Family Attorney

TAMPA Ronald Larson was suffering from autism and dementia, so it was unable to talk about cancer and infections, which account for almost half of his face eaten away.

The 85 years old, lived in a housing agency Betreuten Palmetto and his fate was discovered when an official from the state public trusteeship, and the Office felt the smell of Larson’s room.

Larson died this year, and his martyrdom has inspired Sen. Ronda Storms, who represents the county of Hillsborough, the introduction of legislation, improvement of social protection for the inhabitants of the weakness of the institutions of the habitat Betreuten and care facilities.

Storms had their behalf on the floor of the Senate today.

The bill, the Department of State for Children and Families to warn criminal prosecution authorities during the investigation, abuse and the number of inspections conducted by health authorities, where serious damage is found.

The bill also requires agencies to develop housing Betreuten a service to our customers and then to ensure the plan is implemented.

The bill was presented today the spirit, because it requires criminal background looks collaborators.

Maori Tourism Trade Manual key to the strategy of tourism

A new manual presents 100 tourism enterprises Maori is a quality model for the future of Maori tourism, Tourism Ministers, Mr. Damien O’Connor.

Damien O’Connor this week, the New Zealand Maori Tourism Trade Guide 2008-2009, showcases, Maori businesses with experience in providing quality products and authentic.

Damien O’Connor said Maori Maori tourism priorities and cultural values in the overall strategy of Tourism of New Zealand in 2015.

“The strategy is supported by two core values - kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and manaakitanga (hospitality).

“Blessed our visitors with mutual respect and exchange of knowledge, and stories of faith in the spirit of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and manaakitanga (hospitality) is to ensure that the experience of local businesses Maori class around the world and take advantage of our visitors and our communities, “says Damien O’Connor.

Associate Nanaia Mahuta Tourism Ministers, said the new Maori Tourism Trade-step guide is a unique and creates the difference in point Maaori contribute to Aotearoa / New Zealand tourism.

“This guide is an entry in quality tourism products and experiences Maaori specificity profile of culture and unique values Maaori man,” says Nanaia Mahuta.

A recent “industry” profile “on tourism Maori released by the Ministry of Tourism, estimates that nearly a fifth (455000)-2006 .

“If the statistics suggest visitor numbers at this level, it tells us that Maaori tourism continues to expand, add value to the tourism industry in New Zealand,” Nanaia Mahuta.

“The future of tourism provides Maaori lightly, and I am pleased to participate in many other operators and visitors taking advantage of this guide Maaori tourism trade.”

More than 10000 children of divorced parents, in case of danger psychic by the conflict between their parents, a report presented Monday, the Ministry of Social Affairs said. A number of these children will be in serious conditions and have been in the hospital for psychological treatment.

According to the report, in the past year, there was an increase of 18 percent and the number of couples, family conflicts to the. In 2007, agents of animal protection was 3758, in such cases, and invests a lot of hours to get help children, and damage to minors in such families.

In recent years, officials of animal welfare recommended guardianship be awarded to mothers and 2867 cases in only 534 cases, it was guardian, the father ‘. Shared custody was recommended in 167 cases, a single. In comparison, during the year 2006, it was recommended maternal parent in 2779 and 694 cases of paternity. Shared Trust was recommended in 149 cases.

At a recent international event in Mexico, a handful of questions were asked light on illegal immigration and emigration, with the basis of the response to the latter by the government officials in the lower boiling point is too often heard, “Mexicans have the right to travel, when, and where itself.” And the questioner, these milquetoast film unanswered clarification, or challenge Follow-up.

The Mexican Constitution has, in effect, grant the freedom of citizens to travel abroad, but it also provides that the right to cross-border migration is permitted only if other applicable laws and regulations are complied with and if some conditions are met.

The articles and the following excerpts from the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, the General Law on Population and by the general rules of the population of the law, for any interested an insight into some comparative documents from Mexico’s three bodies of the Act, with regard to the questions about the migration routes. Excerpts and objects removed from the cherry yes, but all the points which are both integral to their own documents, intent and the implementation of the responsibilities they represent.

The Mexican Constitution, which, under the heading “Guarantees One titles, chapters I, can be read in Article 11:” Everyone has the right to enter and leave the Republic, to travel through its territory, residence, and modify them without the need of a letter of security, passport, safe or other behaviour subject to similar requirements. exercise of this right is subject to the jurisdiction of ‘judiciary, in cases of civil or criminal liability, and the management authority with regard to restrictions, by the laws on emigration, immigration and public health, the generalization of the Republic, Ou regarding the harmful effects of foreign residents in the country. ”

Article 33, whereby the reference to safeguards to foreigners in the Constitution of certain other items, does not authorized by the Confederation, officials of the exclusive authority for summary deportations. And his concluding sentence states: “Foreigners may not in any way interfere in the political affairs of the country.”

The general law of the population (and the Regulations) is available on the main issues discussed. In addition, the law has been the name of the Secretariat of Government (SG), or internal, and as chief executive officer of the authority from many people, and most of the migratory issues.

How emigration, in accordance with the Constitution (and contrary to what some people claim or imply May), while the right to travel and trekking, Mexican citizens are not entitled, on international borders - incoming or outgoing - without valid documents. Importance official permits and travel documents, you must first only if the requirements and conditions set by the Mexican government are met, authorizations, including, in accordance with international agreements, Mexico.

Article 7, paragraph II, article 157 of the Act requires general population than for SG “for the control of the entry and exit of nationals and foreigners, and to check their documentation.”

The sole responsibility of defining the sea, air and land ports of entry and / or exit from the SG with Article 10, as a result of these discussions with other departments and agencies, officials on sites. Article 11 stipulates that the number of travellers and migrants, or from Mexico, it is possible that on some sites, and during the hour.

The general rules of the population of law, Article 100, paragraph IV, requires the SG exercise vigilance what is necessary, on sites that are not permitted for the international crossings, thanks to the Use of officers and the Federal Office for Migration Preventive Police.

Return to the general law of the population, in addition to Article 13 states: “nationals and foreigners, to give or to leave the country, must conform to the requirements of the Act requires regulations and other applicable requirements.”

Article 15 requires, Mexican, integration of the country to demonstrate their nationality and, insofar as it appears necessary, in order to reach a medical examination.

In Chapter III of the Act, entitled “Immigration, Article 34 reads:” For foreigners who can enter the country have entered, the SG of the situation in such terms as it deems appropriate Regarding the activities that are themselves to be spent on, and his place of residence or places. At what point, it would ensure that immigrants [are] useful elements for the country and they get income , for their livelihood and, as is the case, that, among the people who could be in the context of their economic dependence. ”

With regard to marriage and children, Article 39 allows the SG to allow foreigners to marry, Mexicans, or have children born in Mexico, the permanent residence permit or in this country. But if the marriage is dissolved, or if the end of his treatment of foreigners, the SG able to end their for strolling, status and deportation, unless the person a Permanent Resident status is granted or new status.

Chapter IV deals with the emigration, in Article 77, as the definition of emigrants “Mexicans and foreigners, who may leave the country with the intention to reside abroad.”

Demands Article 78: “Those who intend to emigrate outside the country must satisfy, in addition to the general conditions migration, the following” - and there is a list of five homework.

They should be identified and this personal data to immigration officials, legal certainty and age [18], or with people in custody or guardianship, or with an authorization approved by parents, a legal guardian or a qualified authority.

In settling the law, the rules relating to the exit of aliens or minors Mexicans have developed. Article 215, paragraph I and II show that minors must be accompanied by persons with parental authority or guardianship, or authorization of ratification by the parent, guardian or an authorized officer. Passports valid, unaccompanied minors Mexicans to leave the country of their parents or a guardian, acting as proof of approval.

Whatever the age, but the point III of Article 78 of the Act stipulates that: “If it’s a question of the Mexicans, the evidence is necessary that all the conditions of entry by the laws of the country of destination requires. ”

KARACHI: If reconciliation is not a woman khulla should be granted, or the marriage should be dissolved by the judge of the family, said a judge of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday in a case in which the husband of the woman for not demonstrate ago in court.

The indices were interviewed, including the judges of the XVIII family, justice of the East Rafique Ahmed Agha Khan, CHS in cases of statutory interpretation family amended (dissolution of the marriage by way of Khulla).

The Bank is a part, once Advocate Iqbal Ahmed Khan, counsel for the petitioner, Naheed Anwar, the Family Court for the dissolution of marriage, child custody and the return of the. “The lawyer claimed that as soon as his client suit filed June 4, 2007, the defendant, Javed Nasir was awarded to Punjab, requested and obtained a certificate of legal guardianship of a judge of high standard Civil and Commercial Rahimyar Khan, concealment of facts.

Counsel also argued that the jurisdiction of the family in Karachi consultation dates for the holding of Pre-Trial (reconciliation), but of those interviewed did not seem to, hence also the investigative process.

The Court (Family Court), the order instead of the dissolution of marriage, commissioned taxes in the image which would be contrary to the law.

The advice before CHS bank, that some changes were made to section 10 A of the Muslim Family Court Act 1964 (amendment Family Courts Ordinance 2002), after a reservation has been added, stating that “the family in a court a suit of the dissolution of marriage, if reconciliation is not only for the decree of dissolution of marriage are also without delay and restoration of the husband of Haq More women, taking account of the marriage in Marriage . ”

The Bank, after consultation with counsel for the petitioners, said in its decision that “the assertion that the judge of the family must have the regulation on the dissolution of marriage, after the failure of the procedure for investigation and that it was not necessary for the preparation of questions designed The petition is considered approved for regular consultation with reference to the defendant.

KEY recommendations, the former Supreme Court judge Ted Mullighan after his three-year investigation into child sex abuse:

RECOMMENDATION 1

The SMART (Strategies for the management of abuse trauma), the program will be under development with the update, as courses for professional development seminars and forums for collaborative practice.

RECOMMENDATION 2

The fact that the protection of the self-education is taught by Second Story be checked to ensure they are safe for conservation.

Child Protection curriculum for the teaching of all children in schools and is tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of children and adolescents in the area of care in general, Aboriginal children and youth in the area of health care, children and youth with disabilities in the field of care.

The fact that this type of protection of the individual is in the training of children and adolescents in care of the State in their own homes or to the security of supply facility.

RECOMMENDATION 3

The fact that the application of Article 8B Childrens Protection Act of 1993 to expand the organizations within the meaning of section 8C.

This reflection is to reduce or waive the fee for an organization that works on the history of a criminal with regard to the report on compliance with Section 8B.

This story of a crime defined as the report of a report, which is also whether a person at the Australian National Child Offender Register (ANCOR).

RECOMMENDATION 4

The fact that children Protection Act, amended in 1993 to organizations to request a copy of the hut, its policies and procedures under section 8C (1) with the Director General and Chief Executive, which is required for a list of these measures and.

RECOMMENDATION 5

Families SA, as part of the review process by the staff, assistants and volunteers, receives information as to whether that person at the Australian National Child Offender Register (ANCOR).

RECOMMENDATION 6

Families SA expands its screening method to the regular coverage of the famous provider of services for children and youth with disabilities in the area of care, such as regular bus, or taxi drivers.

RECOMMENDATION 7

The fact that the Charter of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in the field of health care, which is the subject of legislation in South Australia.

RECOMMENDATION 8

The fact that children Protection Act, amended in 1993 to youth for an advisory committee, and the place Guardian for Children and Young People.

The committee would be to prepare children and youth at the moment or earlier, under the supervision or in the custody of the minister. Participation should also be an aboriginal person / s and a person / s with a disability.

RECOMMENDATION 9

A minister of youth that the Council to advise the Minister directly to families and communities. Members of the council must be children or adolescents aged 12 to 25 years in advance or in progress, under the supervision or in the custody of the minister.

Membership must be an aboriginal child or young person, a child or young person with a disability of a youth, and adviser to the Guardian for Children and Young People.

RECOMMENDATION 10

The fact that the allocations for programmes to ensure the participation of children and adolescents on the Advisory Committee on Youth Guardian of Children and Young People (see recommendation and the ministers responsible for youth (see recommendation 9) is not only by financial barriers.

RECOMMENDATION 11

There is a special place in the warden’s office for children and youth to take charge of the GCYP in managing s52C (2) (b) of the 1993 Children’s Protection Act, and to ensure that the both individual and systemic language is for disabled children in the care.

RECOMMENDATION 12

The extensive media campaign to the Commonwealth of sexual abuse of children - prevalence, misunderstandings, the tactics offenders, victim services, and the treatment of offenders and the protection of children show that it is a community responsibility.

RECOMMENDATION 13

The sexual behavior of the clinic rehabilitation programs Branch, Department of Correctional Services, to be broadened, so that all children, sex offenders can participate in the program, while in the custody and at each stage of his sentence.

RECOMMENDATION 14

The fact that formalize the following procedures, and as part of implementation, which take into safer reform:

Every child and youth in the area of health care, a social worker assigned;

Every child and youth in the care regular face-to-face contact with social workers assigned to a minimum of once per month, regardless of the stability or the nature of the placement;

The main guiding principle in determining the workload of each employee, the quality of social protection of contact between the child and each young man in the area of care and their social workers, face-to-face contact at least once per month and the ability to react if Within 24 hours of contact, the child or adolescent.

As part of the implementation of the foregoing, it is recommended to provide adequate resources to recruit and retain qualified social workers.

The emphasis is on the professional development and support of social workers, including:

The reduction in the maximum size of a team of seven or eight hours and the increasing capabilities for enhanced monitoring of social workers and their own professional development;

At the mandatory training of social support for all employees to the supervisory board roles;

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky Guardianship Association (SBC) for members seeking to take charge and for services in a guardianship role in Kentucky and improving the quality of life for adults with disabilities.

The group, which, in October 2007, a meeting of the accession 7-9 pm on April 21 Lexington Public Library Eagle Creek Branch. Everyone, an interest in issues related to the guardian of - someone from the Court to rule on the behalf of another adult - is encouraged to attend.

Topics include the presentation of a national plan for the protection of adults approved expert and president of SBC, Pamela B. Teaster, Ph.D., National Public Guardianship, a legislative review and revision of the National Adult uniform guardianship and protection of networks Jurisdiction Act Proceedings of David Godfrey Access to Justice Foundation.

“Guardians working every day to improve the lives of their fellow Kentuckians,” said Sue Crone, Policy Analyst in the branch of the parent of Kentucky Department for Community Based Services.

“As a lawyer, there is a lot we can do to ensure that the best standards in practice, there are guardians of support to the State. Finally, our goal is to provide the best services for the residents of the Commonwealth. ”

Currently, it is of the SBC for research members of a common desire to promote the improvement of the policies and practices in relation to the guardianship in Kentucky and the best quality of life for disabled adults Kentuckians.

“We hope that the general public more aware of issues of guardianship, awareness of the capabilities of Guardians and challenges facing those who as a guardian,” said Crone.

To improve public knowledge, planning SBC is a one-day training will be held in October 2008. Training costs are reduced for members of SBC.

The SBC is a private, non-profit, in Kentucky, a best practice under supervision.

In sleepwalking, Charlize Theron, also co-produced, plays Joleen Reedy, finds an injury ne’er-do - the homeless and a friend of the other breast.

His brother James (Nick Stahl), and in both Joleen Tara (Annasophia Robb), their sensitivity, 11 years old girl. Joleen behind both hands to what it calls a “plan", and well intentioned, berauschte James soon finds himself unable to cope with a parent for minors.

This proves the case, if it twice lights, the road to Tara open to go anywhere, but the farm where his father abusive (Dennis Hopper) is more than pleased to give equal treatment with Tara James, and has received Joleen Children.

Robb is the latest in a seemingly endless series of precocious young talent, and can illuminate a framework Theron, given that only a few film actresses can be these days. But her magnetism may not be combined to compensate fully inflated history for a line that was neither expansionary nor profound, as the tribes to be.

NASHVILLE - A proposal is the promotion of the legislative authority that would require an individual to occupy, guardianship or custody rights when the right to coverage of a minor existing tattoo.

The action was promoted by Rep. Henry Fincher, a Democrat, Cookeville, Parliament unanimously adopted Thursday.

Under this Act, a little less than 16 years may be tattooed for a tattoo when the existing minor, the parents or guardians, and the agreement on the procedure.

Fincher’s law would also rigid punishment in case of violation of the law.
The coach has been retained in the legislation of a Senate committee since January.

A proposal is the promotion of the legislative authority that would require an individual to occupy, guardianship or custody rights when the right to coverage of a minor existing tattoo.

The action was promoted by Rep. Henry Fincher, a Democrat, Cookeville, Parliament unanimously adopted Thursday.

Under this Act, a little less than 16 years may be tattooed for a tattoo when the existing minor, the parents or guardians, and the agreement on the procedure.

Fincher’s law would also rigid punishment in case of violation of the law.
The coach has been retained in the legislation of a Senate committee since January.

Even children in society, as he is accustomed to receive young people from all types of complaints, not suitable for winter, the weather was a little surprised, like yesterday, a patrol car of the forty West-seventh Street, the police and placing it on his door shortly Menalkas Duncan, the son of Raymond Duncan, a niece of Isadora Duncan dancer.

The three children Julia Fletcher Barnard, the sister of Mrs. Booth Tarkington, who died Friday in Pasadena, tourbillonné were secretly in a car in Pasadena Riverside on Monday evening, where the wait, they were nationals.

Presiding Justice Franklin Chase Hoyt of the Children’s Court in his annual report filed with the Secretary of State and the Mayor said in part:

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The fight which has been maintained in the Surrogate’s Court for over three years between the maternal and the paternal relatives of Charles L. Buchanan, J. Roderick Buchanan, and Adelaide Buchanan, who are still minors, and who were left an estate of about $50,000 under the will of their mother, Adelaide Buchanan, has at last terminated in a victory for the paternal side of the family.

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In Convention to-day the President announced the following Select Committee on the resolution of Mr. OrDYnE, for the prevention of official corruption: Messrs. Opdykc, Folger, Tilden, L. J. Townsend and Lowe. MEMORIALS. C. C. DWvIGHT presented the memorial of the ladies of Auburn for female suffrage.

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LEAD: The Greenwich Village couple accused of beating Elizabeth Steinberg to death and neglecting their 16-month-old boy may not have adopted the two children, child welfare and law-enforcement authorities said yesterday.

The Greenwich Village couple accused of beating Elizabeth Steinberg to death and neglecting their 16-month-old boy may not have adopted the two children, child welfare and law-enforcement authorities said yesterday.

The couple - Joel B. Steinberg, 46, and Hedda Nussbaum, 45, who had presented themselves to coworkers and neighbors as the adoptive parents of the children - have been charged with murder in connection with Elizabeth’s death from a brain hemorrhage.

The Manhattan District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, said the authorities had located Elizabeth’s biological mother but had not contacted her. The biological mother of the younger child, Mitchell, has also been found and is cooperating with the investigation, prosecutors said. The boy, who has been placed in a foster home, had been found by the police tethered to a chair. His clothes were covered with urine but he was uninjured.

Mr. Morgenthau declined to discuss what evidence the authorities had uncovered in trying to piece together details about how the children came into the custody of the couple. Unanswered Questions

‘’At this point it looks to us as though there was no adoption and there was no guardianship,'’ Mr. Morgenthau said in an interview.

Little is known about the ‘’adoption'’ of Elizabeth, beyond that she is thought to have been born May 14, 1981, at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan, officials say.

Law-enforcement authorities, and a lawyer who said he was involved in the private placement of Mitchell, said the case raised questions about safeguards in the state’s private adoption system.

David Verplank, a Long Island lawyer, said in an interview that he had represented Mitchell’s biological mother, who at the time of the boy’s birth on June 21, 1986, was a teen-ager who had ‘’walked off the street in labor'’ and into Beth Israel.

Mr. Verplank said the teen-ager, whom he would not name, had sought the assistance of an attending obstetrician in the hospital to arrange an adoption.

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LEAD: TAKING CARE OF ALL the fine art piled up in this country is more than just a practical matter. It is a problem that involves the ways that Italians look at God and country, the rest of the world and themselves.

TAKING CARE OF ALL the fine art piled up in this country is more than just a practical matter. It is a problem that involves the ways that Italians look at God and country, the rest of the world and themselves.

For example, over almost 2,000 years of history the Roman Catholic Church has had all kinds of relationships with all kinds of governments here. Sometimes it called the shots, sometimes it was shot at. Right now the church is presenting itself as the world’s most beleaguered art curator badly in need of taxpayers’ money to keep the roof from falling in, quite literally in some cases.

In Rome, where dozens of churches have recently undergone some form of restoration, paid for by the church, corporate sponsors or the Government, the Ministry of Culture last year produced a list of 115 more churches needing some kind of help.

While this situation was perhaps predictable, no one seems to have really expected it to develop. The problem is not just one of appropriations and financing, although that is problem enough in a country where the Culture Ministry gets less than 1 percent of the central Government budget. Both church and state will have to redefine their relationships with culture and with each other before money can become an issue.

‘’We are entering uncharted ground because there are no norms to regulate joint action in defense of artistic patrimony,'’ said Archbishop Attilo Nicora, who heads a church office that negotiates with the Italian Government. ‘’We both need to develop policies soon, before the situation disintegrates any further.'’ Italy’s bishops redefined the meaning of ‘’faded glories'’ earlier this month at a conference that examined the dilemma of the church as curator. Implicit in the discussions was an acceptance of the fact that the church owns far more art and architecture than it can use or maintain.

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The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2,500 for the first time in its history. Stocks were lifted by a rise in the dollar that encouraged foreign buyers and by a stream of good earnings reports. The Dow rose 13.07 points, to 2,510.04, giving it a gain of 54.05 points for the week. For the year, the key indicator, which closed out 1986 at 1,895.95, has soared 614.09 points, or 32.4 percent. Most broader-based indexes also climbed to new highs as the Big Board’s volume reached a hefty 210 million shares. [ Page 35. ]

The dollar was driven sharply higher by fears over Persian Gulf tensions, rising above its recent trading ranges against the Japanese yen and West German mark. Gold was mixed, closing up $4.50, at $448, in New York. [ 43. ]

Prices of Government securities rose moderately in light trading, buoyed by the dollar’s surge. The bond market showed little reaction to the report of sluggish money supply figures. [ 38. ]

Gold and silver futures plunged, undermined by the firmer dollar. The trading reflected heavy selling by program traders. Meanwhile, oil futures rose and most agriculture futures declined. [ 43. ] The Economy

Housing starts declined 0.7 percent in June, for the fourth consecutive drop. But housing industry economists continued to be optimistic on the outlook for the rest of the year, assuming mortgage rates do not jump again. The outlook for single-family houses is better than that for multifamily dwellings, the experts said, citing high apartment vacancy rates and tax changes. [ 35. ]

The Treasury suspended all sales of savings bonds and expects to cancel an auction of securities next week. The actions arose from the latest battle in Congress over the Federal budget deficit and the national debt. Congress did not extend the Treasury’s temporary borrowing ceiling of $2.3 trillion, which has already been exceeded, so the limit reverted to $2.1 trillion at midnight last night. [ 37. ]

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WASHINGTON, March 1.–Japan is to have a free hand in protecting her interests in Siberia, as far as the United States is concerned. The attitude of this Government is that Japan has the right to take any measures she may deem necessary to safeguard and her property in Russian territory and, for that matter, the property of her allies–from …

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Prince Roland Bonaparte secured great pecuniary advantages by his marriage contract with Mlle. Blane, and has the guardianship of his infant daughter, a girl in her third year. When the heads of the dynastic families were expelled he applied to the civil tribunal for ..

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PARIS, Feb. 27. – Ferdinand Pinney Earle to-day gave to THE NEW YORK TIMES correspondent the only authentic interview with him since his arrest. He was interviewed in his cell in the old prison, built in the time of Francis I. at Romorantin, in the Department of Loire and Cher, where he awaits trial next week for the abduction of his child last October.

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BERLIN, Dec. 7 – Under the sarcastic headline “American Guardianship,” the Frankfurter Zeitung publishes a Havana telegram alleging that the United States Government has just compelled the Cuban Government to “annul” contracts it was about to place with the Vulcan Shipyard at Stettin for several coast defense vessels and to give the order to American yards, although the German bid was the lower.

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Week-end statistics gathered yesterday by the Department of Health show a marked decrease in the number of new cases of Spanish influenza and pneumonia. The health authorities predict a …

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Mr. Frank W. Smith, Chief Clerk of the Court of Special Seasons, challenges my statement about delinquent girls brought before the Children’s Court. My figures were given in round numbers from a report compiled by Mr. Ernest K. Coulter, clerk of the Children’s Court, which was published in 1909. Mr. Smith, who is not the clerk or the Children’s Court quotes from the report for 1910, which is the latest one published.

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President Taft at Manchester to-day, presiding at a meeting at the house of T. Jefferson Coolidge in the interest of Hampton Institute, took occasion to declare his opinion that “the negro ought to come, and is coming, more anad more under the guardianship of the South.”

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Most people hereabouts know of one WILLIAM BIRK, and not much, however, to his advantage. His father died several years ago and left him quite an estate. He was declared incapable of managing it, from moral obliquity, and he was placed under guardianship. He is naturally a “confidence man,” and where he is not known personally,

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Eleven months ago, a team of doctors performed an abortion on a comatose Long Island woman, Nancy Klein, in a desperate attempt to help her chances of recovery. The operation culminated a wrenching two-week court battle for her husband, who fought opponents of abortion all the way to the Supreme Court to gain legal guardianship of his 32-year-old wife and the right to decide on her abortion and, perhaps, her last chance for life.

Eleven months ago, a team of doctors performed an abortion on a comatose Long Island woman, Nancy Klein, in a desperate attempt to help her chances of recovery. The operation culminated a wrenching two-week court battle for her husband, who fought opponents of abortion all the way to the Supreme Court to gain legal guardianship of his 32-year-old wife and the right to decide on her abortion and, perhaps, her last chance for life.

Doctors who examined Mrs. Klein, who was 18 weeks pregnant, held little hope she would come out of the coma, though they agreed that an abortion could improve her chances.

Mrs. Klein emerged from the coma. She is able to talk, she recognizes her family, and she is slowly regaining her memory. She moves around in a wheelchair and wants more than anything else to go home to her husband, Martin, and daughter, Arielle, 4.

‘Slow Constant Progress’

‘’She’s doing amazingly well,'’ said Dr. Caroline O. McCagg, medical director of the Center for Head Injuries at the Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Rehabilitation Institute in Edison, N.J., where Mrs. Klein has been undergoing extensive therapy since March. ‘’She’s made slow constant progress. It’s incredible.'’

‘’Nancy is a fighter,'’ said Mr. Klein, who did not allow his wife to be interviewed. ‘’That’s what’s allowed her to go this far. I hate to say, ‘I told you so,’ but it helps to confirm in my mind that I made the correct decision.'’

Doctors would not say that the abortion definitely brought Mrs. Klein out of her coma, but Dr. McCagg said it did make it safer to give her medication. After Mrs. Klein emerged from the coma, the abortion also allowed her to follow a more aggressive rehabilitation program, Dr. McCagg added.

Mrs. Klein, pregnant with the couple’s second child, lapsed into a coma after suffering brain damage in a car accident on Dec. 13, 1988. Mr. Klein, 35, an accountant from Upper Brookville, and his wife’s doctors concurred that an abortion could enhance her chances of recovery.

Operation in Manhasset

What began as a private family matter turned into a public battle between local and national opponents and supporters of abortion rights, forcing Mr. Klein to fight the opponents in three state courts and the Supreme Court for the guardianship.

When the last challenge was dismissed, doctors at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, L.I., performed the abortion on Mrs. Klein on Feb. 11. Shortly afterward, she was transferred to the 45-bed Hartwick at Oak Tree Extended-Care Unit of Johnson Institute, an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Medical Center.

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A petition was heard in the Probate Court here to-day for the appointment of a guardian of the person and estate of William H. King, the aged millionaire, confined in the Somerville Insane Asylum, in place of his late guardian, David King, who died recently in Washington.

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Controller Ashbel P. Fitch of New-York is In Washington to-night and will remain here until to-morrow. While here he will bring to the attention of Congress the claim of NewYork City upon the General Government for furnishing troops In 1861. The claim now amounts to more than $1,000,000, but Mr. Fitch says the city is willing to compromise on an even million.

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While one large party of young people, under the guardianship of Rev. Mr. VAN METER, of the Ladies’ Mission at the Five Points, was leaving New-York for homes in the West, another fine-looking family of 20 children, of both sexes, were preparing for a similar journey to Pennsylvania under the care of Mr. D. A. WETTZ, of Quincy, Franklin County.

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To the Editor of The New York Times: Should the demands made by the United States upon Cuba, in the initial stage of the organization of the Cuban Government, be acceded to by the Cubans, that island would become the ward of Uncle Sam.

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No apology was necessary for your note to me on the 7th inst.; for, surely, if the “prominent men” who lately met in this city, to whose movement you refer, may meet here and take into their deliberations and guardianship our rights, opinions and sacred honor as well as their own, without our consent or consultation with us.

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A Jordanian official said today that his nation would move quickly to resolve the future of the two children of a New Jersey woman who was slain by her husband before he fled with them to his native Jordan. The official assured the dead woman’s sister that custody laws in Jordan would favor her effort to retrieve the children.

“We expect that this will not be a long process,” said Awn Khasawneh, a member of the Jordanian Foreign Ministry with the rank of ambassador, who was in Washington with King Hussein for the signing of a peace accord with Israel.

“We do not want Jordan to become a safe haven for people who murder their wives and kidnap their children,” he said. He added, “Our law has a presumption in favor of the mother as far as custody is concerned, fortunately in this case.”

He made his comments at a news conference outside the Jordanian Embassy with Nesime Dokur of Passaic County, the sister of the dead woman, Nihal Abequa. Escorted by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Ms. Dokur pleaded in tears for the safe return of her niece, Lisa, 6, and nephew, Sami, 3. ‘The Only Family They Know’

“My sister was murdered,” said Ms. Dokur, a member of the United States Army Reserve, who has been granted guardianship of the children by a New Jersey judge. “I just want the children back. We are the only family they know. I can’t wait on the formalities of paperwork.”

Mrs. Abequa was strangled July 6 in Parsippany-Troy Hills, N.J. Her husband, Mohammad Ismail Abequa, is being held in a Jordanian prison, and has told reporters and the Jordanian authorities that he killed her.

Senator Lautenberg offered to arrange a Government or private flight for Ms. Dokur to attend the custody hearings in Jordan. He said that she “is not a wealthy woman.”

“Formalities aside, we want those children back, and we want them back now,” the Senator said. Mr. Lautenberg would not rule out efforts to seek extradition of Mr. Abequa, a 45-year-old auto mechanic who was arrested last week after he fled through Tennessee and Europe to the Middle East, but he said the first priority was returning the children. The Senator plans to hand-deliver a letter from Ms. Dokur to King Hussein in a lunch at the Capitol on Tuesday.

The United States and Jordan have no extradition treaty, and Mr. Khasawneh said Mr. Abequa “will be tried in accordance with our laws and receive his due punishment.”

Ms. Dokur said the children were in Mr. Abequa’s mother’s house in Jordan, with his two sisters, and that his older brother, Yihya, a brigadier general in the Jordanian Army, had vowed they would never be returned. Before she could finish her sentence, she was overcome by tears.

In an interview over the weekend at Juweidah Prison, south of Amman, Mr. Abequa accused his wife, who was born in Turkey, of drinking and forsaking Muslim ways and refusing to raise their children in the faith. Ms. Dokur, who Lautenberg aides said was Muslim, denounced that as “absolute lies."‘ Seeking Proof of Kinship

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Application was yesterday made to the Probate Court of Washtenaw county for letters of guardianship for the estate of William E. Cheever, a wellknown lawyer of this city, who is alleged to be insane. Mr. Cheever, though having an office and doing business in this city, lives in Ypsilanti; hence the proceedings are had in Washtenaw county.

Source : query.nytimes.com

Turkey has repudiated the guardianship of the great powers and announced her “entry into the group of European powers, with all the rights and prerogatives of an entirely independent Government.”

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James Neal Plum, a well-known clubman, has been cited before Surrogate Ransom to give an account of his stewardship as guardian of his daughter Marie Jeannette and to show cause why he should not be removed from the guardianship of his younger daughter, Sara Lenita.

Source : query.nytimes.com

A case of some interest has been before the Surrogate for several days past, and was finally submitted yesterday. There are two applicants for the guardianship of two minor children of JOHN LAFFEN, deceased. The mother died in March last, and the father in December, leaving three children; one has since died.

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Mayor Hylan yesterday vetoed the curfew ordinance passed by the Board of Aldermen on Nov. 25, which provided that the police should take to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children or to their homes all children under 16 found in the streets, unaccompanied by an elder person, after 10 o’clock in Summer and 9 o’clock in Winter.

Source : query.nytimes.com

The proposed marriage of Miss Mathilde McCormick, granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller and daughter of Harold F. McCormick, head of the International Harvester …

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Romona Borden, the seventeen-year-old daughter of Gail Borden, son, namesake, and heir to the millionaire founder of the Borden Condensed Milk Company, was taken away by two women in an automobile yesterday afternoon from the W.C. Adams Sanitarium, in Pompton, N.J., where she was a patient and where she was taking exercise in the grounds under the guardianship of a paid companion.

Source : query.nytimes.com

After a seven-year legal battle that became a rallying cause for gay rights groups, a Minnesota appeals court yesterday granted guardianship of Sharon Kowalski, a 35-year-old woman left brain-damaged and quadriplegic in a 1983 car accident, to her lesbian lover.

“This seems to be the first guardianship case in the nation in which an appeals court recognized a homosexual partner’s rights as tantamount to those of a spouse,” said M. Sue Wilson, the lawyer for Ms. Kowalski’s lover, Karen Thompson.

Ms. Thompson had fought since 1984 to be named guardian, over the objections of Donald and Della Kowalski, who said their daughter had never told them she was a lesbian and who barred Ms. Thompson from visiting their daughter’s nursing home for several years after the accident. A Cause Taken Up

Ms. Thompson’s fight to be reunited with her lover became a cause celebre among groups advocating gay rights and rights for the disabled. These groups organized vigils and processions in 21 cities on Aug. 7, 1988, which was called “National Free Sharon Kowalski Day.”

“This case exemplifies the difficulties lesbians and gay men have in safeguarding our relationships,” said William Rubenstein, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. “The remarkable thing about this case is not that Karen Thompson finally won guardianship, but that it took her seven years to do so, when guardianship rights for a heterosexual married couple would be taken for granted.”

Mr. Rubenstein said the Thompson case had struck a responsive chord among homosexuals, coming just as many gay men whose partners had died of AIDS were finding that they had no legal rights to stay in their apartments, share in the estates or decide where their partners would be buried.

“This case, and AIDS, have been the defining events of the 1980’s in this area,” Mr. Rubenstein said. “It’s underscored why we need legal protection, and created a terrific incentive to fight for these kinds of marital rights and recognition of domestic partnership.”

The Minnesota Court of Appeals said the St. Louis County District Court in Duluth had abused its discretion in denying Ms. Thompson’s petition to become Ms. Kowalski’s caretaker and instead appointing a third party, who was a close friend of Ms. Kowalski’s parents.

“Thompson’s suitability for guardianship was overwhelmingly clear form the testimony of Sharon’s doctors and caretakers,” the appeals court said. A Battle’s History

Ms. Kowalski, a former high school gym teacher, has required around-the-clock care since the automobile accident left her nearly paralyzed, with severe short-term memory loss and impaired ability to speak.

Her father, a retired mining foreman, won sole guardianship in July 1985, moved his daughter to a nursing home in Hibbing, Minn., and barred any visits by Ms. Thompson, a 44-year-old physical education professor at St. Cloud State University.

Over the next three years, Ms. Thompson filed appeals in local, state and Federal courts, seeking to change the guardianship decision and charging that Ms. Kowalski was being denied access to the therapy she needed.

In September 1988, Judge Robert Campbell of the St. Louis County District Court ordered a comprehensive evaluation of Ms. Kowalski, and she was moved to a Duluth nursing home, where Ms. Thompson was allowed to resume visits to the woman with whom she had exchanged wedding bands.

Last year, Mr. Kowalski resigned his guardianship, citing heart problems and weariness with the extended court proceedings. In April, Judge Campbell awarded guardianship to a third party, Karen Tomberlin, Ms. Kowalski’s high school track and volleyball coach.

Source : query.nytimes.com

After a five-year legal battle in Minnesota between the parents of a paralyzed, brain-damaged woman and her lesbian lover, a judge has chosen a third party to act as the disabled woman’s legal guardian.

In his ruling in the case Judge Robert Campbell of the St. Louis County District Court in Duluth, Minn., likened the paralyzed woman, Sharon Kowalski, now 34 years old, to a child over whom divorcing parents do battle.

“The two wings of her family were unable to reach agreement on her care and visitation, matters which will serve her best interests,” he wrote in an opinion issued Wednesday. “She must enjoy the love and comfort of both wings of her family for her complete well-being and her long-term rehabilitation.”

Those goals can be accomplished, he said, only through the appointment of a “neutral third party.”

Closeted before the accident, the couple became a cause celebre, the subject of parades and vigils. They came to symbolize the struggle for equal rights of homosexuals and people with disabilities. Judge’s Ruling Denounced

The woman’s lover, Karen Thompson, 43, immediately denounced Judge Campbell’s ruling, accusing him of appointing a guardian who was just a “stand-in” for Ms. Kowalski’s parents.

And a spokesman for lesbian and gay groups called the ruling “deeply offensive” and predicted it would “resonate throughout the law.”

Source : query.nytimes.co

As a people, we have had so much hard work upon our hands for tho last twenty years, and we have had so much trouble in our business, our politics, and our finance, that we have scarcely been aware of the importance of our social life and of the significant developments in what may be called our young society.

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The domestic troubles of Dr. Felix Mottl, the distinguished conductor and composer, have been taken to court in consequence of the recent revelations in the libel suit brought by him and others against the Bayrische Courier. Dr. Mottl has appealed to the court here to put his wife under guardianship, so that he may be protected from her extravagance.

Source : query.nytimes.com

A well-dressed woman who told reporters she was not seeking publicity appeared in Children’s Court yesterday and urged Justice Ryan to return 15-year-old Flora Shapiro to her father, Louis Shapiro, who lives in two back rooms at 363 Cherry Street.

Source : query.nytimes.com

-Reform of the Foreign Service continues to occupy considerable attention in Germany, and has taken on almost political significance. The big industrialists, and men of the economic world, especially those of the Hansa towns, have banded …

Source : query.nytimes.com

Dr. Enrique Olaya Herrera, who has written this article for THE NEW YORK TIMES, was formerly Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia, and has just come here on his way hone from Chile and Argentina, where he was Colombian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.

Source : query.nytimes.com

BY a curious chain of events the guardianship of the historic Herkimer homestead in the Mohawk Valley has passed in great meas ure into the control not of patriots of American ancestry and traditions but of the New York State German-American Alliance and its foreign-born …

Source : query.nytimes.com

The Children’s Court of the City of New York began its separate and independent existence on July 1, 1915. After twelve or thirteen years of dependency or subordination as a branch of the Court of Special Sessions it…

Source : query.nytimes.com

The Chronicle editorially suggests that America may eventually be called upon to exercise a sort of suzerainty over Palestine.

Source : query.nytimes.com

Four-year-old Michel and two-year-old Edmond Navratil, the two waifs who were saved from the sinking Titanic and brought to this city under the temporary guardianship of Miss Margaret Hayes, of 304 West Eighty-third Street, another survivor, are waifs no longer. They have a mother now, just like other children of less romantic and adventurous infancy.

Source : query.nytimes.com

Many years ago, this State created two departments whose purpose and duty were to supervise respectively insurance and banking corporations, seeing to it that thesewere organized and steadily conducted according to the statutes respecting them.

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To the Editor of The New-York Daily Times: The grounds lately assumed by the distinguished exile from this country have made the question of intervention no longer a theoretical but a practical question, and the popular interest he excites among all classes, and the obvious desire that some parties have manifested to use the movement for personal and political purposes, have invested it with an importance not inferior to ally connected with public affairs.

Source : query.nytimes.com

A decree of the Grand Duke Frederick Francis was gazetted to-day placing his uncle, Duke Paul Frederick, and the latter’s wife, the Princess Marie of Windisch-Graetz, under guardianship.

Source : query.nytimes.com

THE conference of American envoys, now in session at Niagara, promises to be a turning point in the diplomatic history of this country. Technically, it is merely a mediation; actually, the official representatives of the five foremost American powers are discussing together the best means of settling the tangled Mexican situation. This is the first time that the leading American republics have met to solve pressing political problems of common interest.

Source : query.nytimes.com

A dispute over the parentage of a French boy who is believed to have inherited a considerable estate in France was revealed in Surrogates’ Court yesterday by the application of Miss Margaret C. Nelson of 607 West 136th Street for letters of guardianship for Eugene de Claris Lapanne, 14 years old.

Source : query.nytimes.co

The Eleventh Annual Exhibition of live stock, staple vegetables, grains, fruit, flowers, , was celebrated at Flushing, L.I., yesterday. The members of the American Institute, with a number of other gentlemen from this City, were invited to at: tend as guests of the Queens County Agricultural Society, and were conveyed to Flushing by the steamboat Island City, which left Fulton Market slip at 9 o’clock. and arrived at her destination at about 101/2.

Source : query.nytimes.com

That old acquaintance, the Freedom of Worship bill, so called, is again before the Legislature. This is a measure the demand for which was first formulated by the “Catholic Union” in 1875, nearly twenty years ago, and in one shape or another it has been before the Legislature pretty constantly over since, always being defeated but never killed.

Source : query.nytimes.com

When the will of Mayor Gaynor was formally opened in the Surrogate’s Court in Brooklyn yesterday preparatory to being offered for probate, it was found that Mr. Gaynor, in disposing of an estate believed to be worth between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000, had left the bulk of his property to his widow and five of his children, and to his two married daughters $1,000 each.

Source : query.nytimes.com

At the annual meeting and dinner of the National Institute of Arts and Letters at the University Club, Fifth Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street, a reply to a message sent last Spring by the National Institute in the care of John Finley, State Commissioner of Education, …

Source : query.nytimes.com

Secretary Cortelyou’s response to the Senate resolution of Dec. 12 last, calling for information concerning the causes and methods of remedying the recent financial panic was received by Vice President Fairbanks today, and the Senate ordered it printed.

Source : query.nytimes.com

In December, 1855, Gazaway B. Lamar, a well-known and wealthy merchant of Georgia, then temporarily residing on Staten Island, was appointed by the Surrogate of Richmond County guardian of the estate of Anna C. Sims, a little girl 4 years of age, who was a native and resident of the State of Alabama, but who was also they temporarily living on Staten Island.

Source : query.nytimes.com

Supreme Court Justice Bijur reserved decision yesterday after hearing a three-hour argument on an application by the Greater New York Film Rental Company for an injunction against the Motion Picture Patents Company, its subsidiary manufacturing and importing companies, and the General Film Company. Samuel Untermyer pictured the defendants as parties to a “criminal conspiracy” to drive the Film Rental Company and other rivals of the General Film Company in the film-renting field out of business.

Source : query.nytimes.com

Counsel for Samuel Rzechewski, the 11-year-old international chess prodigy, yesterday obtained his release in $l,000 bail from Judge Samuel D. Levy in the Bronx Children’s Court, on the agreement that the boy will not play a game of chess for a week.

Source : query.nytimes.com

-The London Times says that the Reuter report of Count Czernin’s recent speech on peace corresponds to a great extent with the text which was published in Germany.

Source : query.nytimes.com

WALTER STOREY, General Secretary of the National Board of Censorship which has taken upon itself the guardianship of public morals from injury by moving-picture shows, defends his organization from the charges just brought against it by the Woman’s Municipal League

Source : query.nytimes.com

Neighbors and school teachers appeared before Justice Ryan in the Children’s Court, Brooklyn, to testify in the case of Adele Ackerman, 7 years old, of 323 Stockholm street, who was committed to the care of the Children’s Society on the charge of improper guardianship.

Source : query.nytimes.com

The Commercial Advertiser, speaking of the series of meetings held at the Chinese Museum, by Mr. Fillmore’s friends, says: “Their very conversational character indicated the impropriety of publication, and the facility with which an air of exaggeration or burlesque has been thrown around their proceedings, in even a Whig newspaper, is further evidence that the talk was designed rather to be friendly, and in some sense confidential, than for the public ear.”

Source : query.nytimes.com

The likelihood that the guardianship of John L. De Saulles, Jr., the infant son of Mrs. Blanca Errazuriz De Saulles, will be taken from her before she has been indicted for killing her husband was indicated yesterday in the course of an argument before Surrogate Fowler in the application of Charles A.H. De Saulles, uncle of the boy, to be named

Source : query.nytimes.com

The Health Department announced yesterday that it has instituted’s service to care for the hundreds of well children who have been exposed to Spanish influenza of whose parents have died and left them, temporarily at least, without proper guardianship.

Source : query.nytimes.com

The wrangling over a 6-year-old Cuban boy shifted today from the streets to the courthouse, where a Miami judge said she would decide early next week whether to grant custody to the boy’s great-uncle, with whom he is living.

If the state court judge, Rosa Rodriguez, grants the request, the great-uncle could immediately reapply for political asylum on behalf of the boy, Elian Gonzalez. The tangled legal process could delay or block the boy’s return to Cuba.

But legal experts said it would be unlikely for the judge to take legal custody away from the boy’s father, who has asked for Elian’s return and who was found by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to have a close relationship with his son.

In a move to step up the pressure, local Cuban-American leaders met tonight in Washington with Attorney General Janet Reno to discuss the service’s decision to reunite Elian with his father in Cuba by Friday. The group, which included Mayor Alex Penelas of Miami-Dade County and Mayor Joe Carollo of Miami, asked her to overturn the order.

After the 45-minute meeting, which was arranged by Vice President Al Gore, Mr. Penelas told reporters that he had asked Ms. Reno to ‘’consider the clear desire of the mother,'’ that Elian grow up in the United States. Mr. Penelas added that he felt the boy’s father ‘’has been coerced'’ into demanding that the boy return to Cuba.

If Ms. Reno decides not to overturn the ruling, Mr. Penelas said, he urged her at least to delay the decision for 35 to 45 days to allow lawyers for Elian’s relatives in Florida to prepare a legal case to block his return.

‘’I asked the vice president to intercede on Elian’s behalf, and he did,'’ Mr. Penelas said earlier today.

On Wednesday, immigration officials ruled that federal and international laws compelled them to honor a request by Elian’s father to be re-united with his son. Elian’s mother and stepfather died at sea in late November when the boat they were taking to the United States capsized off Florida. The father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has said he was unaware that his former wife was planning to flee the country with his son.

On another front, Representative Dan Burton, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, issued a subpoena for Elian to appear before his panel on Feb. 10 in an effort to keep him in this country at least temporarily. An actual committee hearing may not even take place, a Republican committee aide said.

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Health Commissioner Royal S. Copeland said yesterday that there were approximately 21,000 children who had been made half or full orphans by the Spanish influenza epidemic. In 7,200 families either one parent or both had died.

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Protestant children convicted of error or whose guardianship is improper are committed every day by the Children’s Court of this city to Catholic institutions as a result of the inadequacy of Protestant juvenile institutions.

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-Ex-Emperor Charles is now on a British ship, an exile from his country to an island in the Atlantic. Today the Portuguese Government signified to the Allies that it was to give him a place of domicile, under guard, in Madeira, and the conditions of his guardianship are now being arranged.

Source : query.nytimes.com

The Kortright habeas corpus case in which a prominent alienist testified that Gouverneur Kortright was a paretic in the stage of dementia, ended yesterday. Mr. Kortright was adjudged to be sane, and the custody of his seven-year-old daughter, Alice Gouverneur Kortright, was awarded to her aunt, Miss Phipps.

Source : query.nytimes.com

Q: Last week, I visited my 88-year-old great uncle in Everett, and he asked me to look at his will and other papers.

He’s a delightful man with whom I keep in touch via occasional phone calls and visits. I’m an attorney in Oregon but have little knowledge of estate planning. I was shocked to see that my uncle’s will was prepared not by an attorney, but by an “administrator” who is a friend of my uncle’s main beneficiary, his caregiver at the assisted-living facility where he lives. Upon my uncle’s death, this caregiver will receive $100,000 and a stock transfer of $60,000. Another document he showed me will transfer $500,000 in retirement assets to my uncle’s sister upon his death. The caregiver wasn’t involved in this arrangement, but my uncle is concerned he’ll find out and take the money that’s supposed to go to the sister. This caregiver also has my uncle’s durable power of attorney (DPOA). Isn’t it unethical for a caregiver to receive large sums from a client’s will?

A: I hope you will run, not walk, to protect your uncle from this apparent con artist. The circumstances you describe are a “disaster waiting to happen,” says Pat Sainsbury, chief deputy prosecuting attorney, Fraud Division, in King County. In the wrong hands, he said, a DPOA can be a license to steal.

First step, advised Jacob Menashe, an estate-planning attorney in Lynnwood, is to get your uncle to “drive the show” by seeing an attorney on his own to revoke the DPOA, sign a new one and write a will that reflects his wishes. Most attorneys will want to speak to your uncle alone. You could accompany him, but how much involvement you have will depend on your uncle’s wishes, as well as the attorney’s approach.

If your uncle balks at getting help, Menashe said, the facts appear dire enough for you to hire an attorney yourself and seek immediate relief through Superior Court. There are different ways to do this, such as filing a vulnerable-adult petition or guardianship petition. One way or another, what’s happening needs to see the light of day as soon as possible.

Sainsbury noted that he’s never heard of an “administrator” who writes wills, and he wonders whether the person who prepared your uncle’s will is practicing law without a license — a gross misdemeanor.

Second step: Tell the assisted-living facility where your uncle lives what the caregiver is doing. I’m sure its policies prohibit staff from receiving even $25 cash at Christmas, much less being named in a resident’s will. This caregiver’s behavior isn’t just unethical, it’s potentially illegal. It sounds as if he’s exploiting your uncle financially, and the facility will want to know. The facility is required to report suspected exploitation to Residential Care Services (800-562-6078), which is something you can do as well.

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A baby girl abandoned at a bus stop has been placed in the guardianship of the province following exhaustive but unsuccessful efforts to find her parents, officials say.

Judge Jodie F. Werier announced the decision in a five-minute hearing Thursday in Vancouver Family Court, taking note of efforts by police and social workers to find the infant’s family over the past six weeks.

The action clears the way for adoption of the child, who is now in foster care.

A woman found the naked child in a plastic bag Nov. 27 at a bus stop east of the University of British Columbia. She cuddled the baby for a time, expecting the mother to return, then called police.

The baby initially experienced some breathing difficulty and was on a ventilator at British Columbia Children’s Hospital, then improved and by early December was described as chubby and in good health.

Jeremy Berland, British Columbia director of child protection, appealed again for the birth parents to come forward, saying they have information that could be vital to the baby and prospective adoptive parents.

“They can call us anonymously. We are not interested in prosecuting them,” Berland said.

“We will be asking adoptive parents to take a certain amount of risk in regards to her genetic background, possible learning disorders or other disabilities, and her parents could provide us with answers,” he said.

The Children and Family Development Ministry will maintain its file on the baby so her parents can contact officials at any time, Berland added.

“It’s something they can do within the next 20 years. We’ll always be willing to receive that information,” he said. “We don’t want her to grow up just thinking she was abandoned at a bus stop and nobody cared.”

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When Mabel Miller died in 1998 at the age of 94, she wanted her estate to be divided among relatives and a Seattle neighbor who had cared for her.

But when the heirs tried to collect their money, a big chunk of it — about $140,000 — was missing. Miller’s guardian had no idea where it was and had kept the problem secret for years.

This case of the missing money reveals flaws in the oversight of guardians, both by the courts and the state Certified Professional Guardian Board.

Washington’s guardian system offers more protections than do those in most states. Only a handful have a board that regulates guardians. Wards here have the right to a lawyer. Formed in 2000, Washington’s board decides whether applicants are qualified to be guardians, provides them training and investigates grievances.

The board also can discipline guardians with sanctions ranging from admonishment to taking away certificates.

Board members include judges, college professors and professional guardians.

But, in some ways, the board has little power. It doesn’t involve itself in complaints relating to active court cases. That’s because the board can’t pre-empt the judges who oversee those cases.

In five years, the board has taken action against seven guardians or guardian companies. One lost certification. The others negotiated deals in which they promised not to break the rules. Some agreed to additional monitoring.

Among the seven was Mabel Miller’s guardian, Northwest Guardianship Services, a SeaTac company run by Judith Y. Williams.

Throughout the 1990s, an employee of Williams’ embezzled money from the company, including money held in trust for its wards, according to King County court records.

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Karen Weed nearly lost her life when a cement truck crushed her car. She survived a coma and cardiac arrest, broken bones and brain damage.

But she was determined not to lose her independence. After Weed got a significant insurance settlement, a family lawyer filed papers to have her declared a ward of the court, saying she couldn’t manage her money without professional help.

Weed and her family later objected, but the lawyer persisted. So they fired him.

Yet when Weed’s family walked into a Snohomish County courtroom last March for a hearing on whether a guardian would be appointed, there he was again: Michael Olver, the lawyer they had told to get lost.

“What’s he doing here?” wondered Weed’s daughter, Laura Box.

Olver had switched sides. He now represented EthiCare, the company trying to become Weed’s guardian. The same company had been Olver’s client for years — and would soon take control of Weed’s life, charging her thousands of dollars along the way.

Weed and her daughter had stumbled upon a problem common to many guardianships, a complicated, little-known corner of the law where courts can grant strangers tremendous power over vulnerable family members.

Potential conflicts of interest radiate through guardianship cases, a Seattle Times investigation has found. The roles played by lawyers, guardians, court-appointed investigators and investment managers often overlap or blur. Sometimes, the same person assumes multiple responsibilities that would normally be kept separate.

And who’s to know? The Weed file, for instance, has been stamped secret — one of hundreds of such cases to be improperly removed from public scrutiny.

Judges and court commissioners across the state have sealed the entire file in at least 398 guardianship cases since 1990, The Times found during its ongoing series investigating concealed court records. Most of the cases were sealed in King County.

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For years, King County Superior Court Commissioner Stephen Gaddis oversaw the guardianships of thousands of vulnerable people. He also hid more of these court cases from public scrutiny than any of his colleagues.

Gaddis sealed at least 48 guardianship cases in their entirety since 1990, according to a Seattle Times review of available sealing orders. Not one was properly sealed.

He also seemed to play favorites in court, go on tirades, and take glee in spotting paperwork flaws, according to complaints filed against him.

In some cases, wards paid the price.

The state Commission on Judicial Conduct and King County Superior Court both reprimanded Gaddis. Last year, he retired from the King County bench.

Appointed as court commissioner in 1981, Gaddis later found a niche hearing guardianship cases, and developed a reputation as an expert and reformer in that area of law. He instituted rules to protect wards, developed ethics guidelines and helped write legislation to monitor guardians.

But there was another side to Gaddis. Between 1991 and 2002, according to court records, he amassed 17 written complaints and numerous oral complaints. In 1997, the presiding judge told Gaddis in a memo that he’d received “at least a half dozen complaints over the past month or two … from inside and outside court.”

Gaddis, 61, downplays the issue. “Seventeen complaints in 25 years is a pat on the back,” he said recently.

But former Presiding Judge Richard Eadie said: “In my opinion, that was a lot. Most of our judicial officers don’t get complaints like that.”

Several complaints accused Gaddis of mistreating parties in guardianship cases. One case involved parents of a child who was killed in an accident. Another son was injured. They asked Gaddis to approve a plan in which they paid college tuition for the surviving son with settlement money.

Gaddis told them they were “shirking their parental duties” by not paying for college out of their own pocket, their complaint said.

“What should have been a routine matter became a devastating experience,” wrote the parents’ lawyer.

Gaddis later said he had merely been explaining the law. He eventually approved their plan.

In June 2002, Guardianship Services of Seattle (GSS) and its related company, Partners In Care, presented Eadie with a 60-page complaint against Gaddis.

Among the allegations: Gaddis accepted sets of tickets for third-row seats at two Mariners games and a $287 dinner from guardian James Degel, 55, a lawyer whose cases Gaddis regularly ruled on.

In addition, GSS wrote that Gaddis was biased and had made untrue accusations about the company out of the blue in a crowded courtroom.

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Fabulous wealth and halfway houses.

An unexpected death, alleged conflicts of interest and a battle over $82 million.

This is the story of James Widener Ray, a story that was sealed up in a King County Superior Court guardianship file for nearly two decades. The file was unsealed after Ray’s family challenged the guardian’s role in Ray’s will.

At the center of the controversy was Washington’s biggest guardianship company, Guardianship Services of Seattle (GSS), and its financial director, Ed Gardner.

The story begins in the 1980s when Ray, mentally ill and addicted to drugs, was living in a halfway house despite his wealth. His family asked for the appointment of a guardian, a role that GSS personnel took on in 1987.

Under the company’s care, Ray’s life improved dramatically. He bought a house on Capitol Hill, traveled and gave generously to friends and arts organizations in Seattle and elsewhere, including $1 million to the Experience Music Project. Unfortunately, his bipolar disorder would never be fully under control.

Then in October 2005, Ray died unexpectedly at age 52.

When family members learned the details of his will, they were dismayed. Under an old will, Ray had left everything to relatives, heirs of the Widener family of Philadelphia, which made a fortune in the meat and railroad industries.

He signed a new will in 1998, a four-paragraph document also signed by his psychiatrist, saying Ray was of sound mind. Under the new will, Ray bequeathed his entire estate to the Raynier Institute and Foundation, a Seattle charity that GSS had helped him create years before.

Ray’s sister, Joan Ray, said she didn’t have a problem giving the money to charity; she was just concerned about the guardian’s role in the foundation.

Gardner was the longtime president of the foundation’s board. And under the foundation’s bylaws, he could serve for life. In addition to his role as Ray’s guardian, Gardner became personal representative and executor of Ray’s estate.

“There were too many hats worn by one person,” Joan Ray said recently. She wasn’t accusing Gardner of wrongdoing, but she challenged the will, arguing in court papers that her brother hadn’t understood that Gardner and the two other board members could run “the foundation in perpetuity with no independent controls on them.”

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To the Editor of The New York Times: It seems desirable, even necessary, to correct two misstatements made in “Laws Discriminating Against Women in the State of New York,” by Harriette M. Johnston-Wood, as quoted in THE TIMES of March 26. Mrs. Johnston-Wood says, “A wife cannot make a binding contract with her husband to pay her for services within or without the household.”

Source : query.nytimes.com

School authorities in northern New Jersey today gave parents credit for creativity in enrolling their children in highly regarded suburban schools where they don’t belong.

One New York City mother, a tollbooth operator at the George Washington Bridge, sent her son to live with his grandfather in Montclair and attend school there.

Another family rented an apartment in New Milford, established phone service and arranged to have mail forwarded to their real home in a nearby town, in order to feign residence in New Milford and enroll their children in its schools.

Another couple living in a community near Paramus arranged to drive their child each school day – hidden inside their car – into the garage of a cousin living in Paramus. Minutes later, the child would emerge through the front door and board a Paramus schoolbus. 22 Outsiders, No Payment

The accounts emerged in a hearing here on a bill before the New Jersey Legislature that would allow communities to tighten residency requirements and stiffen penalties for school enrollment fraud. School officials from a dozen districts in Bergen, Essex and Monmouth Counties testified about the problems they had seen. Like the Paramus and New Milford superintendents, who gave the examples above, some speakers did not identify the real towns the children lived in, for privacy reasons.

“This thing has just snowballed,” said Richard A. Cirelli, schools superintendent in the Bergenfield, N.J., schools. “We didn’t have this problem five years ago.”

Mr. Cirelli said that the costs of leniency toward nonresident students had become too great for his district, which has a student population of 3,100. The authorities discovered 22 nonresident students attending schools in Bergenfield last spring, and when confronted with the evidence, the parents withdrew their children, he said. The district has sent out tuition bills amounting to $176,000, but so far has not received a dime in payment, Mr. Cirelli said.

“It’s a burden for the taxpayers when parents of these children aren’t paying the freight; it’s just not right,” said Senator John H. Ewing, a Republican from Bernardsville, who is co-sponsoring the legislation with Senator Louis F. Kosco, a Republican from Saddle Brook. Limit on Naming Guardians

The proposed law would forbid parents to put their children under the guardianship of others within a New Jersey school district “solely for the purpose of receiving a free public education within the district.”

Most of the parents believed to be engaging in the fraudulent enrollment live in nearby New Jersey communities, the officials said, although many are New Yorkers.

“We have reason to believe that there are lots of folks bringing their kids across the bridge from New York to attend school here,” said John M. Henderson, an associate director of the New Jersey School Boards Association.

Several officials reported that foreign parents had sent their children to New Jersey towns, where they had taken up residence, living under the legal guardianship of relatives with United States residence status, all in order to attend New Jersey schools.

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In your editorial of Feb. 21 you cite four grievances as “running the gamut of present-day feminist demands.” You recall that women’s grievances in the past have had attention, one by one, and you voice, if I am not mistaken, spirit of confidence that these last four will be righted, and a spirit of hope that when they are righted women will not have any more grievances to bother about. [

Source : query.nytimes.com

Get it in writing. In Washington, parents can nominate a guardian in a will or power of attorney. Even so, it can still be contested. According to state law, “the court shall confirm the parent’s nomination unless the court finds, based upon evidence presented at a hearing on the matter, that the individual nominated in the surviving parent’s will or durable power of attorney is not qualified to serve.” A verbal agreement, like naming godparents, is not legally binding, explained Seattle attorney Stacey Romberg.

Discuss why instead of who. If parents disagree, begin by articulating your priorities, such as keeping kids in the same school or a shared parenting style. That’s a less emotional starting point than “my sister versus your mom,” suggests George Sayre, a Seattle University psychology professor.

Give prospective guardians time to think — and a graceful out. Explain that you’ve made financial arrangements for children and that if circumstances change (such as having more children of their own), they’re free to let you know they’re no longer available. Assure them you have other options so they don’t feel pressured, Sayre advises.

Don’t take it personally. “If you sense any hesitation, name someone else,” advises attorney Nihara Choudhri, author of “Parent Savvy.” “They’re not legally obligated. You don’t want kids to be in the position where the guardian you’ve chosen turns down the job.”

Plan for contingencies. Choose a backup or two in case your first choice is unable to serve. Name a person rather than a couple to avoid complications in case of divorce. A same-sex partner should adopt a nonbiological child to avoid a legal fight with relatives if the biological parent dies.

Consider trusts. Without any provisions, children receive all their inheritance at 18. Parents can set up a trust to stagger distributions at, say, age 24 and 30. “Most parents are wary of having an 18-year-old inherit that kind of money,” said Marsha Goetting, a family economics specialist with the Montana State University Extension Service.

Finances shouldn’t be the primary concern. Guardians can access trust funds to, say, buy a van or even a bigger house to care for children. If the best guardian isn’t good with money, parents can name someone else as trust manager.

Stay on the same page if you divorce. Except in rare circumstances (incarceration, for example), the biological parent receives custody of children if the other parent dies, even if parents are divorced or were never married. Divorced parents should name the same guardian in their wills in the unlikely event they both die.

Update wills. Wills should reflect major life events, such as a new baby, or changes in a guardian’s life. Parents may want to revisit guardianship of teenagers, with teens’ input.

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My e-mail inbox has filled up in recent weeks with one repeated theme — an older person with dementia isn’t taking care of herself.

She needs help paying bills, preparing meals, bathing and other important tasks, but she refuses to allow anyone to help. She hasn’t named a person she trusts to make decisions for her, or she’s named someone who’s doing a poor job. What should the people who care about her do? Today I’ll address the first issue: What to do if no one has the authority to make decisions on behalf of someone who’s become demented. Next week I’ll tackle the second: How to undo the decision-making power if it’s in the wrong hands.

Here are two situations that have recently crossed my desk:

“Our elderly aunt broke her pelvis this summer and stayed for a few weeks in a nursing home to rehab, where the doctor diagnosed her as having dementia.

“Recently my brother and I brought her home because she insisted, even though we know she can’t take care of herself. She thinks people are coming into her condo and stealing things, so she hides them, then forgets where they are — proving, she says, that she has thieves!

“She’s easily confused, and I’m sure she can’t pay her bills. Her condo is a mess. She hides food in the oven. We’ve contacted various social services agencies and have been told there’s nothing we can do short of taking her to court and having her declared incompetent.

“She refuses to give my brother or me power of attorney, and she has no other living relatives. We live miles away and can’t check on her daily like she needs. What can we do?”

And this …

“My neighbor, a retiree in his late 70s, lives alone. His wife died years ago, and they had no children. He’s a lovely man and quite capable physically, but he’s now having trouble paying his bills. I’m convinced he has the money, but he’s confused. The landlord is about to evict him.”

Multiply these examples by, oh, a million older adults, and you can see what a common problem this has become. People over 85 are the fastest growing segment of the population, and almost half of everyone who reaches 85 has Alzheimer’s (as well as many who are younger).

Dementia is something we must all prepare for, yet most don’t. The consequences — often long, drawn-out horror stories — fall not only on the older person but on their families, friends and neighbors.

Documents known as “Durable Powers of Attorney” (DPOAs) allow us to name someone we trust, an “agent,” to carry out our wishes when we’re no longer able, and avoid these problems. One governs our health care; the second our money. We need both, but today’s spotlight is on the financial tool.

The key to all DPOAs is to prepare and sign them while we’re mentally capable. If you don’t and you become demented — or if you’re hit by a truck and left unconscious — your family has virtually no legal grounds for taking care of you the way you’d want. In most cases, their only option is to go to court and have a guardian appointed, which is an expensive and time-consuming process that requires ongoing oversight by a judge.

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Q: You recently wrote about Durable Powers of Attorney for health and finance. What is the proper compensation for one who provides these services? I’ve read that some banks might do this but, I imagine, not unless the estate is large.

A: Durable Powers of Attorney (DPOAs) are vital documents that allow someone you know and trust to make health and financial decisions for you if you become mentally incapacitated. Every adult needs them, even young people (think Terri Schiavo).

The tasks required of a DPOA aren’t for the fainthearted. I did it for my parents for eight years and know they can be highly time-consuming and personal — paying bills, doing taxes, talking to doctors, deciding on surgery, selecting a home-care agency or assisted-living facility, cleaning out the house, selling the house and car and, most important, making sure the person is well treated and not exploited or abused.

Some banks accept a limited financial DPOA — to transfer funds into a trust account, for example (typically for people with minimum assets of $300,000 to $2 million), with which to pay bills and make investments, not the personal tasks.

But the most common source of DPOAs are our family and friends, and the price is right — usually free.

So what about people who have no family or friends to fill this essential role?

One possible option is to hire a trustworthy younger person, such as a neighbor or friend’s adult daughter or son — someone you know well and with whom you share a strong mutual affection. In this case, I think it’s fair to pay a small amount, say $10 to $25 an hour.

Another option is to hire a guardianship service, says Allison Feher, legal director for King County’s Senior Rights Assistance Program. Fees range from $40 to $90 per hour. Originally set up to be court appointees to protect mentally incapacitated people, many guardianship services now offer assistance to people who are voluntarily planning for their future needs.

“Many more people are in this situation [have no one to name as their DPOA] than realize it,” says Tom O’Brien, executive director of Guardianship Services of Seattle since 1985. Let’s say you name your husband or best friend, he says. That works fine — except that when you’re 80, they’ll be 80, too. Or maybe your daughter lives in New York and your son has gambling problems — neither are good choices for having day-to-day control of your personal affairs and finances.

Name more than one person to act as your DPOA (in sequence, not at the same time) in case the first person isn’t able to do the job. A guardianship service might be your primary DPOA — or serve in the second or third slot as a backup.

In addition, have the bank send monthly statements to both your primary and secondary DPOA. This simple check-and-balance keeps everyone honest — two pairs of eyes rather than one. One of the most common undetected crimes today is the financial exploitation of older people — by sons, daughters, caregivers and the guy who comes to mow the lawn. Protect the quality of your life when you’re incapacitated by making sure your money is spent on you.

More : seattletimes.nwsource.co

Legislation allowing the courts to name temporary guardians for people in religious cults was defeated this week in Connecticut, but a similar measure goes before a New York State Assembly committee next week.

The New York bill would enable courts to name parents or other concerned persons as ‘’conservators'’ of people in religious cults and to have them physically removed from the cult for a period of time. Some church groups and civil-liberties organizations have attacked the proposed legislation, and one of the sponsors of the New York bill says he is not sure it is ‘’100 percent'’ constitutional.

Introduced by Assemblyman Howard L. Lasher, a Brooklyn Democrat, the bill is before the Assembly Mental Hygiene Committee and is scheduled to be discussed in Albany next week. Governor Carey vetoed a similar bill last year, but sponsors have rewritten the legislation in ways they hope will meet his objections.

The co-sponsor of the new bill, Senator Joseph R. Pisani, a New Rochelle Republican, said he felt the law needed testing in the courts to determine its constitutionality. ‘’We’re in totally new territory,'’ said the Senator, who conceded to doubts about the bill’s constitutionality.

The legislative proposals began after several parents kidnapped their children from new religious movements in attempts to ‘’deprogram'’ them out of their beliefs. One of the current bill’s purposes is to circumvent suits brought by cult members against the deprogrammers. Similar Bills in Other States

The New York bill parallels similar legislation planned in Oregon, Texas and Ohio. Pennsylvania, Maryland and Massachusetts are considering bills to study the effects of the new religious movements on young people.

Proponents see the guardianship legislation in New York as an alternative to the kidnapping approach, but opponents - including the State Council of Churches and the American Civil Liberties Union - contend that the law would legalize a form of kidnapping and trample upon freedom of religion.

Senator Pisani said his concern was whether people who have joined cults have been duped by the new religious movements. ‘’I am not quarreling with anyone’s decision to become a member of any organization,'’ he added. ‘’I want to make sure the decision is freely made.'’

‘’The conservatorship law is necessary because the cults make it necessary,'’ said Marcia Rudin, co-author of ‘’Prison or Paradise: The New Religious Cults,'’ which she wrote with her husband, Rabbi James Rudin, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee. The committee itself has no policy concerning the proposed law, but Rabbi Rudin says he personally believes the guardianship law is a ‘’creative way for society to react to a new problem.'’

Under the draft legislation, a court could appoint a guardian for a person who undergoes abrupt alteration of ‘’basic values and life style'’ as a result of ‘’having undergone an indoctrinational thought-reform program.'’

Such a program might include isolation from family and friends, control over information given to the person, physical debilitation, or attempts to create a ‘’childlike dependency upon the group, which may include subjection of appropriate individual needs to the perceived needs of the group.'’

The guardianship would be for 45 days, after which the person could return to the religious group if he wished to do so. ‘’A sudden change of life style often occurs when a person has a faith experience,'’ said Elenora Ivory, associate director for public policy of the New York State Council of Churches. ‘’Judging this would be a matter of opinion.'’

Parents of young people who have joined cults frequently charge that their children did not know what they were joining and contend that by physically isolating them from parents, the religious groups are preventing adherents from making rational decisions.’

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When she learned a year ago that she had the AIDS virus, 24-year-old Maria M. said her greatest fear was not the prospect of death, but what would happen to her four children.

“When I die, I want my mother and father to raise my children,” she said. “They have agreed, but how do I know my wishes will be followed?”

By 1993, 20,000 children in New York City will have lost their mothers to AIDS, according to city estimates. Many of the women infected with the virus are single parents. Some have children by more than one man; others do not have families that can provide for their sons and daughters. In those cases, guardianship might be determined by the courts after the mothers’ deaths. And those decisions may be counter to what the mothers want. Providing for Who Remains

“We have bitter experience in seeing a dying parent who clearly specified in a will what custody was preferred, only to have the courts later bow to the wishes of the surviving parent or other relatives and decided otherwise,” said Nancy Neveloff Dubler, the director of Montefiore Hospital’s Division of Legal and Ethical Issues, who began a project to help women establish guardianship of their children while the women are still alive.

“We do not know precisely how many parents over the next decade will die of AIDS,” Mrs. Dubler said. “We do know, however, in our AIDS program, over 95 percent of our women patients have minor children and want to protect their future.” ‘In the Child’s Best Interest’

The Montefiore project was begun by a group of lawyers – most of them women – and is widely regarded as a leader in working with women with AIDS on guardianship and custody issues. Similar efforts are under way in New Jersey, Washington, Chicago and Detroit.

The project was founded to deal with the complicated and slow-moving legal system and laws that make it difficult for mothers to designate guardianship before their deaths without giving up custody of their children while they are still alive.

“The cumbersome legal process of guardianship was never designed to handle the cases we are seeing now of young mothers in terminal illness, many without a family network,” said Alexander D. Forger, a partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy who also works with women with AIDS. “We ought to be able to act more quickly.

“We think the court deserves to see and hear testimony in advance of death to determine what is in the child’s best interest,” Mr. Forger said.

After a mother’s death, nothing prevents the surviving parent or other relatives from seeking custody of her children. And with her dead, questions of her intentions can become murky and determining the best interest of her children can be complicated.

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A RECENTLY revised state law on the rights of mentally retarded people has been hailed as enlightened and comprehensive, but it has also caused some worries for families of the retarded and problems for staff at state facilities for the retarded.

Under the law, which became effective last Oct. 1, a person reaching age 18, no matter how profoundly retarded, is legally competent unless determined otherwise in a probate court process requiring reports from a physician and a psychologist.

The court must appoint guardians for those found to need them, and parents who wish to be the guardians for their over-18 children must petition the court. This part of the law has distressed some parents.

‘’They take guardianship of their retarded children as a natural thing,'’ said Michael Belmont, superintendent of Southbury Training School.

‘’It’s understandable that parents feel as they do,'’ said Paul R. Rogers, a lawyer and the editor of Guardianship News, a newsletter distributed in this country, Canada and New Zealand. ‘’Many of them have cared so intently and have dealt with a severe handicap for so many years.'’ But he added that the legislation, detailed and specific ‘’in protecting the rights of those who can’t assert themselves,'’ is one of the best guardianships in the country.

The law’s provisions require, for instance, that the court define a person’s mental retardation in terms of what he can or cannot do, show exactly why the person needs a guardian, and consider the person’s wishes when choosing a guardian. The law also provides limited rather than full guardianship where appropriate.

‘’The specific provisions help the court to be objective,'’ said Mr. Rogers. ‘’It’s a law that’s careful about due process and is not paternalistic.'’

Judge Lillian R. Erb of Groton’s Probate Court, said, ‘’With those provisions, we look for reasons, not conclusions, in the reports we use when making appointment.'’

The new law was enacted to replace statutes in which procedures were not well established, according to Linda A. Dow, a lawyer and assistant to Judge Glenn E. Knierim, who is Connecticut’s Probate Administrator.

‘’Some retarded people can do many things for themselves,'’ Miss Dow said. ‘’They can decide, say, where to live and how to spend their money. But they might not understand medical procedures.'’ A limited guardianship can cover only medical and legal decisions, leaving the retarded person’s other rights intact.

‘’This law addresses the adulthood of a mentally retarded person,'’ said Dennis Ferguson, director of residental services at the Southern Connecticut Regional Center in Meriden. ‘’It’s changed our perspective. We take a more liberal, less protective approach in evaluating our clients. That’s hard for us and their families to swallow.'’

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Ms. Milani, who was divorced in 1996, makes a small salary working as a special education teacher’s assistant for the local school system. And since 1997, she has received about $8,000 a year from his assets for serving as co-guardian, after Justice Bertram Katz, a Supreme Court judge in the Bronx who approved Christopher’s settlement, ordered Ms. Milani to apply for a guardianship so she would not have to request court approval every time she spent money for Christopher.

A lawyer appointed by the judge to evaluate the situation reported that Ms. Milani was ‘’a loving, devoted and articulate person,'’ according to court filings. ‘’The best interests of her son continue to be her main interest in life.'’

Ms. Milani’s lawyer, a former special education teacher, was named co-guardian for insurance purposes. In 1999, when the lawyer moved out of state, Ms. Milani hoped to be appointed sole guardian, but she also arranged for a local lawyer to advise her and, if necessary, serve as co-guardian.

Justice Katz, however, rejected both of those plans and appointed Mr. Straci as co-guardian instead. In a written response to questions, he said last week that he has found that as guardians, lawyers ‘’are vastly more reliable and capable'’ than family members.

Mr. Straci might not seem like an obvious choice, given that he is based in Manhattan and specializes in labor law, rather than trusts and estates or elder law (about two-thirds of guardians are appointed for elderly people). Mr. Straci was a lawyer for a Bronx Teamsters local with a pension fund before a trusteeship was imposed on the local as part of the court-ordered effort to rid the union of the influence of organized crime. In 1999, Mr. Straci and his law firm were among the defendants who settled a lawsuit filed by the trustees of the pension fund over the way it was handled.

Mr. Straci said in an interview that he had not been an adviser to the funds, and that the lawsuit had targeted ‘’everyone who had given advice, whether it was taken or not.'’

He did, however, have another link to the Bronx: his former law partner, Justice Paul A. Victorof the State Supreme Court. Justice Victor was previously a lawyer for the Bronx Democratic Party, which controls judgeships in the borough.

‘’I know a lot of people up there,'’ Mr. Straci said.

He has received a number of appointments from Justice Katz, including two other guardianships that involved significant assets. Justice Katz wrote that he had known Mr. Straci ‘’for many years based on his practice before me in this specialized area of guardianships.'’

Ms. Milani said that she was dismayed by the appointment of a co-guardian who was based inconveniently far from her home, and that she felt intimidated by Mr. Straci. But she said she believed she could rely on him not just for legal advice, but also for financial advice, because she knows little about investments.

‘’I'm not well versed in the stock market,'’ she said. ‘’I don’t come from any kind of money.'’

Even for investment experts, developing a financial plan for a young person with disabilities is a complex process. One certified financial planner who specializes in this area, Mary Anne Ehlert, said that the first step is figuring out the person’s medical and financial needs. Next, she said, is determining how to invest to meet those needs, and deciding whether assets should be placed in a special trust so that the person is eligible for government benefits.

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To Maryann Milani, there is something wrong with a legal system that she believes put her disabled son’s financial future in the hands of Ronald A. Straci.

Mr. Straci is a Manhattan lawyer who specializes in labor law and whose clients over the years have included some union leaders and locals that government investigators have linked to organized crime. (In 1990, he represented the brother of Anthony Salerno, the Genovese family crime boss known as ‘’Fat Tony.'’) These days, Mr. Straci is better known as an owner of Rao’s, the East Harlem restaurant that has been the embodiment of ‘’Sopranos'’ chic since before the invention of cable television – or broadcast television, for that matter.

The story of how Mr. Straci came to be the court-appointed co-guardian of Ms. Milani’s son Christopher – and of her struggle to have him removed after the value of her son’s investments dropped by about $400,000, or almost 25 percent – is one of those old-fashioned ‘’only in New York'’ kind of tales.

But it is also a story of problems and disputes that can arise in New York State’s troubled system of appointing guardians for those who cannot look out for themselves.

Long plagued by allegations about the influence of political patronage and favoritism, the system has also been repeatedly criticized for failing to supervise guardians. That criticism, as well as evidence that some guardians are poorly trained, was cited in a report issued this month by a Queens grand jury investigating how a court-appointed lawyer managed to steal more than $2 million from his wards.

But lawyers involved in the system say that in the majority of the estimated 17,500 guardianships across the state, deliberate wrongdoing is not an issue. Instead, when problems arise, the causes are cronyism, inattention or inadequate expertise. Yisroel Schulman, executive director of the nonprofit New York Legal Assistance Group, said he consults on about 125 guardianship cases a year. He said that often, ‘’I find myself thinking, ‘Why on earth is this person being appointed?”’

Guardians are appointed by judges to handle a wide range of responsibilities, from managing an infirm person’s finances to making decisions about where the person lives and what medical care is provided. Required to take only a brief training course, guardians must often deal with complex issues including Medicaid coverage, asset allocation and ‘’special needs trusts.'’

Charles Devlin, director of guardian and fiduciary services for the state court system, said that New York courts have not caught up with the need for specialized knowledge on the part of guardians.

The justices of the State Supreme Court who appoint guardians, he said, ‘’have the mind-set that you can do everything and anything.'’ Indeed, despite new limits that Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye imposed on court appointments last year, he said that some judges still think of guardianships as patronage plums.

They can be just that when substantial assets are involved, because guardians are paid based on the size of the estate, and the appointments can be lucrative.

In 1993, Christopher Milani received $1.75 million from the settlement of a malpractice lawsuit his parents had filed against the doctors who handled his birth. Some of that money went to build a house in Rockland County that accommodates his wheelchair; the rest was kept in municipal bonds, with the income spent on his needs.

Mr. Milani, who is about to turn 24, has had cerebral palsy and severe mental retardation and other health problems since birth. He is, as his mother puts it, not very verbal, but he responds to what he sees and hears. He likes to swim and loves to watch television; his favorite program is ‘’A Baby Story'’ on the Learning Channel.

His mother, who graduated from high school in the Bronx and briefly studied nursing, has devoted her life to caring for her three children. In Christopher’s case, that means everything from brushing his teeth and changing his diapers.

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Yes, you can name a minor as an IRA beneficiary, but you should take some precautions to make sure your wishes would be carried out.

An IRA can be a great gift: When you inherit an account, you can stretch the required withdrawals across your own life expectancy, deferring taxes until you make withdrawals. The younger you are, the less you have to withdraw each year and pay in taxes, and the more time the assets can continue to increase, tax-deferred.

Let’s say you leave a $100,000 IRA to a granddaughter born the year you die. Her life expectancy begins at age 1, the year after your death. Using the IRS’s life-expectancy table for inherited IRAs, her life expectancy is 81.6 years, which means she could stretch the account withdrawals across eight decades. The first required withdrawal would be $1,225. If the IRA has an average growth rate of 8% during her life expectancy, the account would wind up worth a cumulative $8 million by the time she has to empty it at age 83.

But making it happen takes special handling. A minor can’t inherit an IRA in his or her name, says Diedre Wachbrit, an estate-planning attorney in Westlake Village, Calif. A trust, and its trustee, or a legal guardian would have to handle the account and make the annual distributions on the child’s behalf.

If you die without setting up a trust or leaving clear instructions about guardianship, the parent or anyone else seeking guardianship for your heir’s IRA probably would have to go to court to be appointed. This gets sticky when family members – such as divorced parents – fight over who should be in charge of a child’s IRA. “You have to have a clear statement of your intentions. Otherwise, some judge will have to try to interpret what he thought you meant,” says Ed Slott, an IRA consultant in Rockville Centre, N.Y.

A trust is the most complicated, expensive way to plan, but it gives you the most control over making sure your wishes are carried out. The most common type is a conduit trust, which is specifically worded to have the trustee move the required distributions each year from the trust to the child so that the child pays the tax rather than the trust, which would generally owe more.

Another type, called an accumulation trust, is worth considering as well, says Ms. Wachbrit, particularly if the child receives public benefits for special needs. The trustee could stretch the withdrawals across the beneficiary’s life expectancy, but could keep all, or part, of those withdrawals in the trust. Those assets would be taxed at trust rates; any money spent on the child would be taxed at his or her personal income-tax rate, she says.

Your heirs wouldn’t have to worry about taxes if you convert your traditional IRA into a Roth IRA. Annual withdrawals from inherited Roth IRAs are required, but they are tax-free.

If the size of your IRA doesn’t justify setting up a trust, or you are reluctant to go through the hassle, find out how your IRA custodian (the bank, brokerage firm, or insurer that holds your IRA) handles accounts left to minors and be sure to comply with its practices. The custodian may require you to designate a guardian for the minor’s inherited IRA on your beneficiary-designation form. It’s a good idea to be as specific as possible in your instructions, to get written acknowledgment of your plan from the IRA custodian, and to keep that record with a copy of your will and IRA beneficiary-designation form. If your IRA custodian won’t cooperate, you should seek another custodian.

More : online.wsj.com

Mark Glasser and Suzanne Mathews are in a bitter battle over the care of Lillian Glasser. But they’re not divorcing spouses, fighting over a child. They are siblings, fighting over whether their 86-year-old mother, Lillian Glasser, needs a guardian, and if so, who should play that role. Mrs. Glasser has an estimated fortune of $25 million, and the case has already generated more than $3 million in legal and other fees amid court battles in two states.

Some of the thorniest custody battles these days are over the care of elderly parents, spouses or grandparents. As longevity increases, a growing number of siblings and other family members are fighting over where elderly parents should live, who should be their primary caregiver, and who should control their finances.

The custody fights are shining a spotlight on adult guardianship, in which a person is named by a court to manage an incapacitated adult’s finances or personal care. Amid a patchwork of different state laws on the subject, more states are updating their guardianship laws and are seeking to make battles less complicated by making their laws more uniform.

There are no reliable national statistics on the number of guardianships – let alone disputes – but some attorneys who focus on elder law say that such feuds are on the rise. Bernard A. Krooks, a New York elder lawyer, says he has seen “a tremendous uptick” in caregiver disputes in his practice over the past five years.

Terry Hammond, an El Paso, Texas, guardianship attorney and executive director of the National Guardianship Association, based in State College, Penn., says that he typically handles about 100 guardianship cases a year. About 25% of those are contested, up from about 10% a decade ago. He expects that percentage to rise as the population ages.

Just last month, New York society doyenne Brooke Astor, 104 years old, became the subject of one such battle when her grandson, Philip Marshall, sought to remove his father, Anthony Marshall, as Mrs. Astor’s caregiver. In court papers filed last month, Philip Marshall has accused his father of ignoring Mrs. Astor’s health and personal needs and requested that a friend of Mrs. Astor’s be appointed as a guardian. Anthony Marshall strenuously denies the allegations, according to Kenneth E. Warner, one of his lawyers.

Senior custody battles are being propelled by a number of demographic shifts. As the population ages and more people live longer, more seniors are likely to eventually lose their mental or physical capacity, leaving decisions over their finances and personal care to others. What’s more, families have grown increasingly fractured, with divorce and second marriages leading to tension among children and stepfamilies over the care of aging relatives.

Custody feuds, lawyers say, are often driven by longstanding family rifts, and the control of family assets often plays a role. “It’s a will contest while the parents are still alive,” says Mr. Krooks, the New York attorney.

At the same time, family members are more likely to live far from each other, making it tougher to monitor the condition and care of elderly relatives. Interstate custody battles are particularly complicated because guardianship laws vary markedly by state. Lawyers say there have even been “parent-snatching” cases in which children whisk their parents to states that may have more favorable laws.

In response, many states have recently revised their guardianship laws. Often, the new laws give courts authority to limit guardians’ powers and provide more court oversight over guardians’ activities. Last year, some 25 adult-guardianship bills were passed in 15 states, after 19 guardianship bills in 14 states passed in 2004, according to the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging. New Jersey recently overhauled its guardianship laws for the first time in more than 30 years, now providing, for instance, for judges to appoint “limited” guardians, allowing wards to continue to be involved in some decisions about their own lives.

More : online.wsj.com

Lesbian mothers are starting to feel more recognition on Mother’s Day.

Susan Iverson says she has noticed people are more aware of their existence and are less surprised when she tells others she is gay. But on the negative side, she says people now feel they can express an opinion on her position as a mother.

Ms Iverson says the new Civil Union legislation does not do much for parental rights, and she would like to see automatic guardianship for the partner of the birth mother following civil unions.

Ms Iverson says the Law Commission is investigating the possibilities, and lesbian parents should be able to take this next step now there is greater acceptance of them in society.

More : home.nzcity.co.nz

Guardianship is not inevitable even if you eventually become incapacitated. But to stand a chance of sidestepping court supervision, you must draft a solid estate plan with a lawyer’s help before illness puts you out of commission. One legal device that makes you less vulnerable to becoming the ward of a court is a durable power of attorney. In this document, you name a trusted relative, friend or business associate to serve as your attorney-in-fact and act in your behalf should you become incapacitated. Lawyers charge $35 to $100 to draft the document. Since a durable power of attorney takes effect as soon as you sign it, you must trust your attorney-in-fact not to wield power prematurely. As a safeguard in most states, you can create a springing durable power of attorney, so called because it springs into effect only after someone you specify – for example, your physician – certifies that you are incapacitated. Whether springing or not, a durable power of attorney is generally not filed in court or supervised by a judge, so there is at least a theoretical danger that your attorney-in-fact will abuse his or her powers. If that possibility worries you, consider naming a second attorney-in-fact to act as a check on . the first. Or you might require your attorney-in-fact to provide periodic accountings to your lawyer, who could threaten legal action to correct any abuses. Unfortunately, having a durable power of attorney only lessens the chances that someone might petition a court to impose guardianship on you. Indeed, in some states a durable power of attorney is automatically revoked by the appointment of a guardian. You may therefore want to consider an even more durable precaution – a revocable living trust, which gets its name from the fact that it takes effect while you are alive. Lawyers typically charge $500 to $1,500 to draw up an estate plan that includes a living trust, but you may decide that it is worth the cost because a living trust generally cannot be overriden by guardianship. You can leave your trust empty while you are healthy if you give someone durable power of attorney with instructions to transfer all of your assets to the trust should you become incapacitated. Or you can put your assets in the trust immediately. Whatever the case, you can receive income from the trust for life and change the trust’s provisions or even terminate it. You can specify that after you die, the trust remain intact to benefit your heirs or that the assets be distributed to them without the cost and delay of probate. You can serve as trustee until you are incapacitated, a condition that you define in your trust agreement. For example, you might require two physicians to make that determination. If you do become incapacitated, a successor trustee that you name when you draft the trust document will take over management of your assets.

BOX: Help For guidance on legally protecting yourself in old age, you can consult Your Legal Rights in Later Life (AARP/Scott Foresman, $13.95) by Hofstra University law professor John J. Regan.

More : money.cnn.com

In a school in Cainari, 50km (35 miles) south of the capital Chisinau, the head teacher looks through the register and counts a total of 84 children who have been left without either parent.

While some live with their relatives, there are a few that have been left completely alone.

Cainari is typical of Moldova’s rural villages, where poverty and a lack of jobs have pushed many parents to leave for work abroad, in order to provide for their children.

“My father has been away for nine years and my mother has been gone for one year,” she says.

“Daddy is in Greece. My Mum was there too, but she couldn’t find a good job, so she went to Italy.”

Missing childhood

Although Maria is sometimes visited by her aunt and uncle, they only come every two weeks and then they leave.

In the meantime, Maria has to take care of the house - after attending school.

I’m alone, and anything might happen

Maria, Cainari
“We have a plot of land, we have a cow, pigs and chicken,” she says.

“In the autumn there is a lot of work to do in the yard, on top of my homework. In winter I have to light the fire, and sometimes my granddad comes to help. I try not to stay alone during the winter.”

In the kitchen, Maria is preparing lunch for her father, Mihai, who is just back from Greece on one of his rare visits. He speaks with obvious pride about his daughter.

“She milks the cow, takes it to the communal herd, feeds the chicken, takes care of the house, goes to school - she does everything,” he says.

Mihai is typical for many parents in the Moldovan countryside. He works in a hotel in Greece and sends home whatever money he can save.

“In 20 days I made 800 euros and I sent this money home straight away,” he says.

More : news.bbc.co.uk

OMAN’S OMAN

It is not an exaggeration to say that today is a historic day for the brotherly Iraqi people… We sincerely hope that all Iraqis will take part with enthusiasm and without hesitation in today’s elections for the sake of a better Iraq, and more importantly to preserve the territorial integrity of Iraq and the unity of its people and society.

KUWAIT’S AL-RA’Y AL-AM

These elections are distinguished from the previous ones by the desire of the Iraqis to take part in the election process, particularly the Sunni Arabs who boycotted the previous elections. It seems that the Sunni Arabs have finally been convinced that the best solution for Iraq’s future is a political one and that their boycotting of the political process will be useless and will achieve no privileges for them other than more marginalisation.

CUNEYT ULSEVER IN TURKEY’S HURRIYET

The elections in Iraq will determine the destiny not only of Iraq but also of the Middle East and Turkey. I wish I were mistaken but I do not expect any result that will guarantee the integrity of Iraq. Since the referendum on the constitution, Iraq has entered a process of disintegration - maybe not legally but actually. All calculations are being made on making a move the day after the US leaves the country.

PAN-ARAB AL-QUDS AL-ARABI

Iraq will not turn into an oasis of calm and stability after these elections. The security situation is unlikely to improve. On the contrary, the situation may become more inflamed… The more significant positive outcome of these elections is that they will provide the US Administration with the pretext to implement its strategy of pulling out.

More : news.bbc.co.uk

The Supreme Court in India has ruled that mothers should have the same rights as fathers in the guardianship of a child, in a judgement that could have far-reaching implications.

Previously, only the father was recognised as the natural guardian under the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act.

But the court has now decided that fathers should not have preferential rights, as gender equality is a basic principle of the Indian constitution.

In the judgement, the court said that just by reason of being a dominant personality, a father cannot have a preferential right over the mother in the matter of guardianship.

According to the court, many transactions in the past operated on the grounds that the mother is not a natural guardian when the father is alive.

Two decisions

The decision was made by three judges on two counts questioning whether a mother could be regarded as the natural guardian during the lifetime of a child’s father.

The first petition was filed by a writer, Geeta Hariharan, who went to court after a bank refused to recognise her as the natural guardian of her child.

In this case, the court said the bank was wrong.

The other petition was by social activist, Vandana Shiva, who claimed maintenance for herself and her child during divorce proceedings.

The father opposed the petition.

The court said both the mother and the father are bound to take due care of the child and should both be treated as guardians of the child.

Source : news.bbc.co.uk

An EPA is a form of deed enabling a person (the donor) to appoint one or more persons (the attorney/s) to manage their financial affairs and property for them either immediately or when they are no longer mentally capable.

The donor must be mentally capable when they sign the deed.

More : news.bbc.co.uk

No matter how well the children are provided for financially there will always be a void that no amount of money can fill. There is also the important question of who will look after the children if both parents are dead.

Hence the importance for those with children to make a will setting out who will become the legal guardian.

Law reforms

The law relating to legal guardianship was clarified under the Children’s Act 1989. This made it easier for guardians to be appointed and recognised that the guardian’s role was simply to care for a child which would otherwise not have had a parent.

A guardian can be appointed by:

1) A parent with parental responsibility for the child

2) A person who has already been appointed as guardian

3) The Courts (if neither 1 or 2 are available)

Parental responsibility for a child is deemed to rest with both parents providing they were married to each other at or after the time of conception.

One important change brought in by the Act is to amend the timing of a guardian’s appointment. The guardianship no longer comes into effect on the death of the parent making the appointment.

Instead parental responsibility now passes to the other parent, providing they have joint parental responsibility. The legal Guardianship now only comes into effect when both parents are dead.

One of the easiest ways to appoint a guardian is through a will but it can be done by deed or any other way providing it is in writing, signed, dated and witnessed by two people. The same person may appoint more than one guardian and the appointment may be made jointly or individually.

Choosing a guardian

The choice of guardian is very personal and will depend very much on the age, personality and needs of the children and of course the putative guardian.

The responsibilities of the legal guardian are much more appropriately set out by the Children Act 1989 which has encouraged the courts to recognise that the exercise of parental responsibility should be left largely to the discretion of the adults.

The courts now tend to see that responsibility as a collection of powers and duties which follow from being a parent. There is now also a recognition that parental responsibility will diminish as the child gets older and is in a position to make its own decisions.

More : news.bbc.co.uk

This month Gerry and I decided to update our wills to name new guardians for our son Gerald. That led to one of the toughest compromises we’ve had to make as a couple – for personal and financial reasons.

When Gerald was born six years ago, Gerry and I were so caught up in our parenting duties we let some important financial responsibilities to our son slip by the wayside: creating a will, buying life insurance, choosing a guardian. Every now and then Gerry and I would remind each other of the need to get our estate plan in order, but inevitably we’d find some excuse to put off making an appointment with an attorney. Months passed, then years.

The importance of finally getting our act in gear was made devastatingly clear the morning of Sept. 11. Sitting at home, tending to my feverish two-year-old, I watched in shock as the Online Journal’s office building across the street from the Trade Center was enveloped by dual blasts of dust and debris as the towers fell. My friends and colleagues all got out in time, but 37 residents of our suburban New Jersey town – many 30-something parents of young children, just like us – didn’t.

We made an appointment with an attorney shortly thereafter. He recommended that we decide on a few things beforehand, including the person we wanted to act as our executor (the individual responsible for carrying out the terms of our wills) and Gerald’s guardians. The first was easy. The second wasn’t.

We ran through our short list of possible guardians, debated the pros and cons of each one, and quickly agreed on my mom Carol. We share the same philosophy when it comes to raising kids, and aside from us she’s the family member Gerald is closest to. Her long-time companion Bob loves Gerald as he does his own grandchildren, and he’s good with managing money. But with the two approaching retirement age, Gerry and I didn’t want to saddle them with the responsibility of raising a young child. Years ago, when my mom and I discussed Gerald’s guardianship, she agreed that it would be very hard to start all over again.

Gerry’s dad wasn’t a candidate. He was 64 then, a widower, and as Gerald’s guardian he’d have to move from his retirement village, which doesn’t allow kids. We also decided against my dad Mike and his wife Nora. My dad and I have had a rocky relationship over the years, so Gerald doesn’t see him much, and Mike and Nora suffer from long-term chronic illnesses that would make caring for our son a real hardship.

My two brothers, Mike and Joe, are both loving, responsible guys and I know Gerald would be in good hands, but they live out of state and our son’s met them only a few times over the years. The thought of Gerald losing both his parents and then being shipped off to another state to live with relatives he barely knows was too much for us to bear.

That left my sister Melissa and Gerry’s brother Brian. (Gerry and I both wanted Gerald to be raised by an immediate family member.) Of the two siblings, Gerry was partial to Brian, but I preferred Melissa. In the end – though it didn’t sit well with me – our final choice came down to money.

Shortly before Gerald was born, Brian and his wife Colleen purchased their first house, a spacious three-bedroom home in the suburbs. The two had no children then, but planned to have them soon – so if something did happen to us, chances are our only child would have the little brother or sister he’s longed for.

More : online.wsj.com

In South Kazakhstan region local businessmen took HIV-infected children under guardianship, Kazakhstan Today correspondent reports.

“South Kazakhstani businessmen take HIV-infected children under guardianship,” - Tursunbek Asanbayev, chairman of the local branch of the National Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers of RK “Atameken", said at a meeting of the branch last week. According to him, the businessmen will be providing aid to 73 Families with the HIV-infected children. “There is a proposition that each businessman accepts one child into his collective, make him a member of the collective, and pay him a minimum monthly salary,” - he said.

Members of the coordinating council of the “Protection of Children from AIDS” fund who were present at the meeting got acquainted with the list of businessmen and their areas in order to select structures that would participate in providing aid to the HIV-infected children. In the end of the meeting the fund chairman Sagdad Masaurov and Mr. Asanbayev signed a memorandum on co-operation.

Presently 84 HIV cases have been identified among the children in this region and 11 cases among mothers. Eight of them died, one was adopted and taken to the USA, families of the other two are beyond the region.

More : eng.gazeta.kz

A senior figure in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood organisation has argued against non-Muslims holding leadership positions in Egypt, including the presidency.

Mohamed Habib, the first deputy of the Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide, said that “if we are to apply the Islamic rule which says that non-Muslims have no guardianship over Muslims, then a Christian may not be president".

Habib was talking to reporters at the group’s headquarters in Manial al-Roda on Monday.

In a speech outlining the banned but tolerated group’s preliminary agenda for the next parliament, Habib said that the rule is the “only exception” regarding restrictions for non-Muslims.

Otherwise, they share the same “rights and duties of Muslims".

Disputed

But according to Tarek El-Bishri, a respected Islamist intellectual and former judge, the Brotherhood’s interpretation of non-Muslim guardianship is meaningless in the modern age.

Constitutions and laws - rather than one individual as was the case in medieval times - govern guardianship today “and thus it doesn’t matter if the president is Muslim or Christian", el-Bishri told Aljazeera.net

More : english.aljazeera.net

The Lebanese Cabinet of Ministers has taken two major decisions since the formation of the government led by Fouad Siniora. The first one was the approval of the International Tribunal to look into the assassination of PM Rafik Hariri. The second was the approval of Resolution 1701. These two decisions have put Lebanon at a major crossroad. Both decisions followed a series of procedures implemented by non-Lebanese forces and parties, and under the complete cover of the Security Council.

The International Tribunal will be based on the detailed report of Brammertz’s commission, which is more and more oriented toward linking the assassination of PM Hariri with other attempts and the 14 other murders that Lebanon has witnessed. This means that the investigation committee will continue to delve deeper into the security and political conditions in which these acts took place. In order for the commission to reach certain results and irrefutable evidence before the International Court, it will be obliged to thoroughly examine many files and records, including those concerning local forces, especially Hezbollah’s, the strongest among them.

For this reason, the ministers belonging to Hezbollah have expressed their reticence about some of the commission’s functions. Additionally, the party also believes that the commission’s work will unconditionally put the Movement’s structure and its other organs under international guardianship, knowing that the function of the international commission comes under Article 7, which is binding.

On the other hand, Siniora’s government believes that Lebanon’s weak capacities and a possible ramification of the responsibilities for the killing of PM Hariri do not allow the Lebanese investigation to unravel all the aspects of the issue. Indeed, even if it did, it would not be able to carry out the required trial. Therefore, this Resolution was believed to help the State strengthen its sovereignty through the International Tribunal and without any local or regional pressure.

Resolution 1701 authorizes the international forces to keep peace in Southern Lebanon, in order to prevent any further contact between Hezbollah and Israel. The party considers this mission as an international mandate which places the military situation in the South under international control. But the government, which is striving to return to the truce agreement with Israel, thinks that this international presence supports the plan of the former and will enable it to regain its sovereignty on the ground, the sovereignty it has lost both because of Israel’s violations and Hezbollah’s armed presence.

At a time when Hezbollah describes this international presence as putting Lebanon under international protection and custody, the government affirms that it reinforces its sovereignty and integrity in making decisions. This is, in essence, the impasse Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah talked about in his ‘victory speech’. The Shiite leader accuses the Lebanese government of being behind this guardianship and consolidating it, because the delegation of the international tribunal into the killing of PM Hariri, and the UNIFIL mandate are linked with the decision taken by the Cabinet of Ministers. The party lays the responsibility for this guardianship on the government, and depicts the situation as if the government strove to obtain this guardianship. By this accusation, which resonates in all the declarations made by the party’s leaders and their allies, he pretends to forget, very simply, that this government was not in power when PM Hariri was assassinated. It was formed after the event through the influential popular conviction that this was a crime. In addition, this logic also pretends to forget that UNIFIL was a result of the wide military confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel, in which the government had no role.

Siniora’s government may be criticized for a lot of decisions. But imposing international guardianship on Lebanon is the responsibility of those who were behind the assassination and caused the International Tribunal to be established. Also to blame are those who ignited the Southern front, leading to the adoption of Resolution 1701. Today, the party and its allies are striving to thwart the government’s support of the two international resolutions, under the pretext that these were the resolutions that led to international guardianship, not the original event that led up to them.

This is the meaning of the demand for the ‘obstructing third’ in the Cabinet of Ministers. The execution of this demand relies on the formation of a new government under the pretext of conformity, with the knowledge that the issue of the ’suspended third’ is the negative concept of a government’s function, and that it is proposed only in extreme cases. Eventually, voting on the basis of a two-third majority will be the last judgment. Hence, in this sense, the ‘obstructing third’ is a mechanism for making decisions by the Cabinet of Ministers in the framework of a government in which all members abide by the guidelines of the government’s program. However, demanding this ‘obstructing third’ from a position of radical differences, and from a position where there are attempts to push the government’s function toward the opposite direction, could become a target in itself, and could be equivalent to a peaceful coup in the best of circumstances.

More : english.daralhayat.com

The Government’s proposed rewrite of the Guardianship Act is under attack for being too politically correct.

The new bill rewrites the 35-year-old guardianship laws, and takes into account that the nuclear family is not as common as it once was.

The new version puts greater emphasis on parental responsibilities rather than parental rights, and places a stronger focus on the rights of children.

National MP Nick Smith says the bill does nothing to address the problem that results in responsible parents having to fight for the custody of their own children.

He believes parents’ rights to decide how they bring up their children will be substantially compromised by the bill.

Dr Smith has welcomed parts in the bill which open up the Family Court, but says they still do not go far enough.

The Solicitor-General threatened Dr Smith with possible legal action last week following public comments he made about a Family Court case.

He says there is a rich irony in the fact that New Zealand’s top law enforcement officer is threatening to prosecute him for a law the Government thinks is outdated and wants to change.

More : home.nzcity.co.nz

Hello, I`m Fionnuala Sweeney in London. Welcome to CNN`s INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENTS, where we examine how the media are covering the big stories.
This week, the final sprint to the start of the Olympic Games. China faces criticism on its commitment to press freedom. Turkey`s new parliament is sworn in. We assess the country`s media landscape. And thinking outside the box - the push for media outlets to go green in their operations and programs.

We begin this week in China, a country now in the final countdown to the 2008 Olympic Games. The world`s attention turned to Tiananmen Square, as a glittering ceremony was held to mark exactly one year until competition begins.

(INAUDIBLE) separations are regarded as the most intensive (INAUDIBLE) for any games in Olympic history, as it continues to face criticism on issues such as pollution, food safety, human rights, and press freedom.

Concerns prompted a protest by journalists group Reporters Without Borders at the headquarters of the Beijing Olympic Planning Committee. Protestors unfurled posters depicting the Olympic rings made from handcuffs. The group says China continues to restrict press freedoms, despite pledges to liberalize during its bid to stage the games.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VINCENT BROSSEL, REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS: We are not against the games. We are supporting the idea that the games must be free, fair, and a good opportunity to improve the human rights situation in China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SWEENEY: Despite the criticism, Olympic organizers say regulations introduced at the start of the year to ease reporting restrictions for foreign journalists had been well received.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIANA XINOYU, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, BOCOG: We welcome more constructive criticism on faults and problems of our work from the media.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SWEENEY: The concerns of the Paris based Reporters Without Borders are echoed by the Committee to Protect Journalists. It says China`s poor press freedom landscape could hinder visiting reporters and could also have a lasting negative effect on local journalists once the international spotlight has faded.

The group is also calling for the release of 29 Chinese journalists jailed for divulging state secrets.

Well, to discuss this further, I`m joined from Beijing by Bob Deitz, the Asia program coordinator with the CPJ. And here in the studio is Simon Long, the Asia editor with “The Economist.”

Bob Deitz, your experience being in Beijing at the moment following this great launch for a year countdown to the Olympics. Any sense that press freedoms on the street are any different to what they might have been before?

BOB DEITZ, COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS: No, I don`t think there`s been any significant change at all, Fionnuala. For foreign journalists, some restrictions have been lifted. But in fact, they hadn`t been applied to journalists for a long time. There were restrictions on freedom to travel throughout the country and interviewing people. Those restrictions were listed in January. But really, they have been largely ignored.

And as for local Chinese journalists, I think we`re continuing to see the same amount of pressure, and actually more pressure, coming on them that we`ve seen from the government of Hu Jin Tao since they came to power several years ago.

SWEENEY: What kind of pressures on local Chinese journalists?

DEITZ: Well, the obvious pressure is jailing. But most of the pressure that people face here is much more subtle than that. There is an increasing elaborate apparatus for censorship that works from the top down.

More : edition.cnn.com

Breaking news tonight. Touchdown in the U.S. for the 7-month-old baby girl of covergirl Anna Nicole Smith. Smith`s only living heir arrives at a Kentucky airport right alongside Daddy, photographer Larry Birkhead. With the baby`s passport finally in hand, Birkhead jets off with his daughter from the Bahamas this morning.
But tonight, the custody battle over Dannielynn Birkhead is not over yet, grandma, Virgie Arthur, still fighting tooth and nail for Dannielynn and control of that half-a-billion-dollar stake the baby may inherit, the parties set to square off for another legal showdown in the Bahamas.

Also tonight: He is the third in line to the British throne and is heading to Iraq for a six-month tour of duty. Tonight, growing fears that insurgents will escalate attacks on British forces, targeting Prince Harry in the war zone. The 22-year-old is not the first royal to fight in the British military. But is sending the prince to Iraq putting coalition forces in more danger?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY: I wouldn`t have joined the army unless I thought I was going to. It`s as simple as that. If they said, No, you can`t go to the front line, then I wouldn`t have dragged my sorry arse to Sandhurst and I wouldn`t be where I am now because the last thing I want to do is have my soldiers sent away to Iraq (INAUDIBLE) and for me to held back home (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s only the Wales on his helmet that identifies this young army cadet as the third in line to the throne. This exercise in Cyprus last year was all part of Prince Harry`s training for duty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The decision has been taken that he will deploy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As a soldier, the once dubbed “wild child” prince has gone some way to showing a more mature side, but his military career has still sparked controversy by those who think sending the prince to conflict zones like Iraq will put his comrades at increased risk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Insurgents have made specific threats on Prince Harry, considered a prize target in Iraq. There are claims his picture even circulated in the war zone. Is Prince Harry putting other soldiers at risk?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, in tonight for Nancy Grace. First, baby Dannielynn and Larry Birkhead come home to the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anna Nicole Smith`s baby daughter, Dannielynn, is home with her father, Larry Birkhead. Now, early this morning, father and daughter boarded a private plane bound for Louisville, Kentucky. Birkhead is a Kentucky native and he does have family there. So they`re home.

LARRY BIRKHEAD, ANNA NICOLE`S FORMER BOYFRIEND: It feels good to be home. Who knows what`s next. We`re just going to relax and horse around (INAUDIBLE)

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) enjoy the Derby?

BIRKHEAD: I`m hoping to. I`m hoping to. That`s where I got my start as a photographer and journalist in Kentucky (INAUDIBLE) the Derby. So to come home is kind of full circle. It`s also where I met Anna Nicole. So we`ll see what happens. I have a one-way ticket right now, so we`ll see.

QUESTION: It`s good to be back, though, right?

BIRKHEAD: It is, does feel good to be back.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

BIRKHEAD: Rest and playing with the baby.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) on the flight?

BIRKHEAD: She did great. She did great. No problem at all. She loved it. This is just one pit stop right now. You know, just take one day at a time. I`ve lost weight, so I`m going to see if I can get some home cooking and (INAUDIBLE) I`ll see you all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dannielynn goes home with Daddy. He leaves the Bahamas to bring his baby home. But what now? The battle over Anna Nicole Smith`s baby and her late husband`s money is far from over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, in tonight for Nancy Grace. Home sweet home – that`s how Larry Birkhead feels tonight after finally landing back on U.S. soil with his baby girl, Dannielynn. After a prolonged and bruising legal battle to prove he was the baby`s dad, correct her birth certificate, get her a passport, and get her the heck out of the Bahamas, the LA photographer opted to take his 7-month-old daughter back to his boyhood stomping grounds, Louisville, Kentucky, where he has extended family.

Upon landing, Larry said, “It just feels good to be home,” but the drama over his baby daughter is far, far from over. For the latest, let`s go straight out to Tom O`Neil, senior editor of “In Touch Weekly.” Tom, are we too afraid to ask what is the very latest?

TOM O`NEIL, “IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Yes, we are, because we just heard him say in that clip he has a one-way ticket. The question is, Is he going to go back to the Bahamas for this hearing on June 8? You know, he doesn`t really have to.

Remember how this whole court case started, Jane. This was a civil suit he filed against Howard K. Stern that said that this was all based on fraud, that he was the daddy. Then we got into guardianship. Then we got into custody. Larry`s riding this train. He can now say, when he gets to California next, which is where he`s headed after this, you know, Jurisdiction changed – changes, and Virgie`s got to fight me out here. And that`s what we don`t know.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, but Rob Chilton, features director of “OK!” magazine, as we look at exclusive video from “Access Hollywood” – and by the way, for more on Larry and Dannielynn`s return to the U.S., tune into “Access Hollywood” tonight and tomorrow night. As we look at this amazing footage of him actually getting out with his daughter – look at that beautiful little baby! What an angel! Didn`t he promise he would go back on June 8 to face the music in the Bahamas, that he wouldn`t just sort of bolt? Because that`s what Virgie Arthur was afraid of.

ROB CHILTON, “OK!": Absolutely. I mean, June the 8th was the final date for this custody hearing back in the Bahamas, and it was – Larry was told that he must go back to the Bahamas on June the 8th with Dannielynn. So it seems a bit risky to me for Larry to be taking this child to not – if he says a one-way ticket and he won`t go back to the Bahamas, you know, that sounds a bit risky. Surely, if he`s got Dannielynn now and he`s happy, why not play by the rules that the courts have set out and just play safe and just see out the red tape, and then, you know, everything will be OK.

More : edition.cnn.com

Breaking news tonight. In another unexpected twist, the parties square off for a legal showdown in the case of covergirl Anna Nicole Smith and her 7-month-old baby girl, her only heir, Dannielynn Smith, that baby set to inherit nearly half a billion dollars. After California photographer Larry Birkhead`s DNA proves he`s the biological dad, he thought he was home free and set to jet off this morning to the U.S. with the baby. But hey, not so fast. Just hours ago, Anna Nicole`s mom, Virgie Arthur, in court on a last-minute emergency appeal to keep that plane from liftoff, Arthur fighting tooth and nail for baby Dannielynn but also for control of the half-a-billion-dollar stake the baby is set to inherit.
Also tonight, another star falls prey to a stalker, this time all- American good girl Sandra Bullock. Here`s the twist. The star`s longtime female stalker taking deadly aim at Bullock`s husband.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She seems really down to earth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not hard to find fans of actress Sandra Bullock, but one admirer reportedly crossed the line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She stated that she has seen all her movies and appears to be obsessed with the actress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-five-year-old Marcia Valentine (ph) was spotted by Bullock`s husband, motorcycle mogul Jesse James (ph), at her Sunset Beach home, lying down on the driveway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She yelled some obscenities at him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When James attempted to call police, Valentine jumped in her Mercedes, allegedly speeding towards him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But every time he moved out of the way, she would try to maneuver the car toward him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bullock and James`s 10-year-old son witnessed the incident from a window. James was not injured. Valentine escaped but was found nearby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. First, just hours ago in a Bahamian courtroom, is it the final showdown over the 7-month-old heir to covergirl Anna Nicole Smith?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A major development in the Anna Nicole Smith baby battle. Larry Birkhead could be coming back to the U.S. with his daughter, Dannielynn, as soon as this weekend, and it looks like he won`t be sharing custody with Anna Nicole`s estranged mother, Virgie Arthur. A judge has all but packed the suitcase for Larry and Dannielynn, paving the way for a long-awaited homecoming.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Up until all of the – all of these appeals and files by Virgie, had told her and me point-blank that, You know what? We`ll come to Texas. You can come up here. You can see the baby. It`ll be fantastic. I want you to be part of her life because she needs to need to know about Anna when Anna was younger, as well. And now she may be, you know, kind of screwing herself, to be quite frank.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`ve prevailed all along. We know that no matter what happens, we`re going to come through this OK and she`s going to come home. It`s just sad that we have to go through this fighting because I know Larry had no intentions of keeping Virgie out of the baby`s life, and still doesn`t.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not a very sophisticated woman, and all of a sudden, she`s in the spotlight and she`s got her friends and her family and her attorneys egging her on, egging her on. We know she doesn`t have a leg to stand on, legally anyway. The only judge that matters here is Larry Birkhead, and she is alienating him.

LARRY BIRKHEAD, ANNA NICOLE`S FORMER BOYFRIEND: I`m the father. And it`s been a long road, and I`m just happy to, you know, have this behind me and just to be able to start a life with my daughter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Happy to have it behind you? Hey, you`re still stuck in the Bahamas. This guy can`t get away with his baby girl, Dannielynn.

Let`s go straight out to Jason Kennedy with E! News. Jason, what happened in court today?

JASON KENNEDY, E! NEWS ENTERTAINMENT: Nancy, first off, thank you so much for having me back. A lot went down in the Bahamas today. Virgie Arthur`s last-minute appeal was denied. The judge threw it out, said she really had no basis for calling this emergency appeal, this emergency hearing. They even slapped her with a $3,000 fine.

GRACE: Ouch!

KENNEDY: Pretty upset. Yes, pretty bad there. And still the saga`s not over for Larry Birkhead. He was able to get the birth certificate for the baby changed. You might remember that Dannielynn`s last name was Stern on the birth certificate. That was changed to Birkhead today, so legally, of course, we know he is the father. But now it comes down to this passport issue. He needs to get this passport to get the baby out of the country and bring her back into the U.S. So it`s all a matter of time right now.

More : edition.cnn.com

Breaking news tonight in the DNA battle over Anna Nicole Smith`s baby girl. Who is the baby`s daddy? The fight to keep it secret seems to be almost over. The lawyer/boyfriend of Anna Nicole today dropped his appeal over the DNA test, that after a three-judge Bahamian panel throws cold water on Howard K. Stern`s motion to block the DNA results. In fact, the court then slapped Stern with thousands of dollars in fines for holding up things.
And get ready because tomorrow afternoon, another hearing in the Bahamas, where it`s widely suspected the court may reveal the true biological father of 6-and-a-half-month-old Dannielynn Smith. But then again, maybe not. Also tonight, the photographer who claims he is the daddy fresh off a very public `He said, she said” break-up with his controversial attorney. Now that lawyer slaps Larry Birkhead with a whopping $620,000 bill for legal fees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But huge (INAUDIBLE) today, Howard K. Stern losing a Bahamas courtroom battle, and now it looks like we really are about to find out just who is the father of Anna Nicole Smith`s baby daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s a possibility that we could finally, after all this, find out who the father of Dannielynn is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it the end of the road, then, for Howard Stern (INAUDIBLE) defeat in this paternity suit?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today was major setback for the Stern camp. His attorney, Mr. Gomez (ph), seemed to do a lot of tap-dancing today in front of these three judges. They beat up on him pretty good and basically said something to him, basically, to the effect of they were even perplexed by the application of this appeal. And they said that he put the cart before the horse. So he basically didn`t have much to say. The judges did most of the talking. He withdrew the application, and now we move to a hearing tomorrow afternoon at 2:30.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a father. We have another man who may be the father, or if he`s not the father, and now he`s acting as the father.

LARRY BIRKHEAD, ANNA NICOLE`S FORMER BOYFRIEND: I missed the delivery of my child. I`ve had to pay $4.99 for magazine to see what my child looks like. I`ve had to call and send gifts – Fedex Christmas gifts for my child, and I`ve missed everything that you can`t get back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My client is the father of Dannielynn Marshall Stern. My client`s on the birth certificate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I asked Anna (INAUDIBLE) I said – I said, Anna, baby girl, who is the father? And she looked at me in my face and said, Momo (ph), Howard is the father.

BIRKHEAD: I don`t get up in the morning and say, Who`s can I fight today about this? I`m just doing what I have to do for my daughter, and that`s – that`s why I`m here and that`s why I`ll go wherever I have to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Anna Nicole Smith drama gets even juicier. Remember Deborah Opri? She was Larry Birkhead`s attorney at the beginning of the fiasco (ph). Well, she and Larry have since parted ways, but payment is now due. She is asking for over $620,000 in attorney`s fees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just seems like everything was thrown in almost including the kitchen sink, literally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIMOND: Good evening. I`m Diane Dimond, in for Nancy Grace tonight. Lots to tell you about in the ever-developing case of Anna Nicole Smith and her sole survivor, 6-and-a-half-month-old baby daughter Dannielynn. To this day, the fight over who is her biological father continues. The latest skirmish took place in a courtroom in the Bahamas today. And well, let`s just say that lawyer/boyfriend Howard K. Stern was probably not very happy when it was all over.

Former FBI agent Mike Brooks was in that courtroom for us today. Hi, Mike. What happened exactly? Now, Stern was trying to block the results of the DNA test results, right?

MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: He was trying to block the results, Diane, but he didn`t have much to say. His attorney that was in court today, Mr. Gomez – they were trying to make it into a constitutional issue in this appeals court, but the judges weren`t hearing anything of it. He did a lot of tap-dancing. And there was another attorney in the lower court who had basically been in court last time before they filed this appeal, Mr. McKinney (ph), and it seemed to me almost like Mr. McKinney threw Mr. Gomez under the bus on this one because Gomez got up in front of the – I almost felt sorry for the guy. And Mr. Gomez didn`t have much to say.

The judges did most of the talking. They basically said that, You put the cart before the horse. And they were totally perplexed by the application of this appeal. He basically said there`s no reason for the appeal. He decided to go ahead and withdraw this application of the appeal. Then he wound up paying $10,000, $5,000 to each of the respondents, the respondent Larry Birkhead`s attorney, and the attorneys for the Bahamian government here in the office of the registrar general.

DIMOND: Now, I want to get more – back to more of what happened there today. But stand by because Jean Casarez from Court TV is with us tonight, and I think we have a little breaking news here, Jean. Tomorrow at 2:30, there`s a hearing, but are we or are we not going to hear about the DNA test results?

JEAN CASAREZ, COURT TV: Well, Diane, a source close to the case has told me that although there will be a hearing tomorrow – of course, the major issue is paternity, the supreme court of Nassau – but the results of the paternity test will not be unsealed.

DIMOND: Oh!

CASAREZ: It will be more of a case management conference, the reason being is Dr. Michael Baird (ph), who did that test, is not in the Bahamas. So they will take out their calendars or their diaries, as they refer to them, to decide when Dr. Michael Baird can come back to Nassau and…

More : edition.cnn.com

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news in the case of Anna Nicole Smith. A Bahamian judge orders DNA from the covergirl`s 6-month-old baby girl, that baby set to inherit an estimated $475 million estate. The man who claims he`s the biological father, photographer Larry Birkhead, now suddenly without a lawyer following a heated exchange.
And that`s not all. Anna Nicole Smith`s own mother, Virgie Arthur, reappears on the scene, making her way into the Bahamian courtroom, as well, this morning, demanding guardianship of the baby girl pending DNA results. All the while, we now learn, she plans to contest estate executor Howard K. Stern as an unfit parent, trying to take away the baby.

And also tonight, caught on video, a 101-year-old grandmother pummeled by a cowardly punk. Take a look at this. The super-spunky senior who uses a walker was on her way to church. She was knocked to the floor by the thug, who punched her three times about the face, all in an effort to wrestle away her pocketbook, the pocketbook containing just $33. Tonight, review the video. Let`s get this guy!

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The tape is sickening to watch. A man attacks a 101-year-old woman, repeatedly punching her in the face. But it`s just the beginning for the victim. Her name is Rose Morat (ph).

ROSE MORAT, 101-YEAR-OLD MUGGING VICTIM: I`m 101 years old. How are you going to run after a mugger?

COOPER: Appearing bruised but remarkably unshaken, Rose describes the crime that has stunned New York. On the morning of March 4, Rose left her Queens apartment building for church. Surveillance video captures Rose using a walker as she enters the vestibule.

The tape shows a man holding the inner door for her, and then appears he`s going to help her with the front door. Suddenly, he spins around, grabbing Rose by the neck, holding her with one hand while punching her in the face with the other. The mugger then grabs her purse. She tries to reach for it. That`s when the attacker hits her so hard in the face, Rose is sent flying to the floor.

The mugger got away with $33, but he wasn`t done yet. Police say he went to a nearby apartment building and found another elderly victim, this 85-year-old woman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He beat me, beat me in my face. A lot of – a lot of blood start coming out of my mouth.

COOPER: The suspect stole $32, but he also took something priceless, the wedding ring the victim wore on her finger for 60 years. This is the best picture we have of the suspect. Police say he`s in his 30s. They`re following up on dozens of tips.

As for Rose, after spending a few days in the hospital, the centenarian had some words for her attacker.

MORAT: I got a little angry, you know, and I said, Oh, that so-and- so! I hope you get caught.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: That so-and-so? I think I`ve got some other words for him. I want to get that guy. Good evening, everybody, I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.

Tonight, first to the custody battle in the Bahamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBRA OPRI, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR LARRY BIRKHEAD: I`ve represented a lot of people, a lot of fathers. He loves a child he has never seen. He is one of the most decent human beings I`ve ever met.

LARRY BIRKHEAD, ANNA NICOLE`S FORMER BOYFRIEND: I don`t get up in the morning and say, Who am I going to fight today about this? I`m just doing what I have to do for my daughter.

OPRI: I have one person to represent, and that`s Larry Birkhead. I have one life to save, and that`s Dannielynn. Our goal right now is to show in our fraud action on the birth certificate that Howard K. Stern is hanging on by a thread, a legal thread. He`s saying he`s the presumed father. He puts his name on a birth certificate. He`s been controlling Anna for many, many years. It`s time for the public to start turning their magnifying glass on Howard K. Stern.

We have a paternity action pending in Los Angeles. We have a standing court order for the turning over of DNA. We fully anticipate that those orders will be enforced, whether it`s in Florida, in the Bahamas and/or in Los Angeles. And we`re not stopping the fight. These are complexities of legal issues which no one will ever see the likes of again. So it`s a battle, and we are waging it. And Howard K. Stern, he better duck.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: “Larry Birkhead and I have terminated our attorney/client relationship effective immediately. I wish Larry the very best of luck in his continuing efforts to prove that he is Dannielynn`s biological father. My prayers will be with Larry and Dannielynn always.”

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: “I have chosen to go in a different direction. I have complete confidence in my attorney, Emerick Knowles, who`s handling the Bahamas portion of my case. This is totally unrelated to my California paternity action, and there is no reason for a statement to be released just hours before my appearance in a Bahamas court.”

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Another twist and turn in the case of Anna Nicole Smith. Now the man who claims he`s the biological dad of a little girl set to inherit $475 million is without a lawyer. That`s right, there`s been a sudden split between Birkhead and his attorney, Debra Opri.

But that`s not necessarily the headline out of the Bahamas today. Now we learn a Bahamian judge has ordered DNA to be taken from the little girl. They`re all going back to court on Tuesday.

Straight down to Court TV news correspondent Jean Casarez. Jean, what happened in court?

JEAN CASAREZ, COURT TV: Well, the hearing took about a little over two hours, and we`re talking about the paternity guardianship hearing. And when all parties left, they obviously were not talking because there is a gag order. But Larry Birkhead said that inside that courtroom that there were some people that were happy and some people weren`t. And it was very tension-filled in there. But he said, I am very happy coming out of this courtroom.

We did talk to Mr. Tom Pirtle (ph), who is an American attorney for Virgie Arthur out of Texas. He is not subject to the gag order because he is not a party to the case and actually could not even be in the courtroom today. But he did talk with his fellow attorneys, and he did tell us that what they have to do – and this is Virgie Arthur – over the weekend, is to put together evidence showing that Howard K. Stern is unfit to be the father of this child. And I think that is in relation to the guardianship aspect, at the very least. So he said this weekend, they will be working on that and will return to court on Tuesday.

GRACE: With us, Jean Casarez there in Nassau, Bahamas. Jean, I doubt very highly that they`re just coming up with a plan to claim Howard Stern unfit to take care of the little baby. What is the possible evidence they will bring in?

CASAREZ: Well, first of all, let`s look at the testimony from Florida. You would have Larry Birkhead, who could testify that Howard K. Stern brought in a duffel bag to the hospital when she was pregnant. And I think that`s the critical issue right there because we`re talking about the best interests of the child. And that was – those drugs were brought in allegedly when she was pregnant.

More : edition.cnn.com

Magical lands which flow endlessly with milk and honey. Lands with streets coated in diamonds and walls plastered with pure gold. The grass is much greener and more lush than can be found in any other land.”

The above sums up the general perception that many Zimbabweans have about the Diaspora.

On hearing the word, some Zimbabweans immediately start imagining the sweet smell of the pound, a luxurious lifestyle of feasting and self-indulgence and a meaningful and worthwhile life in a place where they think everything, even litter bins, glitter and smell like jasmine.

However, there is more to it than what catches the eye. The Diaspora trek has not only brought about economic gains to several people, but has also brought with it social ills like family disintegration, divorce, cases of infidelity and abuse of children, only to mention a few.

The Diaspora furore has seen thousands of Zimbabweans joining the great trek to the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and Botswana, among other countries in the world, in search of the so-called greener pastures.

Apart from a few professionals who have legally found their way abroad, the majority have risked their lives and liberty by crossing into neighbouring countries without adequate documentation.

Thousands of Zimbabwean professionals, among them highly qualified lawyers, doctors, engineers, nurses, teachers and journalists, in the Diaspora are doing menial jobs like caring for the elderly and working as house attendants.

Reports also say some Zimbabweans have turned to prostitution, pornography and homosexuality to earn themselves foreign currency.

However, from whichever source they get their money, Zimbabweans in the Diaspora have given Harare a facelift, turning it into a glamorous city like New York or London – looking at the architectural developments taking place.

They have built themselves imposing houses and acquired the latest cars. Whenever they come home for holidays, they don some of the world’s latest designs, making it difficult to believe that inflation is hovering around the 1 500 percent mark.

Their lifestyles tell the story of people living with both heaven and earth in their palms. During their holidays in Harare, they cruise in the latest state-of-the-art hired cars, giving the city an expensive look.

Away from these head-turning cars, if one is to drive around some of Harare’s leafy suburbs as well as the high-density areas, he or she is tempted to think that there are no economic problems in the country – judging by the nature of houses.

Zimbabweans in the Diaspora have bought houses and developed their residential stands.

Modest houses are being built in Westgate, Good Hope, New Marlborough and Warren Park and those who regularly pass through Chitungwiza can testify how two-storey houses have become a common sight.

Double-storey houses are almost everywhere, let alone the

More : allafrica.com

For years, King County Superior Court Commissioner Stephen Gaddis oversaw the guardianships of thousands of vulnerable people. He also hid more of these court cases from public scrutiny than any of his colleagues.

Gaddis sealed at least 48 guardianship cases in their entirety since 1990, according to a Seattle Times review of available sealing orders. Not one was properly sealed.

He also seemed to play favorites in court, go on tirades, and take glee in spotting paperwork flaws, according to complaints filed against him.

In some cases, wards paid the price.

The state Commission on Judicial Conduct and King County Superior Court both reprimanded Gaddis. Last year, he retired from the King County bench.

Appointed as court commissioner in 1981, Gaddis later found a niche hearing guardianship cases, and developed a reputation as an expert and reformer in that area of law. He instituted rules to protect wards, developed ethics guidelines and helped write legislation to monitor guardians.

But there was another side to Gaddis. Between 1991 and 2002, according to court records, he amassed 17 written complaints and numerous oral complaints. In 1997, the presiding judge told Gaddis in a memo that he’d received “at least a half dozen complaints over the past month or two … from inside and outside court.”

Gaddis, 61, downplays the issue. “Seventeen complaints in 25 years is a pat on the back,” he said recently.

But former Presiding Judge Richard Eadie said: “In my opinion, that was a lot. Most of our judicial officers don’t get complaints like that.”

Several complaints accused Gaddis of mistreating parties in guardianship cases. One case involved parents of a child who was killed in an accident. Another son was injured. They asked Gaddis to approve a plan in which they paid college tuition for the surviving son with settlement money.

Gaddis told them they were “shirking their parental duties” by not paying for college out of their own pocket, their complaint said.

“What should have been a routine matter became a devastating experience,” wrote the parents’ lawyer.

Gaddis later said he had merely been explaining the law. He eventually approved their plan.

In June 2002, Guardianship Services of Seattle (GSS) and its related company, Partners In Care, presented Eadie with a 60-page complaint against Gaddis.

Among the allegations: Gaddis accepted sets of tickets for third-row seats at two Mariners games and a $287 dinner from guardian James Degel, 55, a lawyer whose cases Gaddis regularly ruled on.

In addition, GSS wrote that Gaddis was biased and had made untrue accusations about the company out of the blue in a crowded courtroom.

The complaint also detailed Gaddis’ friendship with Partners in Care director Lynne Fulp, 59, whose cases he regularly ruled on. Gaddis invited her to his house to help her write a business plan for a guardianship company. He and his wife gave Fulp birthday presents and shared meals with her.

He also sent her an e-mail that said: “WOW, you have done more yet in your self improvement campaign! Lynne, I would be guilty of improprieties if I said how nice you looked, but as a friend I would be guilty of insensitivity if I said nothing.”

When colleagues told Fulp that Gaddis favored her over other guardians in court, she said she grew uncomfortable.

“I have come to believe there is no place for Commissioner Gaddis’ tactics in an industry on which vulnerable people rely,” she told Eadie, reading from a statement.

Gaddis disputed many of the allegations, saying GSS cooked them up because he repeatedly ruled against the company. “They fought back,” he said.

More : archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com

Karen Weed nearly lost her life when a cement truck crushed her car. She survived a coma and cardiac arrest, broken bones and brain damage.

But she was determined not to lose her independence. After Weed got a significant insurance settlement, a family lawyer filed papers to have her declared a ward of the court, saying she couldn’t manage her money without professional help.

Weed and her family later objected, but the lawyer persisted. So they fired him.

Yet when Weed’s family walked into a Snohomish County courtroom last March for a hearing on whether a guardian would be appointed, there he was again: Michael Olver, the lawyer they had told to get lost.

“What’s he doing here?” wondered Weed’s daughter, Laura Box.

Olver had switched sides. He now represented EthiCare, the company trying to become Weed’s guardian. The same company had been Olver’s client for years — and would soon take control of Weed’s life, charging her thousands of dollars along the way.

Weed and her daughter had stumbled upon a problem common to many guardianships, a complicated, little-known corner of the law where courts can grant strangers tremendous power over vulnerable family members.

Potential conflicts of interest radiate through guardianship cases, a Seattle Times investigation has found. The roles played by lawyers, guardians, court-appointed investigators and investment managers often overlap or blur. Sometimes, the same person assumes multiple responsibilities that would normally be kept separate.

And who’s to know? The Weed file, for instance, has been stamped secret — one of hundreds of such cases to be improperly removed from public scrutiny.

Judges and court commissioners across the state have sealed the entire file in at least 398 guardianship cases since 1990, The Times found during its ongoing series investigating concealed court records. Most of the cases were sealed in King County.

The Times has asked the Snohomish County court to unseal the Weed file. Documents obtained through other means reveal that Weed already faces more than $100,000 in lawyer fees — including Olver’s. He said he incurred them looking out for Weed’s own good.

“This whole thing is just wrong,” said Box, Weed’s daughter. “I don’t know how they’ve done this and they’re getting away with it.”

More : archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com

Raleigh, NC - Herring McBennett & Mills, PLLC, a full service law firm, announced the addition of three lawyers. E. William Kratt, Mary Ann Dalton and David Curtis Smith recently joined the downtown Raleigh firm. Kratt and Dalton bring an estate planning and elder law focus to the firm while Smith expands the firm’s civil litigation, insurance and employment capabilities.

Kratt, a 1987 graduate of Wake Forest University School of Law, is a board-certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law, a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and Vice-Chair of the Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section of the NC Bar Association. He practices in the areas of estate, wealth, tax and business succession planning, estate administration, asset protection, elder law and guardianship. Kratt joined Herring McBennett & Mills from Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP, where he was a partner. With the addition of Kratt as partner, the firm name will change to Herring McBennett Mills & Kratt, PLLC.

Dalton’s practice will concentrate on elder law issues, including public benefits planning, trust, guardianship and probate law. A mediator since 1998, Dalton is a North Carolina certified mediator for guardianship matters and superior court litigation. She frequently mediates health care and guardianship issues for families with aging or disabled loved ones. She is the legislative liaison for the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and is active in its North Carolina Chapter. Dalton is a member of the Dispute Resolution and Elder Law Sections of the North Carolina Bar Association where she served as treasurer of the Elder Law Council from 2005 to 2006. She is a 1999 graduate of Campbell University School of Law and most recently provided elder law services as Dalton Law Firm, PA.

Smith will focus his practice in the areas of civil litigation, insurance and employee benefits and employment law defense. He also works with insurance agencies across the United States on issues related to ERISA, welfare plan and insurance law compliance, businesses, including representation before the Department of Insurance. Smith authored numerous articles on privacy matters and serves in leadership positions with insurance agent associations both locally and nationally. He most recently practiced as David Curtis Smith & Associates, PLLC in Durham. He is a 1999 graduate of the North Carolina Central School of Law.

About Herring McBennett Mills & Kratt, PLLC: Herring McBennett Mills & Kratt, PLLC is a full service law firm with ten (10) attorneys located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1999, their areas of practice include: family, business and real estate, estate planning and probate, litigation and employment and insurance law.

Unparalleled services, client dedication and progressive business management have resulted in solid growth, a respected position in the contemporary legal field, and strong relationships with the families and businesses they serve. In addition, the attorneys at Herring McBennett Mills & Kratt, PLLC are active in the community and in the local and state bar associations serving on numerous boards, committees and in professional, church and civic organizations.

More : carolinanewswire.com

The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that a child’s best interest should prevail in some kinds of custody disputes that arise after the parents die, even if that conflicts with the parents’ will.

Attorneys say the decision, handed down Monday, could have broad implications for other custody cases.

The justices ordered a lower court to reconsider who should be named guardian of a 22-month-old girl whose father, Pfc. Stephen Sherwood, shot and killed his wife, Sara, and himself in August.

The lower court had ruled that Stephen Sherwood’s mother, Kathleen Taylor Nace, should be the guardian because that’s what both Sherwoods directed in their wills and because the child would not be harmed by it.

The unanimous Supreme Court decision said the standard in determining guardianship in such a case should be the child’s best interest, not whether the decision would cause harm.

Sara Sherwood’s sister and brother-in-law, Ginny and William Brian Villers, are also seeking guardianship and appealed the lower court decision. The Larimer County Sheriff’s Department had placed the girl with them after the shootings, and they have been caring for her ever since.

Nace’s lawyer, Amy Rosenberg, said she didn’t know whether her client would continue to seek guardianship.

The ruling is important because it “spells out what we have assumed for quite some time but not had the definitive guidelines from the Supreme Court,” said Dave Heckenbach, a Denver lawyer who specializes in family law.

Supreme Court Justice Alex Martinez wrote that the Sherwoods’ wishes were important and may be relevant in determining what the child’s best interests are. But, he wrote, the courts must consider all the relevant facts and circumstances when people who are caring for a child, such as the Villers couple, contest guardianship.

“We are very pleased with the decision and just waiting to go to court to see what the judge rules,” Ginny Villers said. “The (little girl) is doing really well, and we are really happy.”

Rosenberg said the ruling was not a complete surprise to Nace.

“It (the decision) introduces uncertainty and ambiguity into the naming of a guardian under a will,” Rosenberg said. “And I think it raises the possibility that anyone who takes immediate physical possession of a child can stop what otherwise would be a valid naming of a guardian in the will,” she said.

Investigators have said Stephen Sherwood, 36, shot his 30-year-old wife and then himself in August after she told him she was having an affair. Stephen Sherwood had returned from Iraq only days before.

More : cbs4denver.com

Chandigarh, February 19: Lack of awareness and sensitivity towards mentally ill patients in the city has left parents and guardians of such patients feeling alienated. The city has no rehabilitation centre for the mentally ill although five per cent of the population suffers from mental illness.

The issue of guardianship of the mentally ill was taken up at a meeting of an association formed by the parents of the mentally in Chandigarh at the Half Way Home in Sector 47.

“The prevalence of mental illness in the city is at par with national figures,” said Dr B S Chavan, HoD, Psychiatry, at GMCH-32. “Half Way Home has been built by the government in association with GMCH and is a midpoint for the mentally ill,” Dr Chavan said.

“The mentally ill are people who were normal but due to some illness or trauma their mental health has suffered. Most of them can be treated. A rehabilitation centre is needed for such activities and that is lacking in the city,” Dr Chavan said. The second most important issue is that of guardianship of mentally ill patients. “The process of applying for guardianship of the mentally challenged is easy,” said S Mehta, a parent. “They have the provision of appointing a local-level committee under the Deputy Commissioner and can get guardianship within days. But for the mentally ill, we have to apply to the court and the process just drags on.”

Mehta has been supporting her relative, who is fighting for the last four years to get guardianship of her husband, suffering from chronic schizophrenia.

The social stigma attached with the mentally ill is also very high. “A very disturbing trend in the city is to refusing accommodation on rent to families who have a mentally ill member,” said Dr Chavan. “I get such cases regularly and we really don’t know how to tackle this issue.”

The Half Way Home is also providing vocational training to the patients and will soon be opening a kiosk for selling juices and other food items. “We will be paying the workers, so it will be a source of income for those who have lost their jobs because of their mental illness,” said Dr D R Sood, the president of the association.

More : cities.expressindia.com

An elderly woman who described her grandson as being like the fictional character Hannibal Lecter continued to recover Thursday from a severe beating earlier this week in which she was kicked and bitten numerous times.

David Aaron Wilson, 25, was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with felony aggravated assault, as well as abuse of a vulnerable adult, interfering with an arrest and intoxication. He was scheduled to make his initial appearance in court today. Wilson was being held in the Salt Lake County Jail on $50,000 bail.

Early Sunday morning, police say the 68-year-old woman was brutally attacked by her grandson in their Cottonwood Heights apartment. In a letter written by two of the victim’s daughters to the Salt Lake District Attorney’s Office pleading that the grandson not be released, Sheri Kerr and Kerry Dalling said their mother was left in severe pain following the brutal attack.

“My mother told me that he beat her until she stopped screaming and he thought she was dead,” the daughters said in the letter. “She said that he tried to poke her eyes out, bite her eyes out and bite all of her fingers off. He bit her arms, head, face, finger, etc. He would bite her then spit on her — over and over again. He kicked her in the teeth and chest, sat on her and crushed her chest, punched her in the face multiple times and choked her.”

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Photos taken of the grandmother in her hospital room showed a badly beaten woman whose right eye was swollen shut and who had bite marks up and down her arms and hands.

The grandmother told her daughters that Wilson had recently watched the movie “Hannibal,” about a cannibalistic serial killer, and that “he became Hannibal,” according to the letter.

“She said that she begged and screamed for him to stop,” the sisters said in the letter. “By the grace of God she was able to get to the neighbor’s house who called 911.”

The neighbor who called 911 said the grandmother “had blood all over her face and large cuts above her eyes,” according to a Salt Lake County Jail report. When police arrived they found the woman crying in her neighbor’s kitchen “with blood all over her clothing and body.”

Sheriff’s deputies then went to the grandmother’s apartment, where Wilson, also bloody from the assault, resisted arrest and continued to kick and yell even after he was handcuffed, the jail report stated. Detectives said Wilson was very intoxicated to the point he was unable to walk by himself, according to the jail report.

Wilson and his mother, Kerr and Dalling’s sister, allegedly were taking care of the grandmother when the attack occurred. But Kerr said she has asked the court for temporary guardianship.

Kerr said she had tried to gain guardianship of her mother before, but she has always chosen to stay with Wilson. Kerr believes Wilson and his mother are manipulating the grandmother.

Court records show Kerr and Dalling filed a petition at the beginning of August seeking temporary guardianship of their grandmother. On Wednesday, an emergency ex-parte motion was filed again seeking temporary guardianship, which was granted.

Now, Kerr and Dalling fear if Wilson gets out of jail, he may kill his grandmother.

Since Wilson has been living with his grandmother, Kerr and Dalling claim he has drained her bank account to buy drugs, spots cars, bullet bikes and to pay off attorneys fees.

More : deseretnews.com

MUMBAI: Banks can now rely on a guardianship certificate for disabled people, issued by either the district court under the Mental Health Act, or by local level committees set up under the same Act, for opening and operating bank accounts.

The Reserve Bank of India has announced that the legal guardianship certificate for opening and operating bank accounts will be required for people with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities.

Banks have also been advised to ensure that their branches give out proper guidance to the guardians in this regard.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com

Terri Schiavo, the daughter of Mary and Robert Schindler, has been hospitalized for 14 years, after the flow of oxygen to her brain temporarily stopped after a fall at home.

Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state. She is fed through a tube but breathes on her own.

Her husband, Michael Schiavo, has been in a battle with her parents over whether his wife should be allowed to die. Doctors who have testified on his behalf have said she has no hope for recovery.

The Schindlers have maintained their daughter could be helped with therapy.

The Schindlers, who appeared with their attorney on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” will attend a hearing Thursday in another attempt to wrest guardianship of Terri Schiavo from her husband, who wants his wife’s feeding tube removed.

Last Thursday, Florida’s Supreme Court upheld a decision by a lower court that the law giving the governor the power to keep Terri Schiavo hooked to the tube was unconstitutional.

The court has given the governor’s office until October 4 to ask for a rehearing. After making a decision on that possible request, the court would issue a mandate to make their decision final.

When he heard the court’s decision, Robert Schindler said, “I had somewhat of a sick feeling in my stomach.”

Asked whether he feels they’ll be successful Thursday, he said, “I would hope so. I think we have very professional attorneys.”

Mary Schindler contends her daughter is “happy and healthy,” aside from her condition.

“I would take her home with me right now and take care of her for the rest of my life,” the mother said. Terri Schiavo is in a hospice in Clearwater, Florida.

The Schindler’s attorney, David Gibbs, who also appeared on the show, said, “There’s big issues involved, when you look at the rights of a mom and dad, to try to protect the life of their own daughter, [and] when you look at religious liberty rights.”

The Schindlers are Roman Catholic, and Gibbs said the pope has said it is not a medical act to give someone food and water.

Terri Schiavo cannot swallow, and needs help with that, her mother said.

Shown in a previous interview, Michael Schiavo said his wife expressed her wishes orally when she was 25 that she not be kept alive artificially. He said he’s just carrying out her wishes. Any expressions by her cannot be verified because they are not in writing, attorneys say.

The Schindlers said they are confused about why Michael Schiavo would want to see his wife die.

Michael Schiavo filed a $20 million medical malpractice lawsuit after his wife’s fall and was given $1.4 million, plus $250,000 from another settlement.

The Schindlers said all the money was to be used for Terri’s rehabilitation.

“After the money came in, he wouldn’t do anything. She hasn’t had any therapy in over 12 years,” Mary Schindler said. Robert Schindler said much of the money was used for legal bills.

According to Robert Schindler, the husband told him he makes all the decisions.

Michael Schiavo, who has a girlfriend and two children, could file for divorce, relinquish guardianship and let the family take over, Gibbs said.

“Why Michael won’t let them do that is not understandable,” Gibbs said. “It would be so easy for him to get on with his life … so these parents could take care of their daughter.”

More : edition.cnn.com

Hello, everyone. I’m Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I’m Don Lemon.

A runway rerun – bad weather grounds thousands of travelers, and JetBlue grounds itself.

PHILLIPS: Also, forget that red carpet. Oscar went green this year and gave Al Gore a big old Hollywood hug. Is it a sign of a campaign to come?

LEMON: And the saga continues in West Palm Beach and in the Bahamas. Custody issues over Anna Nicole Smith’s body and her baby, her daughter, keep courtrooms hopping.

You’re live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Two developing stories out of Iraq this hour – we begin with this car bomb in Ramadi.

What I can tell you right now is, a suicide car bomber exploded outside a police station, killing at least 13 people and wounding 10. It’s the second bombing to strike the volatile Anbar Province in less than a week. We’re working details right now.

The other story out of Iraq: Who gets the oil money? We’re told a key source of bad blood among Iraqi Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds is a subject of what could be breakthrough legislation. Iraq’s government today unveiled a measure that would allocate oil proceeds equitably among the provinces based on population size. Parliament still has to approve.

With Iraqi oil fields concentrated in Kurdish and Shiite areas, Sunnis feared they would be high and dry. Some sort of agreement was one of the benchmarks the U.S. had wanted Iraqis to meet by the end of last year.

LEMON: And there are troubling reports about a top U.S. ally in Iraq.

From Jordan comes word that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is in intensive care, after undergoing a heart procedure. Talabani was flown to Amman yesterday in a U.S. plane.

A hospital official tells CNN that doctors inserted a cardiac catheter, an account being disputed by Talabani’s son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUBAD TALABANI, SON OF IRAQI PRESIDENT JALAL TALABANI: He has not had a catheter inserted into his heart. His condition, it remains stable and improving.

I have spoken with him this morning, and I have spoken with – with his medical staff as well. They’re very pleased with the progress that he is making. Again, his spirits continue to be high, and is improving all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Now, as its president remains hospitalized, one of Iraq’s two vice presidents narrowly escaped