FL OPPG report card
A freedom of information request was sent to the Florida office of public and professional guardians. The specific questions and answers are summarized below:
| Request: “I would like to have what data you can share about the following:” | Office of Public and Professional Guardian Response |
| Number of Certified Professional Guardians in FL in 2020 | We are interpreting this request as the following: The total number of professional guardians registered with our office in 2020 Response: 569 |
| Number of Family Guardianships in FL in 2020 | No responsive record |
| Number of total guardianships in FL in 2020 For Profit Public | We are interpreting this request as the following: The total number guardianships served by For Profit and Public Guardians in 2020 Response: For Profit – No responsive record Public – No responsive record for calendar year 2020. However, approximately 3,890 wards for the State Fiscal Year 2019-2020 and estimated to serve 4,100 in State Fiscal Year 2020-2021. |
| Number of new Guardians in 2020 | We are interpreting this request as the following: The total number of new professional guardians registered with our office in 2020 Response: 59 |
| Number of New guardianship cases in 2020 | No responsive record |
| Number of Complaints to OPPG in 2020 | 169 |
| Number of complaints investigated in 2020 | 68 |
| Number of complaints that resulted in any punitive action against guardians | We are interpreting this request as the following: The number of complaints that resulted in a professional guardian disciplined by our office in 2020 Response: 18 |
| Number of Guardians Decertified in 2020 | We are interpreting this request as the following: The total number of professional guardian registrations revoked by our office in 2020 Response: 0 |
In analyzing these statistics, the following conclusions can be drawn:
In calendar year 2020 of the 169 total complaints submitted to OPPG only 68 were deemed legally sufficient to be investigated, meaning 60% of all complaints were never investigated and outright rejected.
Of the 68 legally sufficient complaints submitted and accepted in 2020, only 18 resulted in any type of action by the OPPG against the guardian, a rate of 26%. The PG will not release or share the severity or type of action taken in any of these 18 cases, but because not a single one of these guardians was decertified and there is no evidence that the department referred even a single case for criminal investigation, it can only be assumed that the actions taken by the agency were of a minor administrative variety. There is no information on whether any guardians were fined
Of the 68 complaints and including the 18 that resulted in action against the guardian, not a single guardian was decertified in the year 2020.
For every complaint to the OPPG which resulted in any type of action against the guardian, nearly 3 new guardians were appointed.
The OPPG estimates that 4100 guardianships in 2021 will be public Guardianships.
The OPPG cannot provide statistics on how many total guardianships there are currently in Florida but prior educated guesses from the clerk of courts in Palm Beach County estimate the number to be between 55,000 and 65,000 with as many as 7000 new guardianships a year every year. Subtracting the number of public guardianships from the total leaves us with the assumption that there are between 51 and 61,000 nonpublic guardianships in the state of Florida. No breakdown between family guardianships and professional guardianships was available or provided.
The OPPG has failed to produce an annual report since 2018, which reported on activities in the prior year. This means that there is no publicly available data on the activities of that agency for the years 2018 2019 and 2020. No explanation has been given for the failure to produce such an annual report.
In 2003, there were a total of 23 professional guardians in the entire state of Florida. That number has grown dramatically to the current total of 569.
The Florida probate court system has an estimated annual revenue stream of over $1 billion. There is no information on the dollar value of the thousands of professional guardianships created yearly in Florida.
These data add to the growing concern that the guardianship industry is out of control in the state of Florida. The fact that the OPPG has received hundreds of complaints– many of them complaining of decidedly similar techniques of abuse, neglect and exploitation at a well-defined pattern– during its existence and has failed to successfully decertify a single corrupt guardian supports the notions that:
• Abuses in Guardianships are frequent.
• Seniors and their families are abused.
• The court insiders create the abuse.
• There are recognizable patterns to the abuse.
• The system designed to help vulnerables too often abuses them instead.
- OPPG is not part of the solution, it is part of the problem
