West Palm Beach — Guardianships, also known as conservatorships, are supposed to be a safeguard for the elderly, mentally ill, and most vulnerable – people who need help managing their finances and affairs.
But a CBS12 News I-Team investigation found instances of fraud and abuse in Florida guardianships, and areas where advocates say the state needs to reform the system.
Our story focuses on the case of Richard and Betty Weber, an elderly couple in Palm Beach County who came under the care of a court-appointed guardian named Lynrod Douglas.
A court order gave him total control of the Weber’s money and living arrangements, and their daughter, Joan Stanton, told the I-Team that he spent their savings and put them in an abusive nursing home despite the family’s wishes.
In the Douglas case, prosecutors say he was mismanaging the estates of several of his wards and pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars – about ten thousand from the Weber’s.
Advocates pushing for guardianship reform say the system needs to be tightened up.
They
say the requirements to become a guardian are too loose, minimal checks
and balances, and the scrutiny of their spending is too infrequent.
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