Victims of QCAT / Public Trustee / Adult Guardian wanted

What experience have you had?

Doug,

I find your situation very interesting.  Whilst I am a survivor, my father had the same type of CVA that I have survived.  Except his was worse, and he continually had multiple TIA's.  Whilst I was his care giver and legal guardian, the social workers at the hospital decided they knew best.  I ended up taking on the Guardianship board, and beat the system using their rules against them, (this was back in the 90's and prior to my CVA of 2015).  It takes a strong minded person who has good understanding of legislation and knows how to stand their ground.  I have great empathy to anyone that is thrown under the Guardianship board's bus.  They don't understand nor have the compassion to appreciate what the individual is dealing with or how they actually feel.

I was forced to become my husband's guardian after his stroke in 2010 because we did not have Power of Attorney and Enduring Guardianship in place. We had made our wills but didn't get the POA and Guardianship because "we're too young to worry about that!" ( late 40's at the time).

Big mistake!

i soon found out that I couldn't deal with the taxation department, the bank, centre link, his credit card provider or even his telephone service because "I wasn't him". Getting guardianship was the simplest way to get past these road blocks.

However, now I'm stuck with yearly financial reports to the NSW Trustee and Guardianship Board. I have to account for all money in and out of his accounts and justify the use of his money.

I can understand why these rules are in place, to stop vulnerable people being ripped off but it's a burden I don't need when I'm already juggling his rehabilitation, doctors visits, physical care and NDIS. That's as well as a difficult teenage daughter.

As well as the spreadsheets of income and expenditure, I have to supply copies of bank statements and receipts. The first year, I posted 1.2 kilos of paper. This year I got it down to 330 grams.

Apologies to those who responded for my delay in returning to enableMe. As everyone who has ever dealt with the kangaroo court or its evil cohorts would know only too well, attempts to oppose the grubs tends to take over ones life. On the other hand the number of victims in regular contact with the group has increased significantly to the point where we are now looking at a class-action and / or current affairs exposure. On the other hand, we are also more aware of their repertoire if dirty tricks and the protective measures that have been devised to render bringing the grubs to justice as difficult as possible. Examples of the bastardry regularly inflicted on victims includes ignorance of human rights laws, astronomical management costs, manufactured expenses, neglected accounts, shonky ACAT tests with a view to kicking victims out of their homes, selling victims assets so the funds can be 'invested' in loss-making ventures, siphoning off their bank accounts to fund the interests of the Public Trustee, and obstruction to medical and legal professionals needed to remove victims from the clutches of the troika. Dispute resolution processes are utterly farcical at best and I suspect Public Trustee lawyers actually charge their victims to resolve complaints made in respect of Public Trustee malpractice and ineptitude. Comparable tomfoolery applies to victims sucked in by promises of 'free' will preparation. These are anything but free, firstly there is the requirement that the Public Trustee is executor (with costs approximately five times those charged by the average private lawyer), then there are interminable delays so that the lawyers can extract most of the estate value in the way of exorbitant fees, finally anything of value left is disposed off at bargain price to friends of the Public Trustee. I've probably forgotten numerous other evils but readers should get the general idea. Moral of the story is to avoid any contact whatever with the troika..

For what its worth, I've just started a JurisD degree (postgraduate law for previous undergraduates). Intention is to provide as much support as possible to victims of the system, I don't need to practice law for profit. Its fitting punishment for 'the system' that the federal government pays the fees which they will never recover and the degree is purely to allow me to kick the grubs in the privates.

Whilst the following isn't immediately connected with strokes, many stroke victims are at risk of falling into the clutches of the kangaroo court and consequently the Public Trustee / Adult Guardian. I figure that stroke victims and their carers need to be aware of the problems that could arise should the kangaroo court appoint the Public Trustee to MIS-manage the victim's financial affairs, hence the information provided hereunder. Its important to note that the following represent my personal opinions based on my own observations of interaction between the kangaroo court, the Adult Guardian and the Public Trustee,  and a number of people unfortunate enough to fall into the clutches of one or more of these entities. I do not purport to offer legal advice. Anyone encountering issues comparable to the ones described is advised to obtain legal advice from a known competent lawyer who is fully conversant with the kangaroo court and more importantly, is prepared to act for you in that arena (many will run a mile at the mention of the kangaroo court)

First and foremost, my experience has been that the kangaroo court doesn't observe any rules or laws unless perchance such rules or laws can be used to bludgeon its victims into submission. Appeals are typically refused or stalled indefinitely and most decisions are made by non-judicial members, which means its extremely difficult to escalate matters to the Court of Appeal. Furthermore there are numerous 'interesting' relationships within the kangaroo court that wouldn't withstand a truly independent (ie dictionary rather than political meaning) investigation.  Interestingly the kangaroo court doesn't appear to have the power to enforce its own decisions so one could quite easily ignore many decrees with little concern for the consequences. I suggest that is why the kangaroo court typically appoints its cohort the Public Trustee to MIS-manage a victim's finances and with authority to seize all assets before the victim has an opportunity to squirrel things away safely. The Public Trustee regards everything held 'in trust' as the property of the Public Trustee and thus available for plunder at will. Fees are extortionate and I'm not aware of any accounting or statements ever being forthcoming.

Queensland 'Sunday Mail' readers may have noticed the recent report regarding a Public Trustee whistleblower who tipped the bucket on the department that messes with wills. According to the media report there is an official directive from management to the effect that all possible effort must be taken to maximize fees charged to estates. Predictably nobody up the pecking order is prepared to admit the practice which is apparently common to the Public Trustee or equivalent in every state and territory. Another sneaky little trick that will never be admitted is that when a victim or carer files a complaint about Public Trustee mismanagement, its immediately routed to the legal department which uses the resources of the victim to fund the Public Trustee's own protection.

Another very interesting trick is the employment of at least two occupational therapists by the ostensibly 'financial services' organization. I suggest the reason for these is to do shonky ACAT tests with a view to kicking victims out of their home. According to present rules (farcical though they are), the Public Trustee can't charge administration fees in respect of a victim's place of residence but it can effectively charge whatever it likes in respect of 'investments'. It follows that victims living in their own home are unprofitable business, consequently every effort is made to change the status of said property so it becomes a profit centre. . In most cases, victims are perfectly able to live in their home and they would never pass a legitimate ACAT test, however as anyone would know who has dealt with the Public Trustee, legitimacy isn't considered relevant. Any private lawyer who allowed (let alone encouraged) deliberate malpractice or misappropriation of a client's funds would cop a criminal charge and would probably be disbarred from practice, however Public Trustee lawyers are effectively immune from prosecution, and even if they weren't, the incestuous relationship between the Public Trustee and the kangaroo court (which currently has jurisdiction in lawyer malpractice issues) would inevitably decide there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

Exactly who is pulling the strings at the Public Trustee is a good question, however the removal of the former director and lack of a formal replacement suggests there are bigger sharks than the ones at 444 Queen Street Brisbane. Add to that the commonality of comparable issues in every state and territory, and the refusal by everyone up to and including the Federal Attorney General to take action, and one is inclined to start wondering about illuminati or Bilderberg involvement.

Its blatantly obvious that there is a carefully woven web of intrigue lurking behind the kangaroo court, the Public Trustee and the Adult Guardian. Neither the Supreme Court judge in charge of the kangaroo court, the Legal Services Commission, the Ombudsman, the Crime and Corruption Commission or the State & Federal Attorneys General is prepared to take ownership of the issue.

As we've seen with the current Royal Commission into pedophelia, 'significant' folk like ex Prime Ministers and judges are protected because the judge responsible for the inquiry believes 'exposure would lead to lack of respect for the political and judicial institutions' . Personally I believe exposure would be a very good thing. A pedophile is a pedophile in my book, likewise official malpractice is official malpractice, and the higher up the pecking order, the more serious the event. 

While I'm on the soapbox throwing rocks at the judiciary, I'll also mention the 'Not Now, Not Ever' report on domestic violence (supposedly) compiled by entitled drone of all entitled drones  Quentin Bryce. Its my understanding that the actual research was done by a tribe of ex-politicians and to the best of my knowledge the only contribution made by Bryce was to have her name printed on the thing. Any university student who practiced what appears to be blatant plagiarism on the part of Bryce would almost certainly be expelled. For what its worth, the final report (which roundly criticizes the judiciary as a significant instigator or domestic violence issues) has been gathering dust on the Department of Communities website for the best part of a year.

Whilst Anna Alphabet crapped on for a while about getting fair dinkum regarding domestic violence, like everything else said by members of the current government and the several preceding ones, its evident that talk is cheap. Note also that the Department of Communities is responsible for the utterly moronic Department of Child Safety (a metaphor for ineptitude). Needless to say, nobody at the Department of Communities admits to knowing anything about the deceptively labelled 'Bryce' report. One can only conclude that nothing will be done to implement recommendations in the report and it will sit quietly gathering dust until the sheeple have forgotten about all the hullabaloo.

The advocacy group of which I'm an active member has had quite a few successes, as is  proven by the extent of the vindictiveness we are encountering from the kangaroo court and its grubby cohorts the Adult Guardian and the Public Trustee (a legalized, albeit illegitimate,  extortion racket).  Mind you we are costing the grubs significant money and they aren't happy. That said, 'they ain't seen nothin yet'. They clearly believe they have purchased total protection from investigation of their nefarious activities but we have discovered a number of chinks and will have no hesitation whatever in exploiting them.  We are starting to collect contacts from interstate victims and their carers with a view to a national movement to ensure true accountability for victims of arrogant bureaucrats wherever they may live.