In the unfortunate instances when Florida elders become mentally incapacitated, they will often need legal guardians. The rules of Florida Guardianship Law grant guardians a lot of power to act for the persons whom they are appointed to protect (called a “ward“). And, at the same time, these rules also remove some of the rights of the elder to act on his or her own behalf. Because this process grants so much power to the guardian, while leaving the ward so vulnerable to unscrupulous acts, it is usually best to appoint a loved one or close friend as a guardian to ensure the guardian acts in the ward’s best interest.
In a previous post, we reported on a guardianship case in Miami, Silveira, v. Guardianship of Ana Maria Quiroga, in which Ursula Silveira was disregarded by the Florida court when appointing a guardian for her sister, Ana Maria.
To recap the facts of the case:
- In April of 2014, Maria Quiroga was determined by the Florida court to be mentally incapacitated and in need of a guardian.
- Her sister, Ursula Silveira, was listed as a possible choice for guardianship.
- Ursula accepted the nomination and seemed happy to be the one to take care of her sister’s affairs.
- However, trouble arose when the court wanted to have an immediate proceeding to appoint Ursula as the guardian.
- The court scheduled a hearing for May 14, 2014.
- But due to certain pre-existing commitments, Ursula had to be out of town the entire month of May.
- The court held it’s hearing anyway, and when Ursula didn’t show, the Florida guardianship court appointed the Guardianship Program of Dade County, Inc. (“GPDC”), a public guardianship corporation.
When Ursula realized this she attempted to remove the GPDC as guardian and take the place herself. Further, she even ignored the ruling appointing GPDC as guarding and began taking the affairs of her sister into her own hands. However, after many of Ursula’s petitions to replace GPDC, the court ruled that (1), she must stop acting as an agent for her incapacitatedsister because she has no legal right to do so, and (2), her petitions were denied and she was barred from filing any more petitions.
Why would the court do this? Ursula was “pro se“, meaning she did not have an attorney. She filed the petitions on her own without any assistance or counsel. As a result, the petitions had procedural and substantive errors, which effectively nullified them. Ursula appealed the ruling that banned her from filing any more petitions. The moral of the story? If you are have an issue to bring to Palm Beach guardianship court, consult with a Palm Beach guardianship attorney. If you have an issue in Fort Lauderdale Probate court, consult with your Fort Lauderdale probate litigation attorney. The procedural requirements of the Florida courts are surprising individualized, and any petition that does not conform to the requirements will likely be rejected.
Find out more on Guardianship in Florida. See http://www.pankauskilawfirm.com for videos and information on Guardianship Law, Court-Appointed Guardians, and Power of Attorney.