PHOENIX — A former high-level executive who spent just over a year placed into a court-appointed conservatorship went from an early retirement to bankruptcy.
Bill Chalmers calls himself a survivor after being placed into the probate court system.
“There’s a pride that is taken away, the decisions of how much money you get to spend, whether or not you buy chicken or Kraft macaroni and cheese,” said Chalmers.
The probate court system is intended to protect the vulnerable, but some worry it can exploit those in need of help with financial and other decision-making.
In the probate court, a judge is able to assign a stranger or strangers to make all your personal, financial, and health decisions for you.
During a divorce proceeding, a lawyer questioned Chalmers' ability to make decisions, so a Maricopa County probate court interceded in 2017.
The courts will assign a team to someone like Chalmers made up of a guardian ad litem, a court-appointed lawyer, a fiduciary, a lawyer for the fiduciary, and oftentimes a psychiatrist. A guardian ad litem is assigned by a court to help protect the interest of a person like Chalmers.
“I pay for everybody,” said Chalmers.
Rick Black, a national advocate for the Center for Estate Administration, known as CEAR, which works across the country for reform, estimates that there are 15,000 to 20,000 victims each year nationwide due to predatory attorneys and fiduciaries, conservatorships, and guardianships.
“And to me, that’s the epitome of a dysfunctional system,” said Black.
Chalmers had questions after he got out of his 13-month court-appointed conservatorship with East Valley Fiduciary Services.
“My ballpark figure of how much I lost during that period of time was a little over $700,000,” said Chalmers.
In 2020, Chalmers filed a 200-page complaint with the Arizona Fiduciary Board, the entity in Arizona in charge of licensing and discipline. In total, there were 38 allegations against East Valley Fiduciary Services that claim procedures were not followed.
“They left me with my own bank account, with $200,” he said.
Chalmers showed up to the board meetings for years asking for updates on the investigation.
It is unclear how many complaints there are against fiduciaries because only complaints ending in discipline are made public. ABC15 Investigators found in 2019, East Valley Fiduciary Services was disciplined with a one-year probation after allegations that they placed a man in a secure, assisted living facility against his will.
Even during a probation period, a fiduciary is able to take on new wards.
“Generally speaking, if someone is on probation already, just the fact a complaint comes in isn’t necessarily a violation,” said Aaron Nash, who runs Arizona’s Certification & Licensing Division at Arizona Supreme Court.
One of the divisions Nash helps oversees is the Fiduciary Licensing Program which helps to protect elderly and otherwise vulnerable adults. Fiduciaries are licensed individuals or businesses that manage people's financial affairs, medical decisions and other matters.
The fiduciary certification and licensing division is the entity that approves and tracks licenses and complaints.
It took more than two years for the fiduciary board to finish investigating Chalmers’ complaint. They substantiated 10 of the allegations in October 2022. Those include filing a conservator’s accounting that was inaccurate and/or misleading, failing to timely file an inventory and appraisement with the court, not filing an estate budget with the court, and failing to provide 120 days of funding to the ward at the end of the conservatorship, in violation of a court order.
A lawyer for East Valley Fiduciary Services said in an email to ABC15 that they do not agree with the substantiated allegations, “(EVFS) has not had the opportunity to respond to them, and they have not yet been tested in any contested legal proceeding where EVFS would have the opportunity to present evidence and call and cross-examine witnesses regarding the allegations.”
The lawyer added that court proceedings were highly contentious with Chalmers and say that Chalmers still owes them money.
As for Chalmers, he wants reform. Six years after this all began, it is still not over for him.
“To be honest, I don’t want my story to come out. I don’t want people to know, but if I can stop this from happening to someone else’s mother or someone else’s father,” Chalmers said.
