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Society

102-year-old seeks to ditch legal guardian

Published: 30 Jul 10 13:14 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/28100/20100730/

A 102-year-old woman in Halmstad in southwestern Sweden wants to get rid of the legal guardian that the municipality arranged for her against her will when it mistakenly assumed she had no living relatives.

Agneta Mathilda Fagerberg was stripped of control of her financial affairs and other decisions about her life after she was late with the rent on her apartment. Now she is taking the council to court to try to force them to cede control.

"The fact that I'm old doesn't mean I'm stupid," she told Aftonbladet.

Due to her age and state of health, she moved into municipal housing and the municipality's chief guardian decided on the trusteeship because they believed she had no living relatives to take care of her.

However, she has a niece, Camilla, who is in her 40s. She was not informed of the decision to move Fagerberg into a home. When she went to look for her aunt, she was suddenly greeted by a door with a changed lock. The two women have applied to the district court to have the legal guardianship removed, wrote local newspaper Hallandsposten.

"Trusteeship is an excessive intervention," the woman's representative Torbjörn Lindstrand told the newspaper. "The need for control and transparency can be solved with an adminstrator or by proxy."

"I cannot hear what you are saying," Fagerberg answered in a loud voice to the first question asked to her in the courtroom this week. "But I'll slap my hands on the table like this."

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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13:47 July 30, 2010 by eddie123
haha... the journalist who wrote the original piece is very funny:

"I cannot hear what you are saying," answered the woman in a loud voice to the first question asked to her in the courtroom this week. "But I'll slapping my hands on the table, like this."

doesn't that justify the need to have someone take care of the woman's affairs. perhaps her niece should, if she truly cares. otherwise, a state appointed guardian should assume that responsibility.
17:36 July 30, 2010 by tadchem
The problem with governmental micromanagement is that everything becomes bogged down in the Holy Scripture of Regulations, and none dare stray from the writ. The Rules make no allowance for correcting errors of any kind, even errors of oversight, One single person (the municipality's chief guardian?) who exercised due diligence and simply *asked* Fagerberg about any living relatives could have avoided this quagmire. "Trust, but verify" said Ronald Reagan.
19:21 July 30, 2010 by McChatter
Pity "Millenium" doesn't really exist.

They would have had a field day this month with Lindberg and now this story. Tadchem is completely right. And the cause? Ansvar, or responsibility. The most feared word in the Swedish vocabulary. "It wisnae me. It wis that big boy". Don't think, just follow the Rule Book. Makes you want to puke.
21:37 July 30, 2010 by farnoxo
"The fact that I'm old doesn't mean I'm stupid," ... but the fact that you give a flying f$%k who looks after your financial affairs when you are 102 years old means that you are.

Sometime you just have to say ... I cocked up and that's that!
02:07 July 31, 2010 by DAVID T
Ah Sweden - the true communist state
09:12 July 31, 2010 by Douglas Garner
This is about respecting the rights of a person... in this case an older citizen. They could have asked her... How can we best help you with your affairs? Do you have someone who could help review you bills, or would you prefer that the kommun helps with it?

FARNOXO assumes that because a person is 102 that they no longer can or should care about themselves and should delegate it to others. Okay, the old gal missed her rent payment and needs helping seeing to her affairs... that can be done respectfully and allowing her dignity.
18:36 July 31, 2010 by bob3000
@Douglas Garner - you would think so, and given the constant need for everything to be discussed here in Sweden, they probably did try and ask.

There is obviously more to this story than is being reported here. Perhaps the story here will be supplemented with a chronology or even......(drum roll) facts, perhaps not - I'll not be holding my breath.

@DAVID T - grow up.
01:49 August 1, 2010 by Nyqvist
I agree with 'McChatter'... it is a pity that Millenium doesn't exist!

I believe that this is unfair. They have gone about it the wrong way and she deserves more respect. Since when does age come into it? They say she is healthy and she is capable of doing it on her own!

Far out we all miss a payment every now and then...

I hope it works out for her =) I really do!
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