'Based on exploitation': Reform advocates say Florida's guardianship system is putting seniors at risk

Author: Aaron Parseghian

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — In his daughter Sue Melendy’s Belleair Beach home, 95-year-old veteran Thomas Foster Sr. stays busy making crosses out of clothespins.

“He designs the pattern. He gets small ones, medium ones, large ones, picks out the jewels,” Melendy explained.

Foster sells the crafted pieces of art at a local market, raising money for the Disabled Veterans of America. 

“We’ve been doing that a long time for the DAV,” said Foster, who also likes staying busy at his church and local senior gym.

“They’re all retired, it’s like a big family,” he explained.

For him, it’s a welcome sense of comfort to be doing what he wants and spending time with his daughter, after what they’ve dealt with over the last few years.

“I feel like we're the poster child for what is not guardianship," Melendy explained. "And yet, we were subjected to this for three years. And it completely devastated my father, and me and my entire family."

Thomas Foster Sr. is one of the rare Floridians, even Americans — most famously pop icon Britney Spears — to get out of a court-appointed guardianship.  

“We don’t have the statistics, but we venture to think it’s probably less than 1%,” Melendy added.

Under Florida law, courts can appoint guardians to make all life, health and financial decisions for a minor or often older seniors with perceived mental and physical disabilities. Where they live, who they see, and how their money gets spent is all up to the guardian, a person who in Florida only has to be 18 years old, pass a background check and take a 40-hour training course to become a professional one. 

“The first thing they take away from you is the power of attorney and your health care surrogacy; that now is a stranger's responsibility,” Melendy explained.

A court placed an emergency temporary guardian over Sue’s dad after her mom passed away, triggering a years-long court battle that cost her hundreds of thousands of dollars just to fight and try and take back care. Sue says part of the fight centered on proving her dad wasn’t incapacitated and deserved to make his own life decisions, and that her dad's "estate" was helping fund the fight against their own interests. 

“When people first hear that it happened, or happened to somebody like us, they honestly can't believe it. They just don't understand it. They can't believe that it happens in Florida, in Pinellas County, but we know that it does,” Melendy explained.

“My father is going to be 96 years old. He wants to live in peace. He wants to be able to spend time with family and friends. And this, this just about took my dad out. Literally, it's been so painful,” she added.

Melendy is one of the many reform advocates pushing for change, saying holes in Florida’s guardianship system are putting our area’s most vulnerable and even some of your loved ones at risk.

While the system is in place to protect the kids and seniors — and many guardians do the job for the right reasons, court-appointed guardians have full control over a person’s decisions and that power in some cases can lead to exploitation.

“The problem is the there is not tremendous oversight, and the temptation to for wrongdoing is just too strong,” says Pinellas County Clerk Ken Burke. Burke says holes in the guardianship system have been on his radar since taking office in 2005.

“There's been abuses that have taken place. There had been case after case of guardians who have stolen from the wards. We just had a case in Pinellas county, with Traci Samuels Hudson,” Burke explained.

In July, Hudson, the former president of a local guardianship association was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from several seniors she had in her care. Using the money to buy a home, jewelry and premium seats to Tampa Bay Buccaneers games.

“We know that there has been nefarious activities, how many others are there out there where it's not as apparent,” Burke explained.

Burke headed up a statewide Guardianship Improvement Taskforce who drafted a report with 10 recommendations to improve the broken system, from identifying problem guardians to preventing unnecessary appointments.

“I did a sample of the last 30 guardianship filings, and it was like 95% got proved to be incapacitated. So, you wonder, is the examining committee really doing its diligence to make sure that the person really is incompetent? Or is the process too much of a rubber stamp?” Burke questions.

The report has already helped change state law, in 2022 Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill creating a statewide guardian database, that advocates say will give judges and courts better oversight of guardians working in the state.

Burke says more reforms will need to be made especially in Florida, where seniors remain at risk, many of them away from immediate family and potentially just one accident away from losing their rights.

“Florida doesn't need a good system. Florida needs a great system. And we're not there yet. And we need to get there,” Burke said.

Right now there's a bipartisan push in the state legislature to continue building off the taskforce's recommendations. "I feel like there needs to be some guardrails up to protect people, especially people in their most vulnerable point in their life," says State Rep. Rita Harris, (D-Orlando).

Harris and State Sen. Ileana Garcia (R-Miami) co-sponsored proposals this legislative session that would in part, change the process in which guardianships are established, require guardians be appointed on a rotating basis every few years, and also secure family visitation rights. 

"I think for our state it's even more important that we let our constituents know that if something were to happen and they did find themselves in a situation where they were incapacitated and needed a legal guardian, that it will be a process that would be transparent and they will be protected through the entire process," Harris said in an interview with 10 Tampa Bay. 

The bills were formally introduced earlier this month and we will monitor them as they move forward in the legislature, advocates say additional protections are necessary and welcome. 

"With over 4 million residents over the age of 65 in Florida, the need for urgent reform is undeniable," said Kat Duesterhaus, Legislative Director of Florida National Organization for Women. "Our imperative is clear to prevent ongoing abuse, safeguard lives, and uphold the fundamental rights, dignity, and autonomy of those who find themselves incapacitated."

There is some objection to the latest proposal, John Moran an attorney and Chair-Elect of the Real Property and Probate and Trust Law Section of the Florida Bar, says while changes to Florida's guardianship law "are needed," his group says he does not believe the bill, in its current form should be adopted into law. "SB 48 encourages interfamily conflict while making guardianship proceedings more adversarial and expensive," Moran said in a statement to 10 Tampa Bay. 

Moran added the proposal would also "encourage more guardianship proceedings because it provides personal financial incentive to petitioners to go after an inheritance." 

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'Based on exploitation': Reform advocates say Florida's guardianship system is putting seniors at risk