The old woman sits in the corner reclining chair, as she does most of the time any more, looking at, well, nothing. The smell — a stinging mixture of urine and ammonia — doesn't seem to bother her as it does a visitor to this Phoenix nursing home. Or maybe she's just accepted the fact that this is how she will live out the rest of her life.

Not even four years ago, Marie Long had $1.3 million in assets, held in trust for her final years on this earth. Sometime in the next few weeks, she'll be tossed onto the state's welfare rolls. All of her money is gone now; much of it bled off by legal fees and guardian fees.

And the court that exists to protect her?