, but the Court Evaluator and Joan’s “attorney” did nothing to support and protect her. At Joan’s most vulnerable time, everyone has taken advantage of Joan and dismantled her planned life. D2 has been Joan’s only voice; and NY State keeps trying to hush and financially ruin D2.
The 2021 Court Evaluator’s responsibility was to be a neutral party and to investigate. All proof of the financial and verbal abuse by D1 was given to the Court Evaluator as well as proof of the excellent life Joan was leading in NC. Yet as the eyes and ears of the Court, she chose not to acknowledge the documents and failed to remain a neutral party to this action. This is where Joan’s Court appointed attorney was supposed to step up. Suffolk County, NY Supreme Court took the position of 2 siblings fighting (which was not the case) and appointed a stranger to be Joan’s Guardian of person and property. This Court evaluator should NOT be protected under immunity of the Court for such lack of due process and bias.
Why didn’t Joan’s Court appointed attorney speak up for her? She had her estate planning in order AND she even had her GP and neurologist confirm her state of mind, “no cognitive issues”. The Court should have taken the “least restrictive measures” to ensure Joan’s wishes were upheld. Joan was so upset to be going through this again with her oldest daughter, how could her own flesh and blood do this to her AGAIN?
No one ever asked Joan about her life in NC. The only question her attorney would ask (in earshot of all at Court) “So, how do you like the Bristal.” And now, 2 years later, why hasn’t the Guardian taken her fiduciary role to protect Joan’s assets? Aside from Joan’s cost effective life in her own home, the Guardian was given plenty of resources to place Joan in more affordable accommodations close to her family, friends, her doctors and community.
On October 27, 2023 Joan turned 88 years old, alone and in ER due to another fall at the Bristal. And as her present, they sent notice that she is being evicted on November 20, 2023. Interestingly, they all claimed Joan loved it there and this is the Thanks she gets. It was discussed that the 2 daughters share time housing Joan, While all the attorneys considered this a great idea, when D2 was asked, she refused this as an option. So now, the Guardian is finding every reason to lie and disparage D2, keeping her away from any holiday or special occasions in the past 3 years.~
~Irene Rabinowitz