New laws designed to curb abuses of professional conservators

March 24, 2006

Judicial Council of California
455 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102

Attn: Probate Conservatorship Task Force

Re: Public Hearing March 24, 2006

Honorable Task Force Members:

Thomas F. FitzGerald (San Francisco Probate Court)

In October 1999, my father, Thomas F. FitzGerald, and I became victims of a professional conservator (Margaret D. Boyden, Fiduciary Resources, San Rafael, CA) and her attorney (Nancy C. Field).

My father was Chief Naval Architect at Marinship, Sausalito, during World War II, and then a San Francisco structural engineer for 50 years. At the age of 83, we discovered his office manager (Karen D. Young) had embezzled $400,000. from him. We hired an attorney (Christopher J. Bakes) to sue the bank and the embezzler. Without our knowledge the attorney made a deal with the district attorney to prosecute the embezzler, accused of 20 felony counts, on the condition my father would pay for the DA’s expert witness costs. When we received a bill for $29,000. for criminal case experts, we refused to pay it.

As a result, my father’s own attorney then tried to have him conserved without telling my father or his family. He picked a name from a probate attorney list and sent her privileged information including case details, where my father lived, real estate he owned, and his Social Security number. The probate attorney and her client, a professional conservator in San Rafael, prepared an ex parte petition for appointment of conservator of the person and estate of Mr. FitzGerald. The probate attorney, posing as a court investigator, gained access to my father’s convalescent home room and served him notice of the hearing. When I walked in to visit him two hours later, my father said, “What’s this all about?”

Conservators are supposed to help when a person’s needs and obligations are not being met. My father was in the best care facility in Marin County, my brother and I spoke with him every day and visited him at least 4 times a week. All his bills were paid and his house was being rented to help support him. The only reason the conservatorship petition was made was to sell his house, his only asset, and pay for invoices my father didn’t authorize. It cost several thousand dollars to thwart the conservatorship attempt and the experience practically killed me.


Marguerite Tognoli (Marin County Probate Court)
In October of 2000, I witnessed an impromptu appointment of "Conservator of the Person" of an 80-year old, allegedly incapacitated, woman, Marguerite Tognoli. The Public Guardian's petition was for an Appointment of a Temporary Conservator of the ESTATE ONLY because it was concerned the elder was spending too much money for her annual Queen Elizabeth II cruise. Commissioner Mary T. Grove determined that no notice of date and time of the hearing on July 18, 2000 should be given to the elder. That day, the Court appointed the Public Guardian temporary conservator of her PERSON AND ESTATE even though no cause for the former was not shown on the petition.
Ms. Tognoli’s $1.5 Million Dean Witter account was frozen.

On August 29, 2000, Ms. Tognoli was served with a Citation for Conservatorship of the ESTATE ONLY by Mandi Smith of Adult Protective Services. A hearing for permanent conservatorship appointment was held on October 2, 2000. The Public Guardian's Petition again did not show any cause to justify a conservatorship of the PERSON. In fact, the woman appeared in Court elegantly dressed, coifed, and manicured.

During the hearing, Commissioner Grove suggested to Deputy County Counsel Dorothy R. Jones that the Public Guardian also be "conservator of the person." Despite Ms. Tognoli’s vehement opposition to any conservatorship, her Court-appointed attorney, Pauline M. Sloan, suggested an ex parte hearing to conserve the PERSON of her own client! Even the ex parte idea was dispensed with and the Court proceeded to appoint the Public Guardian conservator of the elder's ESTATE AND PERSON. When hearing-impaired Tognoli asked what everyone had said, Sloan said "I'll tell you later." Commissioner Grove manually checked off PERSON on the Public Guardian's petition, and initialed it. By the stroke of a pen that day, the elderly woman lost control over her life and finances.

Stephen Charles Laughton (Marin County Probate Court)
While attending probate court on another matter, I heard the case of the conservatorship of 38-yr old Stephen Charles Laughton. Mr. Laughton expressed vehemently to the Court he did not want or need to be conserved; however, he was conserved by Margaret D. Boyden of Fiduciary Resources, Inc. San Rafael. The sole reason he was being conserved was that he was getting divorced and someone in the family wanted the assets “guarded.”
Laughton received a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from USC, and a Master’s degree in management from MIT. He was a CPA and Chartered Financial Analyst and was a global portfolio manager employed by Dresdner RCM Global Investors and Deutsche Bank AG.

Two or three months after this hearing, I read in the newspaper that Stephen Charles Laughton, the father of three young children, had died. Immediately I suspected suicide because I saw the stress he was under. I ordered a copy of the death certificate. Mr. Laughton had hung himself from a tree in his back yard.

I implore all those having the power to work toward significant reform for professional conservators, the attorneys who feed them cases, and the Courts that seem to be protecting all of them. Thank you for considering my comments.

Very truly yours,

Therese F. Alvillar