Protect Our Parents

It’s Elder Abuse Awareness Month.

Guardianship and probate court systems are supposed to protect vulnerable elders, but too often they enable financial exploitation, isolation, and loss of family rights.

This 4-part series from Protect Our Parents breaks down some important concepts for families:

Part 1: When Trust Turns to Fraud
How coercive control and undue influence begin, and the red flags every family needs to know.

Part 2: Unwanted Guardianship
How the “best interest” standard and court processes can sideline families and lead to professional strangers taking control.

Part 3: Family Prevention Tips
Practical steps to stay united, build strong safeguards, and tools to preserve family control and avoid unwanted guardianship.

Part 4: Fiduciary Duties 101
The core rules for trustees, POA agents, guardians, and executors, and how families can hold them accountable. (To be posted later)

Families are often the best protectors.
Knowledge and early action can prevent devastating outcomes.

Swipe through or save this series. Share with your family and friends.

What happened to Betty's Living Trust?
Three key powers of the Betty Hayes Living
Trust are:
1. Trustee has power to determine Betty's capacity
2. Trustee has full spending power as she/ he deems appropriate
3.** A Quorum of her children (3/4) have the power to replace the trustee and override decisions as a check on the trustee's power.
It is indisputable that there was always a quorum with three of Betty's four children.
Yet despite these facts, Betty spent roughly 3 years under court-appointed and .
A court must uphold the validity of a trust.
It's bad for the business otherwise. It took the plaintiff as a pro se litigant to put the trust before the court 2 1/2 years later - Why?

In Honor Of Elder Abuse Awareness Month: 💜
For decades, families across Michigan and the nation have reported abuse, exploitation, and unnecessary isolation within the guardianship and probate court systems. I am incredibly grateful that I was able to bring my mother home, but the cost was devastating—financially, emotionally, mentally, and physically.

My original mission was simple: get my mother back and seek justice for what happened to her. While no one can restore the years she lost, reverse her decline, or erase the trauma our family endured, I hoped that exposing the system’s failures would help prevent other families from suffering the same fate.

Over the last several years, I have dedicated countless hours to raising awareness. I created this page to educate the public about guardianship and probate court abuse. I helped launch a weekly “Voices in Probate” show to give victims and families a platform to share their stories. I created a website and invited advocates to join the effort. While these projects have increased awareness, the meaningful reforms families desperately need have yet to materialize.

One of the most frustrating realities is that many legislators remain focused on creating new laws while ignoring a fundamental problem: existing laws are often not being properly followed or enforced. Families repeatedly testify about violations of rights, lack of due process, financial exploitation, and court orders that appear inconsistent with the protections already written into Michigan law. Passing additional legislation means little if there is no accountability when existing laws are ignored.

I do not question the intentions of every legislator. Many genuinely want to help. However, after years of testimony, meetings, hearings, and advocacy, I continue to ask the same question: Why are we not addressing the root causes that allow these abuses to occur?

In July, I will be speaking at the Whistleblower Summit in Washington, D.C., alongside advocates from across the country who are fighting for transparency, accountability, and reform. I hope this opportunity helps bring national attention to a problem that affects thousands of families.

Yet I would be lying if I said I wasn’t discouraged. Real change requires public engagement. It requires voters demanding accountability. It requires families speaking out. Without that pressure, the systems that enabled these abuses remain intact.

Too many people still believe that having an estate plan, power of attorney, trust, or healthcare directive guarantees protection. My family’s experience taught me that those documents are only as effective as the willingness of institutions to honor them.

I have four beautiful grandchildren whom I want to spend time enjoying. Instead, much of my life has been consumed by fighting a system that I believe failed my mother. I do not want future generations to face the same battles.

I know I am not the first person to raise these concerns, and sadly, I will not be the last. The question is: What will it take for Michigan voters to demand more than symbolic reforms? What will it take for elected officials—Republicans and Democrats alike—to spend less time attacking one another and more time protecting the vulnerable people they were elected to serve?

As voters, we should hold our elected officials accountable. Not because we expect perfection, but because we expect results. The people of Michigan deserve a probate and guardianship system that is transparent, accountable, and worthy of the public’s trust.

Financial exploitation of older family members begins with the shift in power & control:

➡️ who has it
➡️ who wants it
➡️ how to get it

The key to mitigating financial exploitation is to be alert to change. Change in older persons circumstances, change in family relationships.

“Family Dysfunction “ is a misnomer.



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On this World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, the reminds families, caregivers, and communities that awareness and conversation are key to preventing and abuse. Visit fbi.gov/elderfraud to learn more about common elder schemes, and how you can help protect your loved ones.

June is Elder Abuse Awareness Month. Please share to help raise awareness.

It’s heartbreaking to see an elder parent distraught over their adult child manipulating them for money & a perceived power.

Inheritance anticipation is real.
Financial exploitation is elder abuse.