Senate Bill Could Help Protect Clients From Bad Guardians

“Guardianship is a blunt legal tool that transfers all decision-making power about the life of a person to someone else,” Casey said. “Guardianship can put a person at risk for neglect and exploitation.”

Dr. Tina Paone, a professor at Monmouth University in Pennsylvania, testified that problems with guardians for her mother led to bill payment problems and cost her mother’s estate about $116,000.

“That’s money that could have been spent on her care but instead went to fund a system that seems driven to pay professional guardianship attorneys and others motivated by greed and power,” Paone said. “In my experience, when an incapacitated person has a larger estate, they are more likely to have frequent involvement with the courts, which increases payments to lawyers, guardians and services hired by these guardians.”

S. 1148

In the past, both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Aging Committee have introduced guardianship improvement bills.

S. 1148 started out with three cosponsors: Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Sen. Robert Casey, R-Pa. (Photo: Casey)