Guardianship Order

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

(the lady I spoke too is not even allowed to make suggestions like that too me, she said that and the person who manages my disabilty support funding said the same thing when I asked him, he's not allowed too thou he knows the field well, its classified as "a conflict of interest" his words. So I cant even got to people in the know "which ones do you recommend" and get a response).

@taniaaust1
I've been re-reading this, and it really makes me nervous. The only reason I can think of to refuse you reasonable information about what may be available to you under gov't programs is to avoid losing a lawsuit down the road, should anything go south. And the fact that that refusal is firmly in place indicates to my cynical little mind that lawsuits have already happened and they lost because of 'undue influence' or 'unnecessary pressure' in having advised the plaintiff about what programs they might want/need, and possibly misled them.

It's a tricky little world, and caveat emptor (buyer beware), is still the best advice. Someday I'm going to stitch that into a comfy little pillow.

 

[kangaSue]

Ive never heard of a Advanced Health Directive document..... Im really in over my head with everything

An Advanced Health Directive is also known as a "living will" for your future health care that only comes into effect if your cognitive health deteriorates and you become unable to make your own decisions (i.e. lose capacity to make decisions).
You just download the form off the internet, fill out your preferences in the first part then take it to your G.P. to fill out the second part.

You could talk to a hospital (or community) social worker about what Guardianship entails, the hospital one's do all the organising for applications to the tribunal for patients that are deemed to have lost capacity so might know more about the pitfalls of it all.

 

[AndyPandy]

@taniaaust1

Sorry Tanya I’ve only just seen this thread.

I don’t know much about Guardianship in South Australia.

It would be good to get some legal advice about what is involved and what the risks are for you.

It’s difficult when you really need help to manage certain aspects of your life but understandably don’t want to lose control and not be able to make certain decisions yourself.

At the very least (and as a starting point) it might be helpful to have someone managing your bank accounts and checking and paying your bills for example (as I know you’ve had trouble with this in the past) but I don’t know if the financial management would extend to determining what you can use your money for.

Perhaps there is someone at the Guardianship Board who you could speak to about your concerns. I will have a look and see if I can find a contact for you. Sorry if you have already covered this above. I just had time for a quick skim read.

Best wishes

Andy

 

[AndyPandy]

@taniaaust1

So the Office of the Public Advocate (OPA) manages guardianships.

Here is their website which has some information about their role. It includes some information about how they gather information about the individual’s preferences and how they include the individual in decision making (where possible).

http://www.opa.sa.gov.au/what_we_do/guardianship

There is a link to a fact sheet on that page. I haven’t had the chance to read it.

They also take phone enquiries on 08 8342 8200.

Best wishes

Andy

 

[Diwi9]

@AndyPandy - Because I know nothing about Australian law, I just wanted to bounce two other considerations off of you that @taniaaust1 might consider depending on needs in lieu of a Guardianship. In the US, one can provide another with a limited power of attorney, and there may likewise be a place for a healthcare directive here...perhaps a personal representative that can be appointed? These are my thoughts in avoiding the pitfall of having a guardianship in place, which may pre-empt some of @taniaaust1's own consent rights.

 

[AndyPandy]

@Diwi9

@taniaaust1

It’s probably best that Tanya explores what Guardianship entails and also gets some independent legal advice about Guardianship and other options that might be available and the pros and cons of each.

 

[kangaSue]

@AndyPandy - Because I know nothing about Australian law, I just wanted to bounce two other considerations off of you that @taniaaust1 might consider depending on needs in lieu of a Guardianship. In the US, one can provide another with a limited power of attorney, and there may likewise be a place for a healthcare directive here...perhaps a personal representative that can be appointed? These are my thoughts in avoiding the pitfall of having a guardianship in place, which may pre-empt some of @taniaaust1's own consent rights.

Under Australian law, you can nominate any responsible adult as your Guardian (no criminal history and have to be approved by the Tribunal) and it's preferred by the authorities, and generally the case, that this is a family member or relative or other trusted person well known to the applicant.

 

[taniaaust1]

An Advanced Health Directive is also known as a "living will" for your future health care that only comes into effect if your cognitive health deteriorates and you become unable to make your own decisions (i.e. lose capacity to make decisions).
You just download the form off the internet, fill out your preferences in the first part then take it to your G.P. to fill out the second part.

You could talk to a hospital (or community) social worker about what Guardianship entails, the hospital one's do all the organising for applications to the tribunal for patients that are deemed to have lost capacity so might know more about the pitfalls of it all.

ohh, I wish I'd seen your post sooner as I ended up in hospital again .. early hours of Saturday morning and was released later that same day and while there I did speak to their social worker but not about this.

 

[taniaaust1]

@taniaaust1

Sorry Tanya I’ve only just seen this thread.

I don’t know much about Guardianship in South Australia.

It would be good to get some legal advice about what is involved and what the risks are for you.

It’s difficult when you really need help to manage certain aspects of your life but understandably don’t want to lose control and not be able to make certain decisions yourself.

At the very least (and as a starting point) it might be helpful to have someone managing your bank accounts and checking and paying your bills for example (as I know you’ve had trouble with this in the past) but I don’t know if the financial management would extend to determining what you can use your money for.

Perhaps there is someone at the Guardianship Board who you could speak to about your concerns. I will have a look and see if I can find a contact for you. Sorry if you have already covered this above. I just had time for a quick skim read.

Best wishes

Andy

thanks andy, I had not thought of having a chat to someone at the guardianship board about it.

As far as the money management goes, it appears that if I put get them to help manage my accounts, it appears then they kind of take over completely and will just give me a "bit of pocket money". (she actually said it like that)

This concerns me as they may not give me enough for my supplements I should have or deem them not necessary. A big chunk of my money is needed for those as I do better when I'm on them all. I have two different specialists who prescribed what I was taking but they are no longer working.

but the issue is that I do need someone to check if I've paid things at times.. I've been fined quite a few times in the past for thinking I paid something when I havent and then being fined late fees etc. Most things now I have on automatic payments so it is not such an issue but I still have issues if I need to contact my bank as I often cant get the answers to the questions right to prove who I am. So at times Im needing someone I can ask to step in when I have issues with something.

I had no idea that guardianship varied between our states.

 

[taniaaust1]

@AndyPandy - Because I know nothing about Australian law, I just wanted to bounce two other considerations off of you that @taniaaust1 might consider depending on needs in lieu of a Guardianship. In the US, one can provide another with a limited power of attorney, and there may likewise be a place for a healthcare directive here...perhaps a personal representative that can be appointed? These are my thoughts in avoiding the pitfall of having a guardianship in place, which may pre-empt some of @taniaaust1's own consent rights.

You can have someone else hold Guardship, someone you nominate. My issue is I have no one who wants to do that for me, my family do not want to do this (my sister does this for my father and does not want to be doing this for anyone else, she complains about having to do this for my father as she no longer wants to be doing it and is thinking about ditching him into the hands of the public system) ..

and I do not have a friend I can nominate (my friend is elderly, is starting to get memory issues himself, has cancer and does not want to take anything else on).. unless someone at this website would like to become my Guardian and help? (but then there is heaps of sorting out things which Im struggling to do myself and is not sorting out easily. right now someone is going to have to do some hard work to get all my careplan in place seeing these case workers are not doing their job and sorting it out!).

anyone have any ideas of who else could be a guardian to me? (an ideal guardian would have some understanding of ME issues).

@kangaSue yes they prefer if someone can nominate their own guardian, unfortuntely I dont have anyone I can nominate to be this.

 

[taniaaust1]

Under Australian law, you can nominate any responsible adult as your Guardian (no criminal history and have to be approved by the Tribunal) and it's preferred by the authorities, and generally the case, that this is a family member or relative or other trusted person well known to the applicant.

yes that is correct, I know all that cause my father is under Guardianship order my sister holds (along with Power of Attorney I think it is. She's allowed to make all decisions when needed)

 

[taniaaust1]

@taniaaust1

So the Office of the Public Advocate (OPA) manages guardianships.

Here is their website which has some information about their role. It includes some information about how they gather information about the individual’s preferences and how they include the individual in decision making (where possible).

http://www.opa.sa.gov.au/what_we_do/guardianship

There is a link to a fact sheet on that page. I haven’t had the chance to read it.

They also take phone enquiries on 08 8342 8200.

Best wishes

Andy

Hi Andy thank you ,

Im very familar over what Guardianship orders can do due to my family (well my sister) has one (a full Guardianship) over my father which we need to use at times when he's delusional but what is being suggested to me is "partial guardianship" .. so its that which Im confused about. I had not even heard of partial guardianship before.

 

[Little Bluestem]

unless someone at this website would like to become my Guardian and help?

I don't think that would be a good idea. I think you need someone who can be there is person.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

@taniaaust1
I'm going to repeat this, because I think it's important: I think you need to speak to an attorney who has knowledge of guardianship regulations and requirements in your part f Australia, and hopefully, some knowledge at least of chronic debilitating illnesses if not of ME/CFS specifically. It would be good to find one on your own with no affiliation to the guardianship system itself, which would leave too much room for self-dealing agreements between the attorney and whoever/whatever he recommends.

These are deep, twisty issues, and for you to try to figure it out on you own right now would be a very not good thing.

ANd yes, if they take over paying your bills, they will take over your full finances, with full control and say-so as to where those resources go. They could cut you off completely, stating that in their opinion, the supplements you're taking are unnecessary and possibly harmful, and they would doubtless have access to accomodating doctors who would support those statements.

This is a real potential snake pit.

You might be better off hiring a law or accounting student from a college or university closest to you, and having them do your bills for you 2 times a month for a relatively modest fee. You'd get your bills paid timely, and you might make a new friend. It wouldn't be free, but it also wouldn't steal your life and personal freedom of choice.

Please be careful with all this. I know it's intimidating, but you can find ways to get the help you need without turning your life over to a gov't system that could be largely uncaring, deaf, blind, and dumb.

 

[Hufsamor]

if they take over paying your bills, they will take over your full finances, with full control and say-so as to where those resources go.

Not necessarily.
In Norway we have at least two different systems.
One of them includes what you are talking about, they might say no to what you want, even if you have the savings. And they might invest your savings in a fancy project they like.

The other kind of guardian - and I know this for sure, I was working with this as a small part time job once upon a time- help the client to pay their bills, or contact the bank or... - but you have absolutely no authority otherwise. The client decide, you make it happen. You have access to their accounts, so if you are a villain you can drain it, of course. But you are not allowed to, and will be put to jail if you do.

 

[Hufsamor]

You might be better off hiring a law or accounting student from a college or university closest to you, and having them do your bills for you 2 times a month for a relatively modest fee. Y

Maybe, depending on how the system works in Australia.
But the kind of guardian I was is a part of a system, I had a boss, and he was keeping an eye on everything, that I didn't run off with my clients savings.

With a privat person you really don't know, .....

 

[taniaaust1]

Big issue is that I do not even think Im all that capable right now of even looking into it properly for me right now. The other day when this all got suggested to me, I did give them the go ahead over the phone to start trying to arrange things as I'm needing URGENT help right NOW with things and they were saying that would help sort out my issues.

I can not sort out my stuff as I go around and around in circles with things due to my memory issues... and I do not have the energy to be persistantly calling people who are supposed to be calling me back and who do not.

I ended up at the hospital on the weekend as I had a bit of a mental health meltdown as Im way overstressed with everything!! and are not coping, I ended up having to call an ambulance who then insisted I go to hospital due to things here are just terrible. (at least I was FINALLY able to have a proper wash at the hospital after not being able to wash properly for OVER A MONTH).

The hospital dr was good and he tried to arrange temporary accommodation for me till the bullshit with services is sorted and my house can be cleaned and livable again... but unfortunately due to the MCS, we can not put me into temporary accommodation as the place was shared. Er doctor also tried to reach my case worker who has failed to put my supports in place but he was unable to reach her (AGAIN.. hospital tries everytime I end up there and get a good dr).

things are a mess .. a big mess.. everything is mess and I cant cope, my head isnt up to investigating support services and it is not up to investigating all this Guardianship stuff (everything I find seems to relate to full guardianship stuff and not the "partial".. (I just hope the local ME/CFS society when they phone me back have some good advice to give as I need help and I dont know where best to get it and how to get it.. I have NOONE who understands severe ME/CFS working with me (I do not even have a dr anymore or ME/CFS specialist)... I'm now on last resorts).

In past few days, my brother-in-law came here looking for something for my sister and RAN from my home retching ...as things are that bad here!! I think he threw up on my lawn. He has stated now he wont come into my home again till its clean. I cant have family to my home, i cant make friends as I cant have people to my home etc etc.

The hospital has now said since I ended up being ambulanced there on weekend that they are now going to arrange someone to come and clean my house in the next week or two. But things should not be getting to this state in the first place, which they are as my support case manager sucks and does not organise anything and I have not managed to sort things myself (I end up going around in circles when I try due to my memory issues. My brain is having trouble retaining info).. (and that is just one of all the urgent issues I have right now, issues I'm needing help in sorting).

 

[taniaaust1]

Maybe, depending on how the system works in Australia.
But the kind of guardian I was is a part of a system, I had a boss, and he was keeping an eye on everything, that I didn't run off with my clients savings.

With a privat person you really don't know, .....

I have Aspergers also, with that I have great difficulty telling good people from bad people and this has lead to me loosing money and being conned etc etc. I've had a gardener who have got me to pay them and then who did not come and do the job and I lost the money, I had a neighbour at my old place take advantage of me and I lost a couple of hundred dollars due to that. People can often tell when you are vulnerable and take advantage.

Im very vulnerable..... and then with the ME/CFS I do not have the health or energy to be trying to follow up things when they are going badly wrong.

 

[taniaaust1]

Not necessarily.
In Norway we have at least two different systems.
One of them includes what you are talking about, they might say no to what you want, even if you have the savings. And they might invest your savings in a fancy project they like.

The other kind of guardian - and I know this for sure, I was working with this as a small part time job once upon a time- help the client to pay their bills, or contact the bank or... - but you have absolutely no authority otherwise. The client decide, you make it happen. You have access to their accounts, so if you are a villain you can drain it, of course. But you are not allowed to, and will be put to jail if you do.

yes, its that last thing I'm needing.. just someone to step in when Im really running into issues and just to check that bills get paid or that I dont end up paying things twice (that was something I also was doing).

Im worried about getting someone like off the street to do that as they would have access to things like my bank account.. and I dont even check my bank account statements as I often get upset as I see things on there I've forgotten about and then wrongly think someone has taken money out unauthorised, as with my memory issues I forget what I've done with my money.

So at times I've looked at that and freaked, not knowing what is going on with my account... thinking I've been robbed when there is nothing bad actually going on at all. (with my memory issues and inability to remember what I'm spent money on and what I have and have not paid, its too much for me).

So it got to the point where I've stopped even looking at my bank statements and hence currently rely on my elderly friend to check them (I need someone checking all this).

 

[Hufsamor]

I'm really sorry for all your troubles.
I can't believe it has gone so far for you.
And I do understand you really need a partly guardian.
it will be such a relief for you when you get one.

I hope thing will be sorted out for you,
all the things you need.
Please keep us updated