Jared E. Shafer is a professional guardian who is robbing my Uncle of his Veterans benefit money. My Uncle, who is 85, fought in the Korean War. He moved to Nevada to retire and enjoy the desert sun and dry weather. Unfortunately, he developed Alzheimer's disease five years after moving to Henderson.
Jared E. Shafer was appointed as my uncle's guardian by Commissioner Jon Norheim. My uncle has no immediate family, which makes me his only living relative and I do not live in Nevada. When I finally got a look at Shafer's accounting, I discovered over $315,000 was taken away from my uncle's trust in a time period of 15 months in very questionable guardian fees and several billings by AVID Business Services, which apparently is a friend of his. After some checking, I discovered that AVID Business services is not licensed by the state or county. I also noticed that the trust was making payments in the name of Jared Shafer and his assistant, Patience Bristol, rather than making payments to the business name he is licensed under and also quite obviously printed on his invoices. I think the IRS should look into Mr. Shafer's billing practices.
I filed an NRS Chapter 160 petition with the Nevada Family court. The statues of 160 put restrictions on professional guardians who have a ward that is a veteran but the violations by Jared E. Shafer were rejected by Jon Norheim, the guardianship commissioner. Norheim said something like if I allow you to win this case, guardians would have a difficult time conducting business in Las Vegas. I know we have laws on the books protecting veterans, but when they get in the way of a guardians earning a living, I will not enforce them. This was the most outrageous thing I've ever heard and very hard to take because the NRS statutes regulate the amount a guardian may charge, which is no more than 5% of the Veteran's annual income. Commissioner Norheim's refusal to follow these regulations allows guardians like Shafer to take all of their money.To hear a family court commissioner (he's not really a judge) actually state that he cares more about a guardian making money (and at the ward's expense) is outrageous and criminal. Since when is a family court more interested in protecting the income of a guardian over the income of an elderly ward who served his country?
Commissioner NorHeim's statements greatly angered me because I fought in the Tet Offensive of 1968 and lost the use of my left arm.
To add insult to injury, when Jared E. Shafer heard Norheim's ruling, he began to smile, more like smirking. After we left the court, Patience Bristol, his obvious protege, said, don't fight Jared, he always wins. I work for winners and that is my boss. Give it up, we'll wear you down and make you spend all your money and we'll bill your uncle for our attorney fees and leave him a poor man." The state of Nevada allows the guardians to bill the ward's for their over priced, cut-throat attorneys, depleting the ward's money. This is one of the reasons Jared E. Shafer has gotten away with his exploiting of veterans and other elders because he doesn't haven't to pay for his attorneys.
A week later Jared E. Shafer contacted me by phone. He said stop this stupid Vet stuff, if you don't your uncle will die a poor old man.
Jared E. Shafer delights in ripping off veterans. The Internet is full of postings that accurately detail the fraud and exploitation committed by Shafer against families who do not have the means to fight. Commissioner Norheim does what Shafer wants, which brings to question, why? What is Jared E. Shafer doing for him? It doesn't matter if the ward has placed his/her life in danger for our country, these people have no respect for our veterans. Stop Jared E. Shafer and Commissioner Norheim before more innocent families fall under the control of this corrupt system. |
