Florida Guardianship Law is slowly getting bigger, slowly increasing, with new cases, an evolving line of precedent and statutes which are regularly addressed when the Florida Probate Code may need to be improved or tweaked by legislative committees. Here is a new, just-published guardianship law opinion from Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal. If you are involved in a Florida guardianship or an incapacity hearing, you may want to read it.
What You Need to Know About Florida Guardianship Law in 5 Bullet Points
- Guardianship law is found in Chapter 744 of Florida’s Probate Code and in Florida cases or published opinions of the Appeals Courts which rule on guardianship appeals in Florida
- Don’t forget to review the Florida Probate Rules and the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure since a contested guardianship (where family members fight over who should, or should not, be guardian, or whether a guardianship is even needed) will be resolved by a guardianship trial (if the parties don’t settle or agree)
- The guiding light for the Probate Court, or the Florida Guardianship Court, is the best interests of the person who may be incapacitated
- The Probate Court will want to know if the “ward” or the “alleged incapacitated person” is protected, safe and well taken care of
- Anyone with an interest in the well being of the person who may need Guardianship Court assistance may be able to be heard in the Guardianship Court or at the Guardianship Trial
Recent Florida Guardianship Case on Incapacity
- The guardianship court granted a motion for involuntary dismissal of a Florida incapacity proceeding
- A family member filed a petition to determine incapacity of her mother
- Evidently, there was talk of a legal challenge to certain changes made to parents’ estate planning documents by other family members
- Experts testified about the mother’s mental state, memory and physical condition
- The experts concluded that mother lacked capacity
- The guardianship court used the wrong legal standard of clear and convincing evidence on the motion for involuntary dismissal: it should have been competent substantial evidence
Here is a free copy of the guardianship opinion by Florida’s appeals court if you want to read it:
http://opinions.1dca.org/written/opinions2014/06-24-2014/13-2152.pdf