Dorothy Driesen—South Dakota Victim

UPDATE–9-24-15

Today, 9-24-15 is Dorothy Dreisen’s 96th birthday. Her guardian continues to keep her in isolation in a nursing home, her children and all family members are banned from seeing her despite the new law that went into effect this past July, 2015, which states denying visitation is illegal. The American courts and most of the so-called “professionals” running them willfully break the law whenever it is convenient for them. Dorothy’s son, Jay, asks friends and supporters to send birthday cards to his Mom to let her know she is still loved and cared about.

Ms. Dorothy Driesen

Whispering Heights

2116 14th St.

Rock Valley, IA  51247

You can call and ask to speak to her and wish her a Happy Birthday at 712-467-8200.

Each time I read these stories I shake my head in disbelief and literally feel sick to my stomach. This is wrong. It is wrong on every single level. There is not one person in the world who can justify what has been done to Dorothy Dreisen and her family. There is not one person in this world who can justify what was done to my mother Dorothy Wilson, by Mary Giordano, an elder care attorney with Franchina and Giordano in Garden City, NY, elderlawfg.com law firm. This is another horrific story of guardianship abuse at the hands of our extremely corrupt judicial system. The guardian has completely isolated her children from seeing their own mother and the courts allow it. My heart aches for this family. 

Dorothy Driesen, a 94-year-old widowed Mother, has had her entire estate taken away from her by court decree and forced to reside at the Rock Valley, IA nursing home that has had multiple felony accounts charged against it in 2003. 

The judge took our Mother into his chamber, asked her a few questions, had her read from a prepared statement and then fired both Dorothy and her son as Trustees, appointed a bank to be her new Trustee, appointed an adversarial guardian over her and accepted a purported amendment devising her entire Trust estate the new guardian.  All of this happened within one days time upon the filing of court documents by the wannabe guardian and friend of the court. 

After this drastic and unbelievable event in the local district court, the two sons of our Mother have been falsely accused of various things and arrested and incarcerated on four separate occasions.  To add insult to injury, the two sons of our Mother and their families have not been able to visit their Mother since early 2008. 

The last call that was made from our Mother during New Years weekend in 2009 was a call of desperation in which our Mother claimed her life was in danger and she pleaded with us to get her out of this nursing facility.  Mail that the family tries to send our Mother is received by the guardian and does not appear to reach our Mother.  All incoming calls to our Mother are screened by the front desk and she has no way of calling out. 

Shortly after our Mother was incarcerated in this nursing home, before this disastrous court decision, the family would attempt to visit our Mother and shortly after we would arrive, either the guardian would show up  in the doorway and demand that we leave or the town police officer would show up and threaten us with arrest. 

This case has been heard by the Sioux County, IA District Court in early 2008 and appealed. Jay, as the original trustee, lost this entire first court battle. Then the predators and bank, thinking they had victory, later filed for  perceived monetary damages from Jay, Dorothy’s eldest son, in  neighboring Lyon County, IA District Court, where Jay resides.  Jay fought back pro se in attempt to save his incarcerated Mother and her Irrevocable Trust.  For over one year, the predators and bank attempted to gain their loot and then labored to shut this second case  down by way of motion. After the judge initially ruled in Jay’s favor three separate times; for some reason, the bank was finally successful in receiving a judgment against Jay for over $34,000.  This amount was deemed necessary by the court to adequately compensate this bank (was appointed as Trustee in August, 2008), that is highly active in farm land, for their effort in defending the case and to cover their expense in securing the assets of Mother Driesen.   This case had originally been scheduled for a jury trial, including all evidence of the murders in this nursing home during 2003, but the case was shut down by motion for Summary Judgment. 

On appeal, the Iowa Court of Appeals applied the doctrine of “claim preclusion” as an original error was not raised by the defense attorney.

A small victory was gained in the Iowa Legislature in 2010 wherein a guardianship hearing can not take place unless notice of service is served on the proposed ward (protected person) and their present family and / or care taker.  In our Mother’s case, a guardianship hearing took place without advanced notice being served on her nor her present children caretakers.  Notice of what had happened was served on the family over 20 days later. 

Since the initial dramatic events occurring in 2007 – 2009, the family members were forced to retreat into survival mode and tend to numerous legal suits hurled their way….suits aimed at destroying their finances and business. 

During the fall of 2011, Jay was successful in reaching his Mother by a late evening phone call placed to the nursing home.  An unsuspecting nursing assistant brought Mother Driesen to the front desk and gave her the phone to converse with her son Jay.  Very quickly the supposed  “incompetent”  Mother asked Jay about her farm land and etc.  Suddenly there was a scuffling noise as Jay could hear the phone receiver fall to the floor and with a later hang up click.

Further negative action levied against Jay’s business necessitated taking many of the defendant’s to the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. 

Our Mother has now reached the ripe age of 94 years and regardless of the stress placed on her by denial of her civil rights per 42 USC Sec 1395i-3, she remains in good physical and mental health.  Jay has been in to see his Mother numerous times as of late and is continually run out with threat of arrest made regardless of Jay’s Mother expressing strong desire for him to continue with the visit.  Jay then hands them a copy of the quoted Federal Code.  At present, the nephew attorney of the guardian has sent a letter to Jay threatening arrest if Jay attempts to visit his Mother again, in direct violation of this particular Federal Code.  In December, 2013, Jay has filed an Attorney Complaint with the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board on the attorney.  The Attorney Complaint was soon turned down.

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The Long Lasting and Lifetime Effects of Guardianship Abuse

Watching my mother being abused by a horribly corrupt judicial system, uncaring politicians, greedy attorneys and family members that are supposed to love one another has truly been a life changing experience for me. I worked hard to save her from being placed in nursing homes. The first two times I managed to bring her home; the third time was just too much for her and the fear took her life. 

My grandchildren, as young as they are, remember their great-grandma. The guardian, Mary Giordano, did everything she could to isolate my mother from them and from me. They do not yet know what happened but they will. This is not a deep dark family secret; it is America’s dirty little secret. 

While for me the tears still appear at the oddest moment, the what ifs still linger in my mind and at times keep me up at night, the long lasting effects of guardianship abuse was also life changing for my daughter. It is often said that some good ultimately comes out of bad and in my Mom’s case, I believe this to be true.    

by Tara Wilson

November 6, 2014

Normally, as parents to young children we are concerned with protecting our little ones; whether that is from falling, the common cold, or which guardian would raise them in the event of our incapacity or passing.  As our children get older and learn to protect themselves, we are often reminded that we need to look out for our other loved ones as well.  So while our children are becoming more independent, our aging parents and grandparents are in need of more support and protection.  We fall into that “sandwich generation” where we are caring for our children and our own parents.

When I was pregnant with my son I began to notice that my grandmother was starting to forget more and more.  I vividly remember the day that I thought, she needs help now.  I was sitting at my office desk overlooking the Boston Harbor late one morning and picked up the phone to call her as I always did.  She was watching “The Price Is Right” with volume so high that it sounded as if the tv was in my own office, not her kitchen 250 miles away. My grandmother, who worked as a teller at Chemical Bank and who managed her family’s finances like a cross between a CFO and extreme couponer for over 50 years, told me she missed a credit card payment.  While the credit card fee was only $29.00 and the interest was minimal for her purchases at Kohl’s and Macy’s, it was unheard of for her.  I offered to call the credit card company and the fees were waived within minutes.  However, this was the beginning of the end for the financial astuteness that ruled her life.

A few months later I went on to have a healthy baby boy, my grandmother’s first great-grandson. I lived and breathed my new role as a mother, loving and caring for him and making certain he was fully protected.At the same time, my mother took on the role of caretaker for my grandmother.  In order for my mother to help with my grandmother’s medical and financial care, taking her to doctor’s appointments and balancing her checkbook, my mother needed legal authority to do so.  My grandmother signed a Power of Attorney and Health Care Proxy when she realized she couldn’t quite handle everything.  While I tried to give my grandmother other advice, my grandmother believed she would be fine with the minimal planning she put in place before I entered law school; she and my grandfather had prepared simple wills naming each other as beneficiaries and their three children as successors.  Unfortunately, within a few months, my grandmother got very sick and my mother’s siblings had a very different view on how my grandmother should be cared for (or not cared for as the case may be).

Here is the story of how my grandmother went from a caring mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and widow to a victim of an abusive court-appointed guardian who took her freedom, her assets, her home, and her life.

http://rebelpundit.com/how-new-yorks-elderly-lose-their-homes-to-guardianship/During this entire ordeal I was taking care of my infant son and became pregnant with my second child.  As if raising an infant wasn’t tiring enough, the birth of my daughter brought me to a whole new level of exhaustion.  I was of little help to my mother and grandmother; the distance, the babies, and my fear of the abusive people involved in my grandmother’s life.  My mother fought harder than anyone to help her mother and is still fighting for other victims of elder abuse.  It is one of the biggest regrets in my life that I was not able to be there for my own grandmother while she fell victim to an all too common and pervasive form of elder abuse that ultimately killed her.

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