A civil dispute over guardianship

Dorothy and Leon Bloom

In their beloved house overlooking Roberts Bay, a couple who came from Atlanta to enjoy boating, the opera, dinner parties and “30 years of play and fun” in their retirement are now struggling with the late-life health issues that afflict so many in Southwest Florida's longevity boom.

It's a challenge they had prepared for more diligently than most people, with documents that specified their wishes about medical and financial decisions.

So the last thing they expected at this point in their story was a brush with Florida's complex guardianship law.

Leon Bloom, 96, the founder of an international swimming pool chemical company, is by all accounts a sociable and generous man — the kind who inspires steadfast loyalty among his friends, his family, and the trio of caregivers who now see to his needs around the clock.

He is also the focus of an unusual elder guardianship case that pitted his longtime friend and attorney, former state Sen. Bob Johnson, against his wife of 41 years, Dorothy Bloom. 

The Blooms' friendship with the Johnsons was almost as old as their marriage. The two families celebrated holidays together, and the couples went on cruises to Alaska and the Caribbean. 

Several times, Johnson revised Leon Bloom's trust document — which leaves most of his fortune to charity on his death — and in 1998 Johnson became the successor trustee, to act in his friend's place if necessary.

On Nov. 7, 2011, Leon Bloom stumbled outside the Roberts Bay house. He fell on river rocks by the pool, says Dorothy Bloom, causing permanent injury to his head and spine. Doctors said his injuries were compounded by age-related dementia.  (Continue Reading)

Full Article & Source: 
A civil dispute over guardianship