#maynardorme

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Oregon Elder Illegally Imprisoned By His Legal Guardian

For those at the back of the room, here is a quick recap of the story of my old buddy Maynard Orme.

In January a friend and I visited Maynard at his assisted living facility near Portland. We found him uncharacteristically miserable. His finances were in crisis despite having a conservator in charge and he told us that he had not been able to visit his daughter and grandkids for Christmas. He was very upset and not in good health. We checked that there was no legal restriction on his travel and arranged for his trip to California. We subsequently learned more about how badly his medical state and his finances had been managed by his conservator and caretaker; treatment that was abusive, neglectful, and manipulative of an 87 year old elder.

Once in California, he was happy as a clam with his family and his physical and mental state has improved dramatically. I’ve been to visit him regularly from January and, when I saw him a few days ago in Los Angeles, he was more spritely than I had seen him in months since his daughter has been looking after him. We asked him about his new residence and his new girlfriend and he said "I love it here. It doesn’t get any better than this"

But his guardian and former caretaker had other plans.

This week, the day after I saw him, they arrived at his residence with a court order and spirited him back to Oregon.

We don’t know what they told him, whether he agreed to go with them, or how they got back. They left behind his cell phone and his clothes and personal possessions; such was the haste in which he was removed. His attorney in Oregon was as surprised as anyone as he had not been informed of their plans and was not even informed when his client was back in Oregon.

But we do know where he was taken.

Maynard is now back at the assisted living facility in Charbonneau from which he escaped but, when friends show up to see him, he is “not taking visitors” on orders from his guardian and her lawyer. He was apparently interviewed by law enforcement upon his return for reasons that were not disclosed but he could not have been provided assistance of counsel.

His lawyer then tried to visit Maynard at his new residence but he too was denied entry. He was referred to the guardian and then her lawyer who gave orders to prevent him visiting his client.

Outrage Level Turned up to ELEVEN.

A US citizen is being jailed by a fiduciary professional and her lawyer. Even an arraigned murderer would not be denied assistance of counsel. In what world can one lawyer refuse to allow an opposing lawyer access to his client? This is insanity.

I bet there’s something in the US Constitution that covers this.

When the guardian and her lawyer are acting “in colour of law” by waving a court order, they are taking on the authority of the state; like carrying a badge or wearing a black jacket with FBI across the back. But, guess what, law enforcement would not get away with this bullshit.

Maynard is being denied his basic civil rights by a out-of-control guardian under guidance from a conflicted lawyer; the two of them are running amok.

The facility in which Maynard is now imprisoned and the caretaker that IS allowed to see him, have both demonstrated a track record of neglect and abuse - financial, mental, and medical. Neither his friends, family, or lawyer are now allowed to talk to him. We have no idea of how he is being treated, of what he is being told, or how he is being threatened.

This isolation is seriously compounding the abuse of this respected Portland elder for reasons that are hard to fathom.

How it Started: How it’s Going.

This whole adventure started with a pleasant lunch and an arranged flight for Maynard to see his family and enjoy their mutual love and caring in sunny Los Angeles. Joy was restored to Maynard's life.

It has now turned into an extra-judicial nightmare with an inconceivable level of fear and darkness for Maynard and his family who are beside themselves with worry. A crisis driven by fiduciary professionals in breach of their legal duties to protect Maynard, and whose firms have failed to rein them in.

Shame on all of them.

This is not over.

Photo: When Maynard retired, AARP did an article about him and took this picture of him at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center where he was a huge supporter and booster.

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Oregon Judge Tells Family to Kidnap Grandpa 

How can a Clackamas County judge decide where an American citizen lives?

Meet 87-year old Dr. Maynard Orme. 

Dr. Orme is a well-known character in Portland, Oregon. He was CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting for over 20 years and was prominent in public television in California before that.

He is a civic leader, was on the board of NPR and PBS, was president of Portland Rotary, and served many causes from jazz radio to historic preservation of railways.

In the 1980’s he produced the documentary “Day After Trinity” about Robert Oppenheimer which was nominated for an Academy Award. At the award ceremony, he wore his High School prom tuxedo with a pale blue ruffled shirt. He is smart, witty, highly regarded and the proud father of two daughters.

If you met him you would love him. 

But being 87 years old has its drawbacks and he needs help with managing his finances and, for sure, managing his blood-sugar levels.

Last summer, his two daughters who live a thousand miles from their dad, were concerned about the decline in his health despite his being looked after by an old friend who took on the role of live-in paid caretaker a few years ago. After one too many trips to the ER, the family had enough. One family member, a retired doctor, said, “His lack of care is life-threatening. I think this may be the last time I see Maynard alive”. 

The daughters consulted with an Oregon trust attorney to setup his daughters as guardians and Dr. Orme’s caretaker hired a probate elder attorney who insisted on a Guardian/Conservator who would protect his health and his finances.

“We thought we were asking for help and it totally backfired”.

The first recommendation for Conservator turned out to be the woman whose practice was the inspiration for the movie, “I Care A Lot,” that dramatized her career of abuse and corruption in Clackamas County. This should have been a warning. The second suggestion was removed from involvement by the presiding judge for breach of fiduciary duty for offering financial inducement to the paid caretaker, likely in exchange for signing up with him. 

The third recommendation turned out to be no better and the judge named her to also serve as the Conservator to work with the newly hired lawyer.

Let’s check on how they are doing. 

In the months since the probate court appointed “professional fiduciaries”, Dr. Orme has been saddled with an estimate of $500,000 of expenses and fees. The details of his private Living Trust have been made public, a huge part of his valuable personal collections has gone missing and local police have been told not to investigate. Dr. Orme and his family’s complaints have been deliberately ignored, monthly bills have not been paid, his 401K and bank accounts have been liquidated, his mortgages are in default, his real estate has been claimed by the Conservator, his chosen Trustees have been barred from attending to their duties and responsibilities. Friends and family have been denied contact, Dr. Orme was not allowed to spend the holidays with family, and is only allowed to leave his residential unit with the paid caretaker. Dr. Orme suffered depression, his health declined, and he was neglected. 

This is a truly an astonishing catalog of abuse and incompetence that is hard to read and even harder to believe. All of this has been reported by the family to law enforcement, the FBI, and the Adult Protective Services departments in both Oregon and California. 

Old but independent, to sick and broke in six months. A new world record. 

In every imaginable aspect of his life, Dr. Orme was made substantially worse off than before. The private “probate professionals” are billing Dr. Orme thousands of dollars every month whilst neglecting all of their fiduciary duties and neglecting his health.

All this collusion of those paid to protect Dr. Orme took place while the presiding judge of Clackamas County oversees Dr. Orme’s probate case.

“This is judicially enforced exploitation. A Clackamas County probate racket.”

A few months ago, Colin Evans and Michael Kern, two long-time friends of Dr. Orme heard about some of this and arranged to have lunch with him. When they heard from their friend that he was not allowed to visit his daughters and grandkids over Christmas, they supported his wish to leave town and travel to stay with his family in Pacific Palisades, California. He is now safe, happy and with his family, but penniless; prevented from even accessing his Oregon home or his resources from a lifetime of work, he now depends on his family and friends for his care and wellbeing. 

Despite all this depredation, his health and mental faculties have recovered tremendously with help from doctors, family and caregivers. He remains ever cheerful and states repeatedly to everyone including the judge, that he wishes to stay in Pacific Palisades. He has further indicated that he is afraid to return to Oregon, into the hands of paid caretakers and professionals who have medically neglected and exploited him, and whom he certainly no longer trusts. 

One old friend who talked to him after his move to Pacific Palisades said, “I was worried he was failing before. He was foggy but I just talked to him and now he’s BACK”. 

Shameful Probate Horror Story Continues.

Subsequent to his move to Pacific Palisades and despite his repeated statements that he is happy and healthy there, the professionals in Oregon in charge of his wellbeing have engaged in pervasive bullying and harassment in order to force his return to Clackamas County into their clutches. They downplay their bullying, asserting they have a higher status and authority than the family to decide Dr. Orme’s fate.  

His friends and family have been visited by LAPD and Protective Services departments multiple times in Pacific Palisades; the FBI even showed up with accusations that he had been kidnapped and held against his will and without his medications. All of these people found Dr. Orme in great spirits and in great health, with all his required medications, and being looked after with regular visits from two caregivers. They all reported that he is happy and surrounded by joy, grandkids, pets, love, and care.  

Dr. Orme vested a great deal of trust in his Oregon caretaker, and he voluntarily agreed to the professional fiduciary and her retained legal counsel. He does not want to believe that they have conspired to manipulate and defraud him. Yet here we are. From his perspective, all the evidence points in that direction. 

Despite all this, the Conservator has persuaded the Probate Court judge to issue an order for Dr. Orme to return to Clackamas County and to hold his daughter, Jennifer Erwin, in Contempt of Court with a $18,000 fine and additional $500 per day fine until she returns him to the judge. 

Maynard Orme’s only crime is growing old. 

Remember … Dr. Orme has no medical opinion declaring him incompetent, there are no court-ordered restrictions on his travel or association, none of his medications have been defined as life-threatening, and he has a well-designed Living Trust for his property that allows him to decide how his assets are used. Yet he is being treated as if none of these were true.

All of us should be terrified by this. We all aspire to be this well organized so that our autumn years are comfortable and stress free; that our children are left with clear instructions. 

Step back a second to realize how repugnant this court order is.  The Probate Court has no power to arrest or extradite Dr. Orme, so the judge has chosen to solely punish Ms. Erwin until SHE returns him to the Clackamas County Courthouse. It’s a Solomon’s Choice. If Dr Orme is forced to return to Oregon, his will, well-being, and civil rights are sacrificed. His daughter may be subject to criminal charges for abuse, exploitation, and kidnapping.  If Dr. Orme remains in California, as he is entitled to do, his daughter is held in Contempt and the court can order fines, attorney fees, compensation for damages, and even confinement to jail. 

Indeed this judge has the power to arrest Jennifer Erwin should she come to Oregon and not give up her father into the hands of predatory professionals who see him as nothing more than a revenue stream. This is an impossible choice for Dr. Orme’s daughter that amounts to judicial blackmail and over-reach from the bench and an abuse of the judicial process. 

The family is traumatized but saddled up and into the fight.

Rest assured that this is not the end of this story. Dr. Orme is lucky enough to have access to expert legal counsel, and a network of friends ready to help. One of his daughters has made a career of crafting true crime stories for film and television and works tirelessly with the FBI to support anti-human trafficking efforts. They will fight back against a predatory system and pursue any and all appropriate legal recourse. 

The judge is up for re-election in May of 2024 and the professionals shall be reported.

But the message for anyone getting older or anyone looking after elder relatives - and that means everyone - is that they should avoid at all costs engaging with professional guardians, conservators, and especially their bullying lawyers in any part of America. 

Kristin Booth Glen, a former New York judge who helped craft oversight in that state said, “Keeping people out of guardianship in the first place is the single most important thing to do, because once you’re in it, it’s the toilet you get flushed down.” 

Photos: Above: Maynard and me reading this article. Below: Video o Maynard fact checking, Maynard and Jennifer at his grandkid's baseball game, Maynard escaping Oregon with Jennifer, Maynard showing me around his friend's collection of automata, Maynard with one of the engines at his Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation.

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Maynard - the perfect mark for eldercare professionals.

Maynard was facing heart surgery, knew he needed help, but did not want to burden his daughters who lived far away. So an old girlfriend proposed a deal; you look after me, I’ll look after you. She ended up with money, his credit card, his stuff, and a big chunk of his estate. But she never delivered her side of the bargain; neglecting his basic health so badly that he almost died.

His daughters sounded the alarm and sought help but the system failed Maynard. Eldercare professionals enriched themselves, protected the abuser, and punished his daughters. Maynard has now lost complete control of his wealth and his daughter was found in contempt of the court that enabled this travesty.

How the hell could this happen?

Years earlier, after a breakup with his long-time companion when he was in his 80s, Maynard reconnected with the old girlfriend when he was vulnerable and alone facing heart surgery. She agreed to start as a paid caretaker to look after him but Maynard soon picked up her living expenses and added her as a beneficiary to his 401K. Later, she steered the relationship towards being his companion and this led to him adding her to his will, as a trustee of his assets, and paid executor.

She called herself his fiancee, but she was now a major beneficiary.

Maynard’s daughters knew about these changes but became very seriously concerned when his health rapidly declined. A year ago they visited and found Maynard in bed with a bucket suffering from vertigo, nausea, and diarrhoea being dosed with Dramamine. Maynard ended up in the Emergency Room four times due to repeated collapses and two concussions caused by an unmanaged diet and out of control blood sugar. Maynard’s brother, a retired doctor, came to visit and reported that his brother would “die soon”.

The caretaker now girlfriend refused a doctor visit, accused them of “spying” and told the daughters, “He’s fine, leave us alone”.

He was not fine and his daughters and friends knew better.

His family then looked for legal advice on how to protect Maynard but the girlfriend persuaded Maynard to sign with a lawyer of her choosing. This was a bad idea that Maynard soon regretted and wanted his family to take care of him. The lawyer, nonetheless, supposedly acting solely for Maynard, found a friendly guardian/conservator, put a protective order in front of the Probate court and slipped into the order, without any medical evaluation at all, that Maynard was incompetent when he was not.

The trap SNAPPED shut. The lawyer and conservator and girlfriend now owned Maynard.

It has gone downhill from there with the power of the court behind the professional fiduciaries.

These people have run this playbook many times before. Watch the Hollywood movie “I Care A Lot” based on the practices of a conservator in our very own Clackamas County; described as a “Comedy Legal Drama” about “a crooked legal guardian who drains the savings of her elderly wards”.

Nothing funny about this at all. Savings are indeed being drained.

Trap the elder. Bully the family. Ramp up the fees. Sell the assets.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

The girlfriend now caretaker arranged for Maynard to move to assisted living where many of his friends and both his daughters were barred from visiting him and he was only allowed to leave when accompanied by her. The most recent excursion was to stay with her during the Portland ice storm in January. His daughter became so concerned that she asked the police to check on him; they found him warming himself in the car as the house was too dangerously cold and ordered that he be returned to the safety and warmth of assisted living.

Maynard complained personally and in writing to everyone who was sworn to look after him that he was unhappy, unsafe, and unwell. Yet all the actions taken by his lawyer, caretaker, conservator, and care facility and their lawyers served to make all of these concerns worse. Their actions all served to enrich themselves whilst they failed to represent Maynard’s financial or health interests. They had him trapped and did not want to let him or his money out of their sights. They all had a duty as “mandatory reporters” to notify the police or adult protective services of Maynard’s situation; but none of them fulfilled this legal obligation.

Maynard moves to California.

Maynard then, helped by some friends who were allowed to visit, took a trip to visit his daughter in California and decided not to come back to Oregon. The fiduciaries went into high gear to get him back into their clutches and their favourite county judge ordered Maynard back to Oregon and held his daughter in contempt unless she kidnapped and returned her father. This was disgraceful family blackmail from the bench and threatened further continued abuse of Maynard.

Appearance of Impropriety in Clackamas County courthouse.

In this January hearing to discuss Maynard’s move to California, Judge Michael Wetzel held a meeting in chambers with all the lawyers and admitted to a conflict of financial interest with two of the attorneys before him - they had overlapped with him at different law firms and shared retirement plan investments. At no point were the parties represented by these lawyers allowed to decide for themselves if they wanted to continue with these cozy arrangements in the Clackamas County court.

We will all get old, many of us may end up in a similar situation where we depend on the ethics of strangers and find ourselves in a hearing before a supposedly impartial judge. We all deserve to know that we can trust the system that has enormous legal power over our lives. Given the adverse judgements from this court that overlooked his situation, overruled Maynard’s own stated wishes, and imposed a punitive contempt order on his daughter, we have to ask if this judge is truly impartial when dealing with lawyers who regularly appear before him but are also entangled in his finances.

The ugly reality is that all of Maynard’s assets and income are now sequestered by the court-enabled conservator. He is penniless and his money is being used to pay these fiduciaries and lawyers to act against his express wishes, whilst Maynard and his family cannot access these funds to fight for Maynard himself. It is impossible to believe that this depraved upside-down nightmare can happen to any one of us.

Maynard is a hostage of the court and its agents.

Trust me; I’m a professional fiduciary.

So who are these “professional fiduciaries”?

The Oregon system of qualifying a Guardian or a Conservator seems to assume that this is a voluntary, temporary role for a trusted friend or family member to help a person manage their affairs as age takes its toll. Go to the Oregon Department of Justice website and it takes a couple or hours online to do the training and fill out the questionnaire. There is no test and there is no ongoing supervision from the state. There is no further certification or qualification for an individual wanting to do this as a full-time professional career.

Maynard’s guardian/conservator has no qualifications in health, psychology, accounting, law, or medicine.

fiduciary | fəˈdo͞oSHēˌerē, fəˈdo͞osēˌerē | adjective Law ....involving trust, especially with regard to the relationship between a trustee and a beneficiary:

In reality, there is nobody policing the trustworthiness of full-time conservators who regularly work arm-in-arm with the same eldercare lawyers in a friendly courtroom. A fiduciary is someone who is meant to have the character and ethics to behave strictly for their elder client and trustee, but there is money to be made in this confusing area of law.

The relationships are all well-developed, cozy, and crooked.

Almost all of the “fiduciaries” in this case promised to work on behalf of Maynard but all of them have failed to do so and without consequences - his bills were not paid, his private information has been exposed, his credit score dropped 200 points, his social security and pension payments are being intercepted, his properties are in foreclosure, his health issues were ignored, the police were told not to investigate alleged theft of his personal property by his caretaker, and his storage unit rentals were not paid risking loss of more of his personal property. He has moved to California but he cannot get his lawyer or conservator to cancel his unit at the care home in Oregon so he is still paying $7000 rent and $2500 enhanced medical care when he is not even there.

The neglect of the basic responsibilities of conservator and lawyer are staggering and hard to believe. The bad actors have conspired to enrich themselves but also to defraud and mislead the court into orders that were intended to protect Maynard but used against him.

Unraveling this will be a long legal battle and success is far from guaranteed.

The system that we all hope is there - of honest professionals kept on track by a sound legal system and an impartial judiciary - is a complex hoax. The family and Maynard are being punished for his attempts to preserve his life and liberty and for his pursuit of happiness to be with his family where he chooses.

We expect legal professionals to be bound by laws and standards and due process, but also by common human decency. A more sensible system would better assume that all the professionals are scoundrels.

We are all alone and unprotected but Maynard has lived a life such that he is surrounded by a family that really cares and a group of friends that is driven by the conviction that his treatment is clearly just not right.