September 30, 2008 11:05 pm
—
By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
CARTHAGE, Mo. — After collecting more than $6,700 from Guy Sesler’s account during the last two years that he was a county ward, Rita Hunter, Jasper County public administrator, says Sesler owes her an additional $1,740 in administrative fees, plus $99 in fees for her lawyer.
The amounts are listed as outstanding claims owed by Sesler’s estate, in court filings proposed for closing out the estate after Sesler was released from county guardianship in July.
The document also lists as a claim a bill of $5,897 from Spring River Christian Village, where Sesler was a resident for a time until May 2007.
Multiple attempts to obtain comments from Hunter and John Podleski, attorney for the public administrator’s office, have been unsuccessful. A recording on the office answering machine on Friday said the office was closed for training. At the time, Hunter and other workers were conducting a sale in Joplin. The office on occasion sells household goods on behalf of the estates of wards who have been placed in nursing homes.
Probate Judge David Mouton on Thursday approved the administrator’s settlement of Sesler’s estate — noting that no objections had been filed — and cited as outstanding claims the nursing-home bill, and remaining administrative and attorney fees sought by Hunter and Podleski.
The fees will be challenged, said R. Lynn Myers, a Springfield attorney who is suing Hunter on behalf of Sesler and several other wards. Myers in late July filed a class-action lawsuit asking that Hunter be removed as conservator of her more than 450 clients or be ordered to refund any fees that the court deems excessive.
Arguments filed on Hunter’s behalf contend that the lawsuit should be dismissed, that objections should be filed as part of Sesler’s individual court settlement, and that the case does not meet requirements for a class action.
There was no money left in Sesler’s bank account, managed by Hunter, when he was released to return home in July, according to the court documents. A refund from Autumn Place, the assisted-living home where he had lived until his release, provided some financial cushion until he began receiving income from his Veterans Affairs and Social Security retirement, Sesler said.
“I went to the bank to find out my balance, and there was nothing left in the account,” he said. “But I moved out of Autumn Place in the first week of the month, so they gave me a refund for the rest of the month, and we were able to live on that.”
Sesler, who is retired from the military, said he receives veterans’ and Social Security payments of about $2,000 a month.
Sesler was a resident at Spring River Christian Village before Hunter was named his guardian, replacing Janice Tusinger, the former public administrator. He moved to Autumn Place in May 2007.
The bill from Spring River Christian Village was filed with the court in April 2008.
Sesler said all the decisions about his care, including where he lived, were made by the public administrator’s office until he was released in July. He became a ward of the county after suffering a health problem.
“We’ve called Spring River and told them about the lawsuit,” he said.
Hunter has pointed out that fees she charges against wards’ accounts must first be approved by the probate court. During Sesler’s time as a ward under Hunter’s guardianship, Hunter sought, and probate judges approved, about $8,490 in fees for administrative services by her office for Sesler. Also approved were $980 in fees for attorneys working for the administrator, first Gayle Crane and then Podleski after Crane stepped down when she was elected a circuit court judge in 2006.
No fees were accessed from Sesler’s account the first year that Hunter served as guardian. Over the last two years, fees obtained from Sesler’s account by Hunter for services by her office totaled $6,749.48, leaving what she says is the $1,740 still owed her office.
Though he has refused to answer questions about his decisions, Judge Mouton late in 2007 began trimming fees sought by Hunter for services by the administrator’s office. Mouton took office in January 2007, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of Circuit Judge Jon Dermott.
A review of probate files shows instances in which Hunter took nothing from the wards’ estates in yearly financial settlements. In others, as much as $6,300 was charged against an account for a year’s services.
Hunter submits along with her administrative-fee requests detailed expense reports listing charges such as for visiting with or taking calls from the ward or relatives; communicating with hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes and other caregivers; reviewing and filing documents; and completing annual reports to the court. The reports sometimes list charges for duties such as shopping for the ward, or selling a ward’s house or car.
Hunter charges $75 per hour for services by her office, with a minimum of two-tenths of an hour, or $15. The fees are the highest the Globe could find in a review of public administrators’ offices in similarly sized counties in Missouri.
Hunter, who is paid $59,000 annually by the county, said the fees are necessary to have a staff large enough to manage the county’s large number of wards. There are 10 workers in the public administrator’s office, a staff far larger than those found in other offices in similarly sized counties.
Hunter doesn’t always access from a ward’s account all the fees approved by the court, a review of annual financial settlements shows. On some, where income is low, no fees are accessed, though charges are taken from some others in which a ward’s income is limited to Social Security payments.
Some wards or relatives of wards have sought to challenge the fees charged by Hunter’s office. Those attempts have met with mixed results.
The court in April 2007 ruled against the administrator when fees of $3,279 were sought for her services over a six-month period as personal representative to a minor after Terry Coady, the youth’s father, had died. The child’s mother hired an attorney to challenge the fees, and the court awarded $1,800.
Wanda Lee Brumley went to court to object to charges on her husband’s estate by the office, saying the fees that were sought represented more than one-third of all the income. The court in October 2007 disagreed and awarded the public administrator $3,150 in administrative fees for just more than a year’s services, plus $1,185 for the administrator’s attorneys.
The court after a hearing in June 2007 rejected a request on behalf of Pamela Perry that Hunter be removed as the woman’s guardian. But the court agreed with the ward in reducing Hunter’s fee to $2,600 from the $4,312 that was sought.
Budget preparation
A proposed fiscal 2009 budget for the public administrator’s office trims spending by $90,000, citing fee cuts made by Probate Judge David Mouton. The proposed budget was prepared by Public Administrator Rita Hunter to comply with county budget requirements in state statutes. Angie Casavecchia Ashens will take office as administrator in January, after essentially winning the office in the Republican primary in August.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
Photos
Globe/T. Rob Brown
Rita Hunter, Jasper County public administrator, sits at a table Friday during a sale her office conducted in Joplin. The office is authorized to sell items from the estates of wards of the county.