WHO PAYS ATTORNEYS FEES & COSTS IN #FLORIDA GUARDIANSHIP CASE IF NO #FLORIDA GUARDIANSHIP IS CREATED – new case from Sarasota

If a #Florida resident dies before a #Florida guardianship is established,  who pays the attorneys fees and costs  ?  In a very recent #Florida guardianship case decided a few days ago, Florida’s Court of Appeals for Charlotte County said that the #Florida estate does not.

FILING A FLORIDA #GUARDIANSHIP

A person who files for a guardianship in Florida is referred to as a petitioner. #Guardianships in Florida are on the rise, as are #guardianship lawsuits.  #Probate litigators from Palm Beach County, Florida to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and throughout Miami-Dade County, have seen their guardianship cases increase, as well as guardianship trials and hotly contested and disputed guardianship cases.

A #Florida guardianship may be established if a #Florida resident needs assistance with his or her personal decisions or financial affairs, and there is no #Florida power of attorney or #Florida revocable trust.

FILING FOR #GUARDIANSHIP IN FLORIDA

When a #guardianship petition is filed, a     #Florida probate court     will appoint a lawyer to represent the person who is the subject of the guardianship.   This person is often referred to as

• the ward,
• the alleged incapacitated person or
• IAP.

An examining committee will also be appointed to provide the #Florida probate court with a report.

• Does the person lack capacity ?
• Does the #Florida citizen need a guardian  ?
• Do you need a guardian of the person  ?
• You need a guardian of the property  ?
• Or both  ?
• What rights should be taken away from the Florida citizen ?

ATTORNEYS FEES & COSTS IN #FLORIDA GUARDIANSHIPS

Who pays for the #Florida guardianship examining committee?

Who pays for the #Florida guardianship lawyer who was appointed by the court to look out for and protect the person who is the subject of the guardianship action?

If the person dies, this recent case says that the Florida resident’s estate is not responsible for those #Florida guardianship attorneys fees and costs. The law in the #Florida probate code dealing with guardianships has a gap which does not tell us who pays #attorneys fees and costs if no guardianship was established.

FILING A #FLORIDA GUARDIANSHIP IN BAD FAITH

The one exception to this gap is that the petitioner, the person who files for a Florida guardianship, may be responsible for others’ attorneys fees & costs if the guardianship petition was filed in bad faith.

Look for the Florida legislature to update and change #Florida guardianship law prior to June of this year to address the issue of : who pays the #Florida guardianship examining committee and who pays the #Florida guardianship lawyer (appointed by the #Florida probate court) if no guardianship is established, and if the #guardianship petition was not brought in bad faith?

A WORD OF CAUTION FOR FLORIDA GUARDIANSHIP AND LEGAL FEES

In #guardianship lawsuits, what #guardianship litigators call contested guardianships, many parties who take opposite sides in a Florida guardianship think that their attorneys fees and costs will be paid for by somebody else. Not necessarily so. If you and I are fighting over who’s going to be guardian, we’ve better plan on paying for our own #guardianship lawyers and experts. Florida guardianship courts are reluctant to give you money, or give your #Guardianship lawyers money, from the person who is incapacitated. Don’t assume that all your #guardianship legal fees and costs will be paid for by the person who is incapacitated.

FOR REFERRAL SOURCES, LAWYERS AND LITIGATORS ONLY

We help you with Florida estate and trust administration and trials, and #probate appeals.

Our #Florida probate law firm

• does not prepare estate plans
• does not draft wills and trusts
• does not steal your clients or your probates

Our #West Palm Beach, Florida #probate litigation firm :

• hands your clients back to you at the conclusion of the #Florida matter—after all, they are YOUR clients
• we try cases & handle appeals
• our practice is restricted to #Florida probate disputes & contested guardianships
• we work with you on #Florida estate administration, #Florida probate
• we litigate for and protect beneficiary rights
• we represent #Florida personal representatives or executors, and #Florida trustees
• we receive approximately 95% of our clients from other lawyers
• we take contingency fee cases

Who are we? Our firm is comprised of

• serious Florida litigators, with an outstanding reputation in our legal community
• focused probate lawyers,
• experienced paralegals and support staff.

We have been involved in high profile, nine figure, multi-million-dollar #Florida estates, including Madoff matters, old # Palm Beach money and complex trusts and multi-party #Florida probates. We also handle “small” or “simple” matters. All we do is litigate and help you with #Florida estate and trust administration. #Tortious interference with an inheritance and allegations of #undue influence, and #will challenges and trust challenges are a unique subspecialty of the law. Does your client know which ones to file, when to do that, and why? Do you know the different ways to prove each case? How about quantifying or assessing damages? It would be our pleasure to work with you and to serve your clients. For a complete copy of this very recent legal opinion please email michelle@pankauskilawfirm.com.

John Pankauski, www.johnpankauski.com, is the author of The Trustee’s Book – An Individual’s Guide To Money, Misfits, Marriages, and Mismanagement, and the upcoming The $41 Trillion Inheritance War. He is an estate and trust litigator in West Palm Beach, Florida, www.pankauskilawfirm.com and has been featured on the CBS Evening News, in The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, NBC, ABC and Fox networks.