Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is 90 years old. She suffered with shingles earlier this year and was at home recovering for several months. She experienced some complications from her illness but was able to come back to work after her period of recovery. She is helped by aides and gets around in a wheelchair. She did, though, have some trouble remembering how to vote in a committee meeting recently.
Last week the senator fell in her home and was hospitalized. She was released and said to be ok. About two weeks ago, there was an odd story published by the San Francisco Chronicle that Feinstein’s daughter from a previous marriage, Katherine, was given power of attorney for her mother. The question arose – if Dianne Feinstein is mentally capable to do her work as a senator, why does she need her daughter to take over some of her personal affairs? Usually, powers of attorney are used when a loved one is decapacitated, or after a loved one dies.
Now, the issue of elder abuse has arisen. It’s being described as “financial elder abuse.’ Katherine Feinstein submitted a court filing on behalf of her mother accusing the co-trustees of a trust in the name of Richard Blum, the deceased, wealthy husband of Dianne Feinstein, of elder abuse.
The filing was submitted on Aug. 8 and partially confirmed the limited power of attorney that Katherine Feinstein, a former San Francisco County Superior Court judge and current San Francisco fire commissioner, has to assist her mother with civil-related matters. Katherine is 66-years-old and has a legal background. I assume her mother is in good hands. However, the same may not be true of her deceased husband’s estate. Katherine alleges the co-trustees are not providing for Dianne Feinstein as they should be doing.
In the Aug. 8 filing, Katherine Feinstein made the striking allegation that Michael Klein, Marc Scholvinck and Verett Mims, who control the disputed trust, are committing financial elder abuse against the 90-year-old senator. California’s elder abuse laws cover all state residents age 65 and older.
In the filing, Katherine alleges that the co-trustees didn’t fund a trust her mother is the sole income beneficiary of and that they have not made “required distributions” to the senator since Blum’s death in 2022. Katherine, Feinstein’s daughter from a previous marriage, also alleges that the co-trustees are purposely slow-rolling payments to the senator because they “intend to benefit Richard Blum’s [biological] daughters, who stand to inherit millions of dollars that should go to Senator Feinstein if the Trustees never make the required distributions to her.”
Among other asks, Katherine wants the court to suspend the co-trustees, “pending a decision on whether to remove them,” a move she said is necessary to “prevent further loss and injury to Senator Feinstein.”
An attorney for two of the co-trustees didn’t see it the same as Katherine and responded.
Steven P. Braccini, attorney for Klein and Scholvinck, responded forcefully to Katherine’s allegations Tuesday. “The trustees have acted ethically and appropriately at all times; the same cannot be said for Katherine Feinstein,” he wrote in a statement to SFGATE. “This filing is unconscionable. The trustees have always respected Senator Feinstein and always will. But this has nothing to do with her needs and everything to do with her daughter’s avarice.”
In a separate filing in July, Katherine accused the co-trustees of failing to disburse money from a separate trust that Dianne Feinstein requested to use for her medical expenses. Braccini wrote in a statement that the trustees didn’t deny any disbursement to the senator and her medical expenses.
Katherine accuses them of using deceptive language. She said they didn’t respond to her requests for disbursements, which is the same as denial. Katherine said they use a pattern of inaction when it comes to the senator’s beneficial interests. Katherine continues to claim financial elder abuse against her mother.
This kind of mess happens in families, especially when money is involved. The more money, the more trouble may come. In this case, it involves two people wealthy each on their own, and adult children are involved in handling an estate with an adult child from another marriage. It gets complicated.
The problems also involve property.
This latest filing adds to the long, and increasingly ugly, list of legal battles over Blum’s web of trusts. It continues to be unclear how much the senator herself is directly involved in the court battles, particularly given the many reports that her mental acuity is nowhere near what it once was.
On Aug. 10, in a separate court filing first reported on by SFGATE, attorneys for Klein — a longtime lawyer of Blum’s and co-trustee of various Blum trusts — argued that Katherine Feinstein and her husband, Rick Mariano, have attempted to circumvent Klein and prepare Feinstein’s Stinson Beach home for sale without adequate legal authority. In the filing, Klein’s team also insinuated that the senator may not be as closely involved in the decision to sell the Stinson Beach property as her daughter has claimed.
Blum’s lawyers think Katherine is in it for herself and not necessarily in the best interests of her mother. Katherine probably thinks the same of Blum’s co-trustees. It’s not really the kind of stress Dianne Feinstein needs as she tries to remain strong enough to keep working. Though, at the age of 90 and in failing physical and mental health, my advice would be that the senator retire while she can still enjoy some time back at home with her loved ones. She’s earned it and it’s time for the oldest member of Congress to pass the torch to the next generation. It’s a safe Democrat seat. Leftist Democrat Governor Newsom will appoint her successor if she leaves before her term ends. The balance in the Senate would remain as it is now.
Read the full article here
