Christine Montanti has worked for years to free her mother, Karilyn, from her legal guardian's clutches.
Karilyn's Law, a bill proposed to change the state's guardianship law, would require a judge to hold a hearing within 10 days of an application filed challenging the court-appointed care of a person who is allegedly incapacitated.
"This would require a hearing and it would be a rebuttal presumption of visitation," said bill sponsor Sen. Anthony Palumbo, a Republican from New Suffolk. "Unless you can prove with clear and convincing evidence a person should not see their loved one, they get to see them."
A court can mandate a guardian assist an allegedly incapacitated people, often elderly or physically or mentally disabled, with decisions about their personal affairs, safety or property. But the approved guardian may be a significant other or person estranged from the incapacitated person's family who chooses to keep them in isolation or abusive situations — especially during end-of-life care.
"We have individuals who cannot visit or even see a loved one because the guardian or conservator will not allow you access for no reason whatsoever," Palumbo said. "We don't have simple procedures to visit someone in the care of a guardian who is otherwise under the control of a guardian."
Christine Montanti recalled abuse her mother endured at two separate assisted-living facilities where she was kept in isolation and denied outside communication at her legal guardian's request.
"My mother was held in a jail-like atmosphere," the concerned daughter said Monday on the Capitol's Million Dollar Staircase. "Guardianship abuse has existed in this country for half-a-century and the cruelties that caregivers inflict on their wards is incomprehensible, and sadly, it's evolved into a real-life modern day tragedy."
After a person files an application to challenge the visitation, the case would progress through the state court system with medical evaluation to determine guardian necessity under the proposed measure.
A lack of legal protocol exists in U.S. states to challenge a legal guardian's visitation decisions.
Montanti hopes New York lawmakers will set a precedent to be adopted by other states.
Families should not have to wait months or years for due process to see their ailing loved one, sponsor Assemblyman Fred Thiele said.
"When it involves a celebrity it gets national attention ... but how many times does this happen in day-to-day life?" said Thiele, a Democrat from Sag Harbor. "Justice delayed is justice denied."
The bill remains in the Assembly Judiciary Committee and the Mental Health Committee in the Senate.