2024-01-07 05:00:00
Sylviane contacted us via the orange “Alert us” button. Following her personal experience, she denounces a lack of supervision of professional property managers. His father, now deceased, had been placed under legal protection. But there were many failures. Today she denounces a form of mistreatment and failure to assist people in danger.
Seeing the photo of her now deceased father once more, Sylviane is nostalgic. But she also has a bitter taste when she thinks back to the last year of her life. “My father was going through terrible grief following the loss of his wife a year before. And the last year of his life, unfortunately, he was treated badly”she explains to us.
In 2021, Sylviane’s dad’s doctor recommends her placement in a rest home
It all started at the end of 2021 when his father’s health deteriorated following the death of his wife. Sylviane notices that her father no longer washes, refuses all outside help, has difficulty moving around, does not eat enough, and drinks a lot of alcohol. “I very quickly noticed that nothing was working in the house, and that there was a very serious lack of hygiene. I wanted, with the help of the attending physician, to find ways to help”, she tells us.
His father’s attending physician, who followed him for a large part of his life, wrote a medical certificate. He talks regarding dementia, amnesia, significant difficulty walking, anosognosia (editor’s note, the person denies his condition). The doctor concludes that his dad is no longer able to manage his property or his own safety. Sylviane then filed a request with the justice of the peace in order to ensure her father’s legal protection.
The justice of the peace goes to Sylviane’s dad in his presence. The house is adrift: there are cigarette butts everywhere, the bedding is also in a state of profound uncleanliness. It didn’t take much for the justice of the peace to find the situation alarming and order his father’s placement under judicial protection.
In March 2022, a professional property manager is appointed
A mission entrusted to a lawyer, on the advice of the justice of the peace in order to relieve Sylviane, called “administrator of property and person”. He was notably responsible for placing his father in a nursing home as a matter of urgency, since he clearly might no longer live alone. We are now in March 2022. But following a month, the situation deteriorates… “I explain to the lawyer that my father is very dirty and incontinent and that this poses real hygiene problems. And he denies and denies every reality with supporting evidence. And so he is going to leave my father for 3-4 months to macerate, if I may say so, in his urine and excrement… Which is extremely revolting.” Sylviane tells us, still in shock today.
To top it off, the administrator is unreachable and never answers calls from Sylviane or her dad. “He spent a lot of time minimizing what I said, but also what the neighbors saw. My father was addicted to alcohol, didn’t have enough money to eat every day, he was malnourished, he had falls, the door to his house remained open, he had poor hygiene… And he was the only one to say: ‘But your dad is fit to stay at home’ and so he will keep him at home. “The administrator left my father in this state without help or assistance.” An unbearable situation both for Sylviane and for her father which will last 5 months.
During 2022, Sylviane files a complaint for mistreatment and failure to assist a person in danger
So in April 2022, she filed a complaint and denounced a form of mistreatment. She asked the judge to recover this protection, which was initially refused to her, even though she had been assured that even if a lawyer was appointed, she might easily recover this protection. She ended up obtaining it a few months later following a trial and therefore became an administrator in November 2022. “I ultimately win this case, but I still remain bitter. How can we in Belgium allow the justice system to take care of an elderly person without taking into account a glaring health and hygiene emergency? ??”, she denounces.
In the meantime, in May 2022, his dad was admitted to a rest home following fleeing his home, no longer able to bear the situation he was in. Shortly following, Sylviane’s dad’s condition deteriorated and he died in early January 2023.
Because of this mismanagement by the lawyer, which lasted several months, Sylviane now has a debt of 3,000 euros. For her, the law relating to personal supervision should be more severe.
Many people are under legal protection in Belgium: what is its role?
In Belgium, 1 in 100 people are appointed a property administrator. Either a family member, who has priority according to the law, or a lawyer. Quentin Rey, lawyer, also plays this role. He explains how it works in general: “We are the legal personality of the protected person. So basically, the person can no longer sign a contract without our authorization, and we sometimes, not without authorization from the justice of the peace. There is really a hierarchy”, he summarizes.
The justice of the peace oversees the property administrator, who manages the daily life of the person under legal protection. The administrator takes charge of the daily administrative management, the legal aspect, and the financial management of the protected person: “We manage his daily life. So we will make sure that he has a home, make sure that his papers are in order. It can also mean regularizing his mutual insurance, his unemployment, making sure that there is no no problems with the lease, etc.”, details Me Quentin Rey. The role of a property manager is therefore multiple.
He also recalls that “It’s a protective measure.“: “The aim is to prevent citizens from wasting their money and finding themselves destitute. The law provides that the family has priority, but a professional property administrator can also be appointed, as in the case of Sylviane where the justice of the peace suggested that she call on a professional. If the family is not designated administrator, it can choose one or two trusted people, explains Me Quentin Rey, who can be part of the family and who would act as a link between the protected person and the administrator.
An annual report to justify expenses must be kept and submitted to the justice of the peace
In all cases, for all procedures, there is control carried out by a justice of the peace. “We are supervised. Everything we do, we must justify it to the justice of the peace. We must justify all the amounts that come in and go out. It is also possible that there are checks with an external accountant who checks that everything is in order”, adds Me Quentin Rey.
The administrator receives 3% of the income of the protected person according to the law relating to property administrators. Not to mention exceptional costs and services, where packages are also provided for by law. Each year, the property administrator must submit a report to the justice of the peace. “He must be accountable during management, and he is responsible when his mandate expires. There is a marginal share among professionals, as among individuals, of people who can manage poorly or who can be dishonest,” explains Xavier Ghuysen, justice of the peace in Liège 1.
What to do when things go wrong with a property manager?
If the family does not agree with the judge’s decision, or does not agree with the designated administrator, they can appeal the decision or contact the justice of the peace to notify that there are problems with the current administrator. Please note, you must not submit a request for designation: “This is not possible because an administrator has already been appointed”, warn Me Quentin Rey. You must submit a replacement request “who must be supported by different justifications”.
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