(Sinclair Broadcast Group)

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WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) – Court-appointed guardianships for incapacitated adults can do a tremendous service protecting their assets, fielding family feuds and making difficult decisions. But some elderly feel victimized by the very system tasked with protecting them. One estimate in 2013 found 1.5 million adults were under court-ordered guardianships controlling $273 billion in personal assets. Complaints appear to be growing but it’s impossible to know for sure because there are no reliable statistics. Our cover story looks at a family claiming the guardianship system did more to hurt than help.
Betty Winstanley is a 95-year-old living in a Pennsylvania retirement community. When her husband died in 2014, she was left with a comfortable savings. But when her three children disagreed on whether she should manage her own affairs, Winstanley ended up…