A bipartisan push is underway to reform Florida's guardianship system after local and national investigations revealed that incapacitated seniors have been having their homes sold out from under them by agencies responsible for their care.
Miami Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia and Orlando Democratic Rep. Rita Harris have filed substantively identical bills (SB 48, HB 887) aimed at improving the state guardianship process.
Both are titled "Karilyn's Law" after Karilyn Montanti, a Palm Beach County senior allegedly subjected to abuse and denied visitation from family while under a court-ordered guardianship program.
Among other things, the legislation would secure family visitation rights unless there is "clear and convincing evidence" visitation or other contact is not in the guarded person's best interest. Under current law, the appointed guardian is responsible for making that determination.
The legislation would also permit a jury to decide the validity of the incapacitated person or minor's trust, amendment, power of attorney or will. According to women's advocacy group Florida NOW, advocates say the change won't burden courts because 99% of cases settle before reaching a jury trial.
"The proposed legislation is not just a legal remedy; it's a lifeline for vulnerable individuals, preventing the kind of isolation, neglect and abuse that led to my grandmother's tragic demise last year," Florida NOW Legislative Director Kat Duesterhaus said in a statement.
"Let our collective call for guardianship reform echo loud and clear — it's time to protect the voiceless and ensure that no one else suffers as my grandmother did."
In cases where a person — typically a senior or minor — is legally deemed incompetent and classified as a ward, courts grant people called guardians legal authority to make decisions relevant to the ward's personal and property interests.
It's necessary when no family member can or is willing to step up to take responsibility for a loved one who is mentally or physically debilitated or too young to care for themselves.
For some seniors in Florida, which boasts some 2 million residents aged 75 or older, that arrangement has led to financial and property predation.
In Miami, WLRN reported that more than a dozen seniors in the city under the supervision of the Guardianship Program of Dade County had their homes sold by the nonprofit agency at marked profits.
The outlet's investigation found that the company that bought and sold many of the properties belonged to Carlos Morales, husband of City Attorney Victoria Méndez. Mayor Francis Saurez was involved in several transactions with the company, Express Homes, in his capacity as a real estate lawyer.
One former homeowner who alleges Morales and Méndez defrauded him by buying his home "under false pretenses," telling him the property faced steep building code violations before then getting the violation fines waived, has sued the couple.
Similar stories of seniors having their homes bought and sold without their consent have made headlines nationally, but especially in the Sunshine State.
"People don't realize how abusive the system is. If they knew, there would be bigger cries for reform," Pinellas County Clerk Ken Burke, who led a task force to improve guardianships, told the The Washington Post in November.
A Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation task force made 10 recommendations to improve matters in 2021, the top priority of which was the establishment of a statewide guardianship database.
State lawmakers in 2022 OK'd a bill by Fleming Island Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley and St. Pete Beach Republican Rep. Linda Chaney (HB 1349) doing that.
But much more oversight is needed, Burke's Office detailed in a scathing report in December 2022 centering on professional guardian Traci Hudson, who last year pleaded guilty to 19 felony counts for theft and exploitation. Hudson stole more than $500,000 over 11 months from a Pinellas senior after the man's daughter died unexpectedly.
Last month, Burke penned letters to Garcia and Hart expressing his support of their measures, which he described as "very meaningful."
"It keeps the focus on how the many flaws in the Guardianship system are allowing victimization of wards to continue," he wrote. "Your legislation is an important step to provide needed safeguards."
Garcia and Harris' legislation and a nearly identical bill Delray Beach Republican Rep. Mike Caruso filed (and then withdrew) last year would include new provisions to increase guardian transparency.
The legislation would mandate that a verified inventory of a ward's property be made available to their family, next of kin and any beneficiaries of a will the ward executed before being determined as incapacitated.
It would also require public guardians to be appointed on a rotating basis and establish the right of a ward to have their need for guardianship reevaluated every three years.
Montanti's daughter, Chrstine Montanti, is working with state lawmakers on similar legislation in New York.
Harris said in a statement that the goal of her bill is to "alleviate several concerns" her office has heard from parents, grandparents and concerned family members.
"Countless advocates have come to me with personal stories of how this system has failed them," she said. "I am proud to file this bill to clean up those problems (and codify) into law the practice of doing what's best for a child, incapacitated person, or elder if they require legal guardianship."
SB 48 and HB 887, filed Sept. 18 and Dec. 13, respectively, await hearings before the first of three committees to which they were referred.
If passed, the legislation would go into effect July 1.
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