The PPJ Gazette

Guest Author: Angela V. Woodhull, Ph.D.,

licensed private investigator and author of Police Communication in Traffic Stops and Private Investigation Strategies and Techniques

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“Law enforcement agents, social workers, and judges have all been trained to maintain a watchful eye over exploitative family members.  Yet no one seems to be guarding the guardians.   Family members have complained to local law enforcement, the state attorneys’ office, and even the F.B.I. “

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Marie Long was worth $1.3 million when she suffered a stroke and came under the “protection” of a professional guardian.  Three short years later, she is penniless and subsisting off of a meager social security pension and Medicaid.

• Louise A. Falvo, 91, had accumulated nearly one million dollars when she was placed under a guardianship that was commenced with a forgery of her daughter’s signature by a probate attorney.   Within three months, Louise A. Falvo was dead.  Two and a half years later, the guardianship remains open.  The guardian and her attorneys have, to date, been awarded by the judge more than $350,000.00 of Falvo’s estate—“to benefit the ‘ward’”—who is deceased.
•  Corretta Brown was placed under guardianship when the Department of Children and Families discovered that her home was uninhabitable.  Today, Brown is deceased, her assets have disappeared (more than $100,000.00), and all of her debts—totaling more than $75,000.00 in nursing home costs, remain unpaid.  The professional guardian, it was discovered, was not  licensed and has since fled the state of Florida with Brown’s assets.
• Marie Sandusky signed a power of attorney to guarantee that her beloved daughter, and not her rejected son, would manage her financial affairs and health care directives.  Today, Sandusky has a court-appointed guardian who has spent more than $300,000.00 of Sandusky’s money in attorney’s fees.  The reason?  Sandusky’s rebuked son hired an attorney and together they made false allegations against Sandusky’s beloved daughter.  As the “wheels of justice” move forward, Sandusky’s money is legally used to fund the frivolous feud.
• Debra Duffield, 58, has been under the control of a professional guardian for the last four years.  She was only 54 years old when an involuntary guardianship was petitioned against her by a professional guardian who gleefully discovered (tipped off by a social worker) Duffield’s substantive worth when Duffield was hospitalized for anorexia and a broken hip.   During the last four years, the vast majority of her assets have been converted to attorney and guardian fees.  Duffield, who was diagnosed as merely bipolar, had allegedly been financially exploited by a friend—hence, the rationale for the guardianship.  She is confined to a nursing home without rehabilitation .   She sits in a bed, smelling of urine and fecal matter, watching television.  The guardian and her attorney regularly and steadfastly  bill her account for merely “reading her file” or checking on the latest whereabouts of her former girlfriend.  Soon, Duffield, who once owned a fabulous house complete with expensive antiques, valuable imported rugs and fine paintings, will be penniless.

When you hear the word “professional guardian,” what do you think?   Do you think of someone who protects the elderly?  Assists them with their daily needs?  Guarantees they are protected from financial exploitation and physical neglect?

Think again.  More