OPINION: Florida Should Put Guardian Abuse Scammers Out of Business

by Lou Holtz
The legal system is supposed to protect the vulnerable, but too often it is manipulated into exploiting them. From coast to coast, guardianship and conservatorship abuse — where seniors are cheated and stripped of their liberty and property — is a glaring, yet underreported, example of this insidious phenomenon.

The hit Hollywood movie “I Care A Lot” and high-profile cases of guardianship and conservatorship abuse, like those of Britney Spears and Joann “Mama B” Bashinsky, have brought the issue to national attention, which long has been needed. But as a Florida resident, I’ve been aware of this disturbing practice for some time. I’ve taken measures to protect my family from this kind of abuse, but too many Americans remain unaware of just how widespread and terrible guardianship abuse and conservatorship abuse truly are.

Guardianship abuse may more correctly be thought of as guardian, medical and legal abuse, because without unethical, predatory individuals in all of those fields working together, such abuse is impossible carry out. It takes more than a corrupt guardian to do these terrible things — it takes a corrupt guardian, a corrupt lawyer, a corrupt doctor, often a corrupt nursing home or hospital and, finally, corrupt judges.

Guardianship laws and conservatorship laws are well-intentioned, designed to protect the truly incapacitated and vulnerable from those who would take advantage of them. But as Florida’s, and indeed America’s, guardianship-abuse epidemic shows, this system that was put in place to protect individuals from exploitation is far too often subverted to actually exploit them.

Legislators in Florida are trying to fix the problem, but there’s still a long way to go, and the issue needs far more attention at the national level from Congress. When a system designed to protect people can be easily twisted into a weapon to cause harm, there’s a serious problem. It’s time we end that problem in the guardianship system.

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Opinion: Florida should put guardians abuse scammers out of business