Overview - Probate Guardianship and Mental Health Division
The Probate, Guardianship
and Mental Health Division of the Circuit Court in Pinellas County carries
an ongoing caseload of approximately 8,700 actions related to estates,
trusts, guardianships, and mental health.
The Court employs
an attorney administrator, who also acts as a general magistrate, a general
magistrate to handle Baker Act hearings, a general magistrate to conduct audits
of all guardianship reports and accountings, a guardianship monitor and
three administrative assistants.
The Sixth Judicial
circuit monitors between 3,000 and 4,000 active guardianships in Pinellas
County alone. While the majority of these cases involve elderly citizens,
a number also involve the settlement approval and safeguarding of proceeds
for minor children.
General magistrates assist
the probate judges by conducting incapacity hearings, restoration hearings,
and reviewing the mandatory annual reports submitted by guardians. During
the Fiscal Year 1997/1998, the court conducted more than 800 hearings
to appoint guardians or restore a ward’s rights and completed more
than 4,000 annual audits.
A guardianship monitor
investigates allegations of abuse, neglect or exploitation of the elderly
in guardianship cases. The monitor is also responsible for investigating
the parents of minor children who have failed to report to the Court or
have misappropriated the assets of the guardianship. Many investigations
initiated by the court staff have resulted in criminal convictions. More
importantly, many of these same investigations have avoided potentially
dangerous and harmful situations for the elderly. The monitor has been
responsible for identifying numerous cases of misappropriated funds and
has been instrumental in retrieving some of those funds or assisting the
court in bringing appropriate actions against these parties.
The probate division
is also responsible for administering the law in numerous areas in the
mental health arena. All actions cognizable under Chapter 392 (Involuntary
commitment for Tuberculosis,) Chapter 393 (Developmental Disabilities),
Chapter 394 (Mental Health), Chapter 397 (Drug or Alcohol Abuse), and
Chapter 415 (Elder Abuse, Neglect or Exploitation) are heard in the probate
division.
Chapter 415 of the
Florida Statutes provides for involuntary protective service under the
Department of Children and Families whenever it is suspected that an elderly
or disabled adult is the victim of abuse, exploitation, or self-neglect.
These hearings must be held on an expedited basis. Often these cases
result in criminal charges being filed for exploitation or abuse of the
elderly or disabled adult.
The court employs
a general magistrate to hear all petitions for involuntary placement under
Florida’s Mental Health Act, commonly known as the Baker Act. Approximately
2,000 Baker Act petitions are filed annually and subsequent hearings are
conducted on a substantial number of the cases. The general magistrates also
conduct all hearings under Chapter 397 (Drug or Alcohol Abuse) in the
Sixth Circuit.
What's New!
| Annual Minor Plan Form |
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| Annual Minor Physician’s Report Form |
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| Disaster Plan Form (Amended) |
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| As required by Administrative Order 2006-079 PA/PI-Cir Section B. 1. a, a proposed guardian shall use a court-approved form for application of guardian. |
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| As required by Administrative Order 2005-065 PA-CIR, in Pasco County electronic filing of documents shall be made via the following link: |
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| The attached document lists notice and service requirements in Guardianships by subject matter with references to the Florida Statute and Rules and is an aid for attorneys and guardians to determine whether notice or service should be given to a party or interested person. |
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The following applies to Pinellas County
BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS OF PROPOSED GUARDIANS
Pursuant to Florida Statute 744.3135(1) and Administrative Order 2006-79 PA/PI CIR, all petitions for appointment of guardian(s), including petitions for appointment of successor guardian will be forwarded by the Clerk’s office to the Probate, Guardianship and Mental Health division of the Court for a criminal and credit (if appropriate) background investigation PRIOR to the appointment of the guardian. If the investigation results reveal discrepancies, a letter stating the discrepancies will be sent to the section judge, the attorney and the proposed guardian(s). The section judge will determine if further action, such as a hearing, is necessary.
STATEWIDE PUBLIC GUARDIANSHIP OFFICE REGISTRATION
Per Section 744.1085(9), Florida Statutes, “after July 1, 2004, the Court shall not appoint any professional guardian who has not met the requirements of this section and s. 744.1083.” Thus, a professional guardian cannot be appointed as guardian if not registered with the Statewide Public Guardian Office and a professional guardian may be required to show proof of current registration at the time of appointment or provide written proof of compliance at the time of the hearing.
If the Statewide Public Guardian Office removes or declines to register a professional guardian because of the professional guardian’s failure to timely
file a renewal package or
a complete package or
due to other discrepancies the Court will allow the professional guardian to demonstrate their filing of the renewal package within thirty (30) days after the due date. If the renewal package is not filed after the thirty (30) day grace period, the Court may deny petitions for appointment and reduce the hourly rate of the professional guardian. The professional guardian is encouraged to keep the Court apprised of his/her registration status.
GUARDIAN FEE PETITIONS
There is an updated memo regarding guardian fee petitions and activity logs effective May 15, 2007. See attached memo.
TRUSTS
As has been the Court’s procedure for the past several years, any petition for authorization to create a trust with guardianship funds should include a copy of the trust agreement and should allege that the trustee is willing to submit to the jurisdiction of the court. In most cases, the Court prefers the trustee to be a different person or entity than the guardian. However, petitions will be determined on a case by case basis.
The trustee is obligated to act according to the terms of the trust agreement and the order authorizing the trust. As has been the Court’s policy, a trustee may be asked to submit to the Court’s jurisdiction and the guardian may be asked to submit a copy of the trust accounting for the Court’s review. |
If you would like to be added to the distribution list for notification of new items being posted to the What's New section,
please click add me to the distribution list. Please include your name, email address, and phone number.
Initial and Annual Forms
Please
read the following before downloading the guardianship program. In
addition to the operating instructions within the program, below are some
instructions specific to Pasco and Pinellas County.
The General Worksheet
requests the information for the Uniform Case Number that Pasco and Pinellas
County are not using as this time. However, please include the following
information on the form.
| Court
Designator |
51
Pasco |
52
Pinellas |
| Court
Type |
CP
Pasco |
GA
Pinellas |
| Sequential
Number |
Case
number |
Case
number |
| Division |
Probate |
Probate |
As the Guardianship
program includes calculations and drop down menus, we encourage all guardians
to complete the forms on the computer. Computers and printers with the
guardianship program on the hard drive are available for those without
access to a computer or the internet at the following locations
Although discouraged,
guardians may file the guardianship forms without use of a computer. The
forms are available at the law libraries for a fee. Additional instructions
for use of the forms without a computer are attached to the forms.
Download
the Guardianship Accounting and Plan Forms
from
the 17th Judicial Circuit page
Forms (other)
| Department
of Children and Family Services Release Form |
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be completed by the proposed guardian and attached to the petition
for appointment. |
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Guardianship
checklist
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The forms are to be filed with the petition for appointment of guardian per Administrative Order 2006-079 PA/PI-CIR |
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| Nonprofessional Guardianship Checklist |
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| Professional Guardian Annual Checklist |
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| Professional Guardian Additional Appointment Checklist |
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| Instructions
for Notice of Employees Form |
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| Notice
of Employees of Professional Guardian |
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| Professional
guardians must file yearly by January 31 and within 30 days of any
change in employees. |
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| Criminal
History Information Request |
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guardians and all employees of professional guardians who have a fiduciary
duty must resubmit, at their own expense, to a level 1 background
at least every 2 years after the date of their appointment. Forward
this request with a check for $23.00 to the address on the form and
file the results with the Clerk's office. |
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| Annual Minor Plan Form |
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| Annual Minor Physician’s Report Form |
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| Order canceling hearing |
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Disaster Plans
Administrative Order 2006-079 PA/PI-CIR signed on September 19, 2006 requires each annual plan filed after October 19, 2006 to include a disaster plan which sets forth the procedures and plans in place for the ward in the event an evacuation order or other emergency order is issued by federal, state, or local officials. |
The following will satisfy the above requirement: |
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If the ward resides in a facility which has a written disaster plan, file a copy of the summary (1 or 2 pages) of the facility’s written disaster plan. The Hurricane Emergency Plan for Facility form is guide and contains information with which the guardian should be familiar. |
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If the ward resides outside of a facility or the facility does not have a written disaster plan, file a completed guardianship emergency plan. Guardianship Emergency Plan |
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Frequently Asked Questions
and Sample Reports
Computer system minimum requirements for the Guardianship
Program:
1.
Second Edition of Windows 98 or NT and a Pentium class computer or better.
2. This program will NOT run on Macintosh unless you have a Windows emulator.
Credit Report Information
Floridians are able to receive one free copy of their credit report per year through the following web site: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
Professional Guardian
Professional
Guardians: Professional Guardians must register with the Statewide
Public Guardianship Office each calendar year by January 1. Please visit
their website at http://elderaffairs.state.fl.us/english/public.html for forms and further information or call 850-414-2000. For professional
guardian requirements visit their frequently asked questions at http://elderaffairs.state.fl.us/english/PUBGUARD/REGISTRATION_FAQS.pdf.
Effective July 1,
2003, the Florida Legislature increased the fee for Florida criminal history
information to $23.00 which increases the fee for the fingerprint card
to $47.00.
Fee Petitions
| Joint Circuit Workgroup on Guardian Fees - Effective February 1, 2005 |
Microsoft Word |
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| Petition for Guardian's Fees |
Microsoft Word (fill in) |
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| Guardian Fee Changes Memo |
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Administrative Orders and other legal resources
Probate
and Guardianship Administrative Orders
Administrative Order No. 2005-009 Re: Obsolete Administrative Order 01-23
Efiling Letter Judge W. Lowell Bray, Jr. Re: Judge's Signature on Electronic Documents
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