Florida should put guardian-abuse scammers out of business | Opinion
The legal system is supposed to protect the vulnerable, but too often it is manipulated into exploiting them. From coast to coast, guardianship and conservatorship abuse — where seniors are cheated and stripped of their liberty and property — is a glaring, yet underreported, example of this insidious phenomenon.
The hit Hollywood movie “I Care A Lot” and high-profile cases of guardianship and conservatorship abuse, like those of Britney Spears and Joann “Mama B” Bashinsky, have brought the issue to national attention, which long has been needed. But as a Florida resident, I’ve been aware of this disturbing practice for some time. I’ve taken measures to protect my family from this kind of abuse, but too many Americans remain unaware of just how widespread and terrible guardianship abuse and conservatorship abuse truly are.
In 2020, a Florida senior named Jan Garwood was wrongly placed under professional guardianship by predators after being involved in a car crash. The crash wasn’t the result of any sort of physical incapacitation or mental deterioration — she was simply a shattered woman grieving over the death of her son. But that didn’t stop a predatory network of corrupt medical officials, lawyers and judges from stripping her of her rights.
Fortunately, Garwood, using Facebook, was able to reach the outside world from her prison in a hospital dementia unit. With the aid of an honest lawyer and an honest doctor, she was able to get released. Unfortunately, many victims of guardianship abuse in Florida aren’t as lucky. And there are many. A Google search of “guardian abuse Florida” retrieves well over 2.4 million results in less than half a second. The headlines speak for themselves, painting a vivid picture of the corruption necessary in a number of professional fields to pull off such horrific, predatory scams: “Guardian for Elderly Arrested on Abuse, Neglect Charges”; “State confirms mass resignations at Florida watchdog office overseeing guardianship abuse”; “State of Florida sued for trafficking and abuse of elderly under guardianship”It’s clear to see that this state has a major guardianship-abuse problem and why guardianship abuse might be so attractive to criminal predators. In Florida, absolutely anyone can file a petition for guardianship, regardless of relationship with the victim. Moreover, Florida guardians can be paid up to $95 an hour for their “services” — and their lawyers can be paid upwards of $400 an hour. That’s to say nothing of the control guardianship abusers receive over the personal assets of their victims. It’s not just Florida. Stories like this abound in California, Alabamaand elsewhere.
These stories also make something else abundantly clear: Guardianship abuse may more correctly be thought of as guardian, medical and legal abuse, because without unethical, predatory individuals in all of those fields working together, such abuse is impossible carry out. It takes more than a corrupt guardian to do these terrible things — it takes a corrupt guardian, a corrupt lawyer, a corrupt doctor, often a corrupt nursing home or hospital and, finally, corrupt judges.
Guardianship laws and conservatorship laws are well-intentioned, designed to protect the truly incapacitated and vulnerable from those who would take advantage of them. But as Florida’s, and indeed America’s, guardianship-abuse epidemic shows, this system that was put in place to protect individuals from exploitation is far too often subverted to actually exploit them.
Legislators in Florida are trying to fix the problem, but there’s still a long way to go, and the issue needs far more attention at the national level from Congress. When a system designed to protect people can be easily twisted into a weapon to cause harm, there’s a serious problem. It’s time we end that problem in the guardianship system.
Lou Holtz was the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame 1986 to 1996. He is a Florida resident.
