Breaking: Guardianship Law Being Made in Florida

Having a Guardianship petition dismissed at the Probate Court level reversed on appeal.

Breaking Guardianship Law being made in Florida. Having a guardianship petition dismissed at the Probate Court level reversed on appeal. Hello, my name is John Pankauski, the lawyers at my law firm, Pankauski Hauser in downtown West Palm Beach handle guardianship matters virtually every day. That includes contested guardianship matters were you are helping a family member who wants to protect or file a guardianship for another family member. Many times that’s mom or dad, senior family members who need a little bit of help and guidance and protections as they age and as they lose their ability to analyses and understand things. Many times because of dementia, but not always. But sometimes guardianship involve brothers and sisters. A Nov 1st, 2017 Florida Appellate Court case deals with that issue. A brother filing a matter a guardianship matter for another brother who he claims requires protection and a court appointed guardian. Its from Florida’s third District Court of a Appeal which is the Appellate Court for the Miami Probate Court. The case is Sarfaty 2017 westlaw citation is 4938812. Why is this important? 1) it’s one of the longest written opinions on a guardianship case I’ve ever seen. 2) The guardianship petition in the Miami Probate Court was dismissed 3) The Appellate Court reversed that dismissal and sent this back down to the Miami Probate Court for proper proceedings 4) The court, the 3rd District Court of Appeal does a wonderful job of bending over backwards in explaining the due process that a ward or an alleged incapacitated person gets in a Florida Probate, excuse me a Florida Guardianship action. Why are we so concerned with that? Because Guardianship action if successful involves the taking away of basic civil liberties and human rights. They are very very serious stuff. Due Process the opportunity to be heard, the chance and the necessity to be looking out for that persons interest having them represented by counsel is of paramount importance. If you are involved in a guardianship matter, talk to your guardianship litigation attorney about this very important Appellate Court decision particularly if you lost a guardianship case at the Probate Court level.