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Case Studies |
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"Skeletons" | |
| “Sophie” is an elderly lady who is living in a nursing home, having been sent there by a hospital several years ago with the diagnosis of severe dementia. She was penniless and unable to pay her nursing home bill, which had climbed to over $125,000.00 during her stay. Sophie did not even own her own underwear or pajamas. She had to “borrow” clothes from the other residents of the nursing home. Sophie was not competent to independently sell her only remaining asset, her house. The nursing home applied for guardianship, but was denied. The nursing home then approached the Public Guardian to take over but the Public Guardian declined because there was no money in the estate. The office of Public Guardian then asked Surrogate Guardian Services to help. SGS took the case on a contingency basis and was appointed Guardian of the Person and Guardian of the Estate. While the guardianship team monitored and managed the health of the client, SGS then assigned CareNhome the task of preparing this troubled property for sale. | ||
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Sophie’s only asset was her home, which was in terrible shape and had apparently been neglected for a very long time.
There were eight liens against the property for violations and fees. |
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The basement had flooded several times over the years of abandonment. Slime and mold were everywhere and the entire home had a horrible odor. When Sophie was taken to the nursing home, her adult children locked up the house and walked away, leaving Sophie’s cats inside the locked-up house. The cats eventually starved to death in the house and decomposed, adding to the awful smell. Their skeletons were still on the living room floor when CNH began their work. |
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The home was terribly out of code and because of the disrepair, was judged to be only of value as a “tear down,” further limiting the value of the estate when it would be put up for sale. This photograph of the home office shows the total disarray of papers and trash. The CNH Field Accountants were not only successful in locating the property deed and other supporting documents, they found numerous other valuable documents! |
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In addition to the property deed, CNH found and recovered bank accounts and IRA’s totaling over $350,000.00. By noticing and following up on an obscure line item on a 1970’s tax return, claiming a small stipend from a lumber company in the 1970’s, it was discovered that Sophie owned 40 acres of property in Michigan. Another property in Nevada was also identified and recovered. |
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The cash assets were recovered. One of the very first things SGS did with these new-found funds was purchase new clothing and personal items for Sophie to enhance her dignity and quality of life at the nursing home. SGS obtained permission from the Probate Court to pay Sophie’s $125,000.00 nursing home bill and all her other bills, including the eight liens against the property from the city for various violations over the years. |
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The home and other properties were sold, and all the proceeds were placed in a specialized Trust to provide for Sophie’s ongoing care needs. |