There are no safeguards when the vulnerable sign over control of their
affairs. Investigators say that’s how a Riverview woman took $500,000
from a 93-year-old Pinellas Park man she had never met before.
By Kathryn Varn
Maurice
Myers spent the last year of his life suffering from several ailments,
with no close family to help the 93-year-old manage his affairs.
There’s
an option for vulnerable adults like him. A court-appointed
guardianship is designed to protect those who can no longer make their
own legal and medical decisions. Every choice those caretakers make and
dollar they spend must be approved by a judge.
Power-of-attorney has no such safeguards.
That
is the legal mechanism that detectives say Traci Hudson used to swindle
more than $500,000 from Myers — with no one keeping watch as it
happened.
It is a powerful piece of paper, experts say, and if that power is
abused, the onus is on the vulnerable person and those around them to
report it.
 |
Former guardian Traci Hudson, 51,
faces a charge of exploitation of
the
elderly, according to the
Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
[Pinellas County Sheriff's Office] |
Hudson,
51, is a professional guardian from Riverview who was arrested last
month on a charge of exploitation of the elderly. She has since resigned
and been removed from the roughly 30 guardianship cases she oversaw in
the Tampa Bay area.
Myers
wasn’t one of them. Instead, his Pinellas Park nursing home called in
Hudson — a stranger — to take over his affairs in 2017. He signed a
document granting Hudson power-of-attorney over his financial decisions
and a surrogacy agreement giving her autonomy over his healthcare
decisions, even though Myers may not have had the capacity to sign
anything.
Hudson
has pleaded not guilty to the charge. Her defense attorney, Richard
McKyton, said he’s “seen no proof that verifies” the allegations.
Investigators
say Hudson drained Myers’ bank accounts over 11 months and used the
money to buy herself everything from jewelry to property to Bucs’
tickets. He died in 2018.
Power-of-attorney
is typically used by family or friends to take over a loved one’s life
decisions without an expensive or lengthy court process, said Grayson
McCouch, an estate law professor at the University of Florida Levin
College of Law.
“It
all depends on how trustworthy and reliable and competent that agent
is,” McCouch said. Those who sign away a broad power-of-attorney "really
are leaving themselves open to being ripped off on a big scale.”
• • •
Myers
once worked for a telegraph company, his death certificate shows, and
served in the military. He and his wife, Mary, lived in a home near
Sarasota, then she died in 2007. His health started to decline in 2017,
according to Hudson’s arrest warrant, which cites medical records and
interviews with doctors and nurses.
In the 18 months before his death, Maurice Myers bounced from hospitals to rehabilitation facilities to nursing homes.
He
had a series of renal problems and trouble performing daily activities.
At Sarasota Memorial Hospital, doctors described him as “a very frail
elderly gentleman, somewhat confused, but pleasant and cooperative.”
His
daughter, Virginia Myers, lived in Pinellas Park. At her request, he
moved to Grand Villa of Pinellas Park, a nursing home about 10 minutes
from her home, on May 1, 2017.
While
the daughter never held power-of-attorney for her father, she handled
his financial affairs and was a co-signer on his bank accounts,
according to a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office investigation.
But
Virginia Myers, 61, died that October. Her will mentioned a friend from
Pinellas Park and two second cousins from California but no other
relatives.
A
former Grand Villa executive director told investigators that staffers
knew Maurice Myers would need a new caretaker and reached out to a
professional guardian who worked with other residents at the home: Traci
Hudson.
On
paper, all seemed well. Hudson had administered dozens of guardianships
in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties. She also served as
president of a local guardian association.
Hudson has since resigned from her job as a guardian and been removed from her cases.
• • •
Usually
a family member or close, trusted friend would take on the
power-of-attorney role, said Michelle Hollister, an elder law attorney
in Boca Raton. But there are situations, especially in Florida with its
high population of retirees, where that person just doesn’t exist.
Brian
Lee, a former Florida long-term care ombudsman who advocated for
elderly residents, credited Grand Villa staff for recognizing that Myers
needed a new caretaker. But he said referring a vulnerable resident to a
specific person is not best practice.
“It sounds to me like they were trying to do this out of convenience for themselves,” Lee said.
“But if you’re a nursing home operator, that’s not how it works.”
For
example, Sarasota elder law attorney Slade Dukes said he provides his
clients a list of care providers and has them do the research,
recommending they consult their financial planners, banks and other
professionals.
“These
people all had an interest in him,” Dukes said of Myers’ case. “No one
was unbiased or unaffiliated or un-benefitted. And that’s the problem.”
Grand Villa management didn’t return requests for comment from the Tampa Bay Times. Nor did Grand Villa’s director at the time, who now works at the chain’s Dunedin location.
The
president of the nursing home’s corporate owner, Senior Management
Advisors, also did not return requests for comment. A woman who answered
the phone at the corporate owner said management had previously said
they weren’t going to comment on Hudson’s case.
A
spokesman for the Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees
Florida’s nursing homes, said it is looking into the matter but
declined to elaborate.
When
asked what rules the agency has for finding caretakers for
unaccompanied residents, spokesman Patrick Manderfield pointed to a
state law with guidelines for a nursing home employee to work as a
power-of-attorney agent on behalf of a resident.
The
law doesn’t say anything about referrals, like what happened in Myers’
case. McKyton, Hudson’s attorney, said it’s his understanding that
“facilities do that all the time.”
He
added that his client had no role in drafting the power-of-attorney
agreement, noting that would have been a conflict of interest. She
wasn’t present when Myers signed it, either, McKyton said.
A
copy of the document shows the four people who signed it: a notary, two
witnesses who appear to be current or former nursing home employees,
and Myers himself.
• • •
Another question that must be considered is whether a person has the mental capacity to sign away their legal rights.
To
appoint a guardian voluntarily, a judge must first rule on a person’s
capacity to make decisions for themselves. The process will only take
place if the person is deemed incapacitated.
But
there’s a limbo between when a professional or care provider questions a
person’s capacity and when a petition for guardianship is actually
filed, said Lori Stiegel, a senior attorney with the American Bar
Association’s Commission on Law and Aging.
That period “is really dangerous because that’s when exploiters can really step in and take advantage,” Stiegel said.
Hudson’s
attorney said nursing home staff determined Myers was competent but
needed a caretaker. Neither the nursing home nor the law firm that drew
up the document suggested that Myers should have a guardian instead.
“It’s telling,” McKyton said, “that none of the people around him felt that a guardianship was needed.”
Detectives
talked to people who knew Myers, said Pinellas sheriff’s spokesman
Chuck Skipper, but they haven’t been able to determine his mental
capacity when he signed the document. Their investigation began after
his death, based on a complaint to the Florida Department of Children
and Families.
Caretakers
and lawyers around an elderly person can help assess capacity and seek
outside help if they have concerns. Dukes said he meets with his clients
at least four times and prods them with questions before they sign a
power-of-attorney document.
No
one contacted an outside agency to intervene in Myers’ case, according
to the Sheriff’s Office, even as medical professionals noted his
deteriorating mental health. They said he showed possible signs of
dementia and depression, a detective wrote in Hudson’s arrest report.
The Times found no record that Myers was represented by his own attorney through the process.
Florida
Bar rules say a lawyer “may seek the appointment of a guardian or take
other protective action with respect to a client only when the lawyer
reasonably believes that the client cannot adequately act in the
client’s own interest.”
Terry
Deeb, whose firm drew up the power-of-attorney document, declined to
say if he represented Myers, citing attorney-client confidentiality.
When
a Times reporter pointed out that would imply Myers was his client,
Deeb said that was wading “into matters here that are very complex” and
declined to comment further.
The
firm didn’t represent Hudson in Myers’ power-of-attorney, but court
records show they’ve worked together on several guardianship cases as
well as estate cases for both Maurice Myers and his daughter Virginia in
which Hudson successfully petitioned to serve as personal
representative. Both Hudson and Deeb withdrew from Maurice Myers’ estate
case after Hudson’s arrest. Virginia Myers’ case concluded in April.
Another
lawyer at the firm, Ha Thu Dao, said she met with Myers and determined
that he shouldn’t sign the power-of-attorney because he was grieving the
loss of his daughter. Dao said she left the paperwork with Myers at his
request. But after that?
“I
have no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding his signing the
document or when he signed it,” Dao said in an email. She didn’t respond
to further questions.
• • •
All
that is needed to grant someone power-of-attorney are the signatures of
a notary, two witnesses and the person granting those powers. And in
Florida, it becomes effective immediately upon signing.
Lee,
the former ombudsman, doubted Myers knew what he was doing, wondering
who in their right mind would sign over their life to a stranger.
“It
just looks like it’s a little too close for comfort. That’s the
best-case scenario,” Lee said. “The worst-case scenario is it’s ripe for
impropriety — people collaborating … to exploit this resident.”
McKyton said Lee hasn’t seen the case file and doesn’t have his facts straight.
The sheriff’s investigation into the case and Hudson continues.
McCouch, the UF professor, offered this word of caution for vulnerable people and those around them:
“I’d
be really skeptical of someone who had no family relationship, no
oversight, no continuing contact with family members. I’d be really
suspicious of someone who says, ‘I’ll manage your property for you.
Trust me.’”
Tips to protect yourself and others
1.
Stop the conversation with anyone who wants you to sign over
power-of-attorney, then go tell your story to a trusted friend or family
member. “It helps you regain your emotional balance and helps you
understand wait a minute, I’ve sort of been led down a road here," Bruns
said.
2.
Seek legal advice, especially when deciding whether to grant someone
your power of attorney. Bruns acknowledged it’s cost-prohibitive for
some seniors, but sometimes power-of-attorney consultations can cost
only a few hundred dollars, he said.
3.
Do your own research. Bruns suggested the AARP's Fraud Watch Network.
The Florida Department of Elder Affairs also has resources, including a
list of local agencies on aging and an elder helpline at 1-800-963-5337. A list of local elder helplines can be found
here.
Full Article & Source:
Power-of-attorney has the power to be abused in Florida.
