Most people know that a minor child, under the age of eighteen (18) years, must have a guardian appointed in the event that the child’s parents are unable, unwilling or incapable of handling their parenting responsibilities or in the event that a minor child is entitled to money in excess of $15,000.00 in the state of Florida. But, most people are confused about the application of the state of Florida’s guardianship laws as applied to their elderly loved ones.

In order to make binding legal decisions for and on behalf of a mentally incapacitated person, a legal guardianship must be imposed, unless you possess adequate powers of attorney to address such matters without the intervention and supervision of a court. That said, a guardianship administration is a court-supervised process of administering and managing an incapacitated person’s financial and medical affairs.

The person designated to take charge of this process is called a “guardian,” and the incapacitated person is called a “ward.”

One of the challenges is that people do not understand how the guardianship process works. That is reason enough why you must retain qualified legal counsel with a mastery of the guardianship administration process. But, even before a qualified lawyer is retained, people often times fail to properly identify the warning signs of a person’s declining mental capacity such as:

• Person has begun mishandling his or her finances with increasing frequency, failing to pay bills, losing money, forgetting the location of bank accounts or hiding money
• Person’s short term memory has obviously declined, general forgetfulness.
• Person has begun gambling, making unusual purchases, entered an unusual number of contests through magazines or television, increased number of purchases from television and magazine advertisements.
• Person’s eating habits have changed, resulting in resulting in unusual weight loss or loss of appetite.
• Person’s personal hygiene and general cleanliness habits have declined.
• Person has exhibited paranoid behaviors.
• Person has stopped participating in activities that were previously important to them.
• Person has made new friends who are younger and generally unlikely to befriend an elderly person.

The moment you perceive that your friend or family member can no longer manage his or her affairs, you should contact qualified legal counsel immediately to explore your options before he or she does harm to herself or other or before he or she is taken advantage of.

Contact us for a consultation.

Bart H. Chepenik