Lake County Court of Common Pleas
 Probate Division

Ted Klammer, Probate Judge 

Lake County
Probate Court
25 North Park Place
Painesville, OH 44077

Phone:      (440) 350-2626
West End: (440) 918-2626
Fax:            (440) 350-2628
West End: (440) 918-2628


Hours of Service:
Monday-Friday
7:30 am to 5 pm*

*Closed on holidays
observed by
Lake County

SUGGESTED READINGS

The Baby Boomer's Guide To Nursing Home Care

Written by Eric M. Carlson and Katharine Bau Hsiao. Copyrighted in 2006 by National Senior Citizens Law Center.

This guide explains the laws that protect senior citizens who live in facilities and also offers suggestions on how to receive high quality of care in facilities. 

Nursing Homes Getting Good Care There

A Consumer Action Manual Prepared by The National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform.

This is a helpful book which will show you not only how to receive quality care at a nursing home, but how to evaluate one as well.

Beat the Nursing Home Trap

A Consumer's Guide to Assisted Living and Long-Term Care, by: Joseph Matthews.

This Guide features many good ideas in the area of Medicare, Medicaid, and, asset protection.

the Nursing Home Decision Easing The transition for Everyone

Written by Lawrence M Martin, M.D. Copyrighted in 1999 by the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

In this particular book one will learn how to deal with the challenges that arise when placing a loved one in a nursing home.

Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness

Written by Pete Earley, Published in April 2006 by Penguin Group(USA) .

About this Book from the Publisher:

Pete Earley had no idea. He'd been a journalist for over thirty years, and the author of several award-winning-even bestselling-nonfiction books about crime and punishment and society. Yet he'd always been on the outside looking in. He had no idea what it was like to be on the inside looking out until his son, Mike, was declared mentally ill, and Earley was thrown headlong into the maze of contradictions, disparities, and catch-22s that is America's mental health system.

The more Earley dug, the more he uncovered the bigger picture: Our nation's prisons have become our new mental hospitals. Crazy tells two stories. The first is his son's. The second describes what Earley learned during a yearlong investigation inside the Miami-Dade County jail, where he was given complete, unrestricted access. There, and in the surrounding community, he shadowed inmates and patients; interviewed correctional officers, public defenders, prosecutors, judges, mental-health professionals, and the police; talked with parents, siblings, and spouses; consulted historians, civil rights lawyers, and legislators.

The result is both a remarkable piece of investigative journalism, and a wake-up call-a portrait that could serve as a snapshot of any community in America

The Innocent Man

Written by John Grisham, Published in October 2006 by Doubleday a division of Random House, Inc.

About this Book from John Grisham's Official Website.

John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet.

In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory.

Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits—drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa.

In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder.

With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row.

If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.

Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice

Written by David Feige, Published in June 2006 by Little Brown and Company.

The following review comes from Kirkus Reviews Best Book of '06:

The former Trial Chief of the Bronx Defenders, David Feige works through a day in the life of a defense attorney in Indefensible, which "offers candid insight into what he characterizes as a pervasively brutal and capricious criminal justice system," said Kirkus.  "Feige knows his way around the Bronx's notorious criminal courthouse, and there he represented the frequently handcuffed, never cuff-linked.  They were street people, predators from the projects, crackdealers, wife-beaters, turnstile jumpers, hustlers, and killers.  And they were seldom innocent.  The author was fond of them all and viewed himself as their last hope."  "It's a side of the story that's almost never told," says Geoff Shandler, editor-in-chief of Little, Brown.  "So much of the literature about courts comes from the prosecutor's side.  This is true big-city justice from the point of view of the public defender."  The book is a memoir of sorts, loosely framed around a typical (long) work day, following the author from the early morning to late at night.  "We jokingly called it 'A Long Day's Journey into Night Court," says Chandler.  But as Feige attends to the many different cases, he also digresses, broaching topics such as "the skill required in plea bargaining...how to use an autopsy report or a rap sheet...the art of investigation, the mechanics of drug busts and the hard truth that, when the police interrogate, the police always win,"  said Kirkus.  "A vibrant, smart, authentic story of a special sort of heroics in which one lawyer does the best he can in a dysfunctional system that too often links 'miscarriage' with 'justice'."

Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis

Written by Jimmy Carter, Published in November 2005 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

About the Book from The Website of Simon & Schuster, Inc.:

In Our Endangered Values, Jimmy Carter describes quite personally his own involvement and reactions to some disturbing societal trends that have taken place during the past few years.  These changes involve both the religious and the political worlds as they have increasingly become intertwined, and include some of the most crucial and controversial issues of the day-frequently encapsulated under 'moral values'

Many of these matters are under fierce debate, and include pre-emptive war, women's rights, terrorism, civil liberties, homosexuality, abortion, the death penalty, science and religion, environmental degradation, nuclear arsenals, America's global image, fundamentalism, and the welding of the religion and politics.  Carter, sustained by his own lifelong faith, assesses these issues in a forceful and unequivocal, but balanced and courageous way.  Our Endangered Values is a book that his millions of readers have eagerly awaited.

  Boomer or Bust: Your Financial Guide to Retirement, Health Care, Medicare, and Long Term Care

Written by Steve Weisman, Published in August 2006 by Pearson Education.

The following review comes from Kirkus Reports:

Financial guidance for the “sandwich generation.” Baby Boomers are finding themselves in an odd place, concerned with caring for their kids and their parents–all while thinking ahead to their own retirement. Meanwhile, the old standbys, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, are all changing. Weisman effectively addresses the Boomers’ specific financial needs and concerns. A leading elder law attorney and host of the nationwide radio show A Touch of Grey, he presents a straightforward guide to planning for your and your parents’ future. He takes the guesswork out of IRAs, 401(k)s, annuities, reverse mortgages, long-term care insurance, home care, assisted living, nursing homes, living wills and advance health-care directives. Readers will also find up-to-date information on the latest Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid changes, as recently passed by Congress, plus useful information on “secret” tax breaks. The author’s clear and humorous style is engaging, even when the subject matter gets a little heavy. A smart, readable guide for Baby Boomers looking to face the future with confidence and financial freedom.