Article link, The High Price of Loneliness, discussing the effect of loneliness on older people, Click Here.

Dave Tate, Esq. (San Francisco)

FYI, I am a Director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco ( Click Here for SVdP website), which runs tremendous programs helping people in need – if interested, get involved and contribute.  In summary, the following are the services and programs that the Society runs:

-The Multi-Service Center South (the largest homeless shelter in northern California – shelters, feeds and supports 340 homeless men and women every night, and provides drop-in services to 150 each day);

-The Riley Center (domestic violence safe and confidential emergency shelter and transitional housing and services);

-The Ozanam Wellness Center (meeting the needs of the most vulnerable individuals in our City who are struggling with addiction and mental health issues);

-The Vincentian Help Desk (a lifeline for those who are low-income or homeless, helping people meet their most basic needs for clean clothes, shoes without holes, a warm coat and a bag of groceries); and

-Conferences at the local Parrish level.

Here is an interesting, thought provoking article about consensual sex in elder care homes. I suppose the answer is on a case by case basis.  A related topic or issue: companion relationships in general in nursing or elder care homes.  For article, Click Here.

This information should be public.  For the CANHR post/article, Click Here.  Why is a Public Records request required?  The public wants this information, the Department of Justice works and is paid for by the citizens of the State of California (right?), and although the nursing homes in question don’t want the information to be made public, and they should have opportunity to refute the information and remedy shortcomings, when caring for dependent nursing home residents, nursing homes should expect investigation and evaluation by licensing entities, friends and family members, and ultimately the inspections offer opportunities and motivation for management and boards to enact or improve (and remedy) care and risk management practices.  Also wondering: I believe (but am not sure) that nursing homes are required to be insured – offering insurance companies opportunities to help their insured nursing homes to provide required and necessary care, and remedy deficient practices.  Everyone wins.

A good article and a reminder for lawyers and others who serve on boards – be aware of potential conflicts as you wear multiple hats, Click Here (article by Adler & Colvin).  Although I recently signed my board conflict disclosure statement with the St. Vincent de Paul Society in San Francisco, potential conflicts need to be considered throughout the year, of course.

Here is a link to an article by Janet Brewer on a topic that never goes away or out of fashion: how to deal with a dishonest or uncooperative fiduciary, Click Here.

And, as chance would have it, I had a discussion about just this topic with another attorney today.  Unfortunately it has been my experience that some trustees and executors just don’t behave like the fiduciaries that they are.  These problems typically occur in split or divided family situations where there have been multiple marriages and/or where the children haven’t gotten along for years.

In a situation with significant assets at risk, where a trustee or executor steals, or makes clearly unwise financial decisions, or fails to distribute assets after it is clearly time to do so, the decision to file a legal action isn’t so difficult to make.  But it is expensive to pursue your rights in court.  And in many cases the assets at risk are not so significant, or the trustee or executor’s wrongful actions are more in the nature of delay or lack of cooperation.

As the trustee or executor uses the trust or estate assets to pay his or her attorneys fees, and squandering assets as he or she does so, the beneficiary who is out of luck must retain counsel on his or her own nickel.  While it is true that the court could ultimately charge the trustee or executor personally with his or her attorneys fees, such a determination typically is not made until after there has been a finding of fact, i.e., a trial.  And in many situations, such as when the trustee or executor delays or is uncooperative, it typically isn’t clear how the court will ultimately decide.

I believe the best way to move these situations to resolution is to have a proactive probate judge who promptly and early in the case issues appropriate orders, such as the exchange of information that has been delayed or withheld, timetables for actions to be completed, and accountings.  Most judges are not willing to make such orders early enough in a case.  In fact, in my experience, I can only recall one judge who did so as a matter of practice, typically at the first hearing.  And those early orders had nothing to do with who was right or who was wrong – the purpose was to get information produced to expedite the case, and reach settlement or determined right and wrong more quickly.