By: Dana M. Fragakis, Esq.

The Netflix movie I Care a Lot provides a dark, violent, and somewhat comedic take on the real life and not-at-all funny dangers of the legal (and sometimes corrupt) guardianship system. While the film’s twisting plot may seem far-fetched, it sheds light on a tragic phenomenon—the abuse of seniors at the hands of crooked “professional” guardians.

In part one of this series, we offered a brief synopsis of the movie, which revolves around Marla Grayson, a crooked professional guardian who makes her living by preying on vulnerable seniors, and we then outlined the true events that inspired the fictional account. The film’s writer and director, J. Blakeson, came up with the idea after reading news stories of a similar scam involving a corrupt professional guardianship agency in Las Vegas.

In that case, a real-life Marla Grayson named April Parks, who owned a company called A Private Professional Guardian, was sentenced up to 40 years in prison in 2018 after being indicted on more than 200 felonies for using her guardianship status to swindle more than 150 seniors out of their life savings. While I Care a Lot is fictional, the Parks case also inspired the 2018 documentary, The Guardians, directed by award-winning filmmaker Billie Mintz, and his film details the terrifying true events that ravaged the Nevada guardianship industry.

In a Facebook post, Mintz praises I Care a Lot as “a perfect introduction to guardianship,” but worries that because of the movie’s heavy focus on violence and Russian mobsters, “people won’t believe it’s real.” However, as Mintz points out, “I assure you that everything you see about guardianship is true.”

Indeed, while the Parks case is the most famous, similar cases of senior abuse by professional guardians are on the rise across the country. A 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office found hundreds of cases where guardians were involved in the abuse, exploitation, and neglect of seniors placed under their supervision. And given the country’s exploding elderly population and our overloaded court system, such abuse will almost certainly become more common.

Additionally, although most of the cases that have made the news have involved the elderly, the fact is, any adult could face court-ordered guardianship if they become incapacitated by illness or injury and haven’t put the proper legal protections in place.

How It Happens

Should you become incapacitated without any planning in place (due to illness or injury), your family (or a friend) would have to petition the court in order to be granted guardianship. In most cases, the court would appoint a family member as guardian, but this isn’t always the case. If you have no living family members, or those you do have are unwilling or unable to serve or deemed unsuitable by the court, a professional guardian would be appointed.

Beyond the potential for abuse by professional guardians, if you become incapacitated and your family is forced into court seeking guardianship, they are likely to endure a costly, drawn out, and emotionally taxing process. Not only can the legal fees and court costs drain your estate, but if your loved ones disagree over who is best suited to serve as your guardian, it could cause a bitter conflict that could tear your family apart and make it less likely that you get the kind of care you want.

In another scenario, should your loved ones disagree about who should be your guardian, the court could decide that naming a relative as your guardian would be too disruptive to your family dynamics and appoint a professional guardian instead. However, if you have the proper planning vehicles in place, it is highly unlikely for a guardian to be appointed against your wishes.

A Comprehensive Plan For Incapacity

Should you become incapacitated, a comprehensive incapacity plan would give the individual, or individuals, of your choice the immediate authority to make your medical, financial, and legal decisions, without the need for court intervention. Moreover, such planning allows you to provide clear guidance about your wishes, so there is no mistake about how these decisions should be made.

There are several planning vehicles that can go into a comprehensive plan for incapacity, but a will is not among them. A will only goes into effect upon your death, and then, it merely governs how your assets should be divided, so it would do nothing to protect you in the event of incapacity.

When it comes to creating your incapacity plan, your best bet is to put in place a number of different planning tools rather than a single document:

DURABLE FINANCIAL POWER OF ATTORNEY

This document grants an individual of your choice the immediate authority to make decisions related to the management of your financial and legal affairs.

REVOCABLE LIVING TRUST

A living trust immediately transfers control of all assets held by the trust to a person of your choice to be used for your benefit in the event of your incapacity. The trust can include legally binding instructions for how your care should be managed, and the document can even spell out specific conditions that must be met for you to be deemed incapacitated.

MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY

A medical power of attorney grants an individual of your choice the immediate legal authority to make decisions about your medical treatment in the event of your incapacity.

LIVING WILL

A living will (sometimes called an advance directive) provides specific guidance about how your medical decisions should be made during your incapacity, particularly at the end of life. In some instances, a medical power of attorney and a living will are combined in a single document.

But here is the thing about all of these documents—they are just documents and not guidance for the people you love. If you really want to keep your family and friends out of court and out of conflict, you cannot just rely on documents to do it. Rather, these documents should be created by a lawyer who will get to know you, your wishes, and be there for you throughout the many stages of life, plus be there for your family and friends if and when you can’t be.

Communication Is Key

In addition to the above planning tools, it is equally—if not more—important for your loved ones to be aware of your plan and understand their role in it. As part of our planning process, we hold a family meeting with all of the individuals impacted by your plan where we walk them through your plan and explain the reasoning behind your decisions and what they need to do if something happens to you.

By combining your comprehensive incapacity plan with a team of people who care for you, can watch out for you, and know exactly what to do in the event tragedy strikes, we can make it virtually impossible for you to be abused by a professional guardian.

Don’t Put It Off

Although incapacity from dementia is most common in the elderly, debilitating injury and illness can strike at any point in life. Given this, all adults 18 and older should have an incapacity plan. Furthermore, planning for incapacity must take place well before any cognitive decline appears, since you must be able to clearly express your wishes and consent for the documents to be valid.

In light of this, you should get your own planning handled first, and then discuss the need for planning with your aging parents as soon as possible, and from there, schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session with us to get a plan started. And if you or your senior loved ones already have an incapacity plan, we can review it to make sure it has been properly set up, maintained, and updated. Unfortunately, a plan put in place years ago is unlikely to work now, so updating is critical, and unfortunately often not overlooked.

Once you have a plan in place, make sure to regularly review and update it to keep pace with life changes, changes in your assets, or changes in your family structure. And if any of the individuals you have named become unable or unwilling to serve for whatever reason, you will need to revise your plan—and we can help with that too.

Retain Control Of Your Life And Assets

To avoid the loss of autonomy, family conflict, and potential for abuse that comes with a court-ordered guardianship, we invite you to meet with us. While there is no way to prevent dementia and other forms of cognitive decline or an unexpected illness or injury, we can put planning tools in place to ensure that you at least have some control over how your life and assets will be managed if it ever does occur.

Click here to schedule your complimentary 30-minute Legacy Planning Meeting with us!

This article is a service of Dana M. Fragakis, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a comprehensive Life & Legacy Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Life & Legacy Planning Session™.

The content is sourced from Personal Family Lawyer® for use by Personal Family Lawyer® Firms, a source believed to be providing accurate information. This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal, or investment advice. If you are seeking legal advice specific to your needs, such advice services must be obtained on your own separate from this educational material.

By: Dana M. Fragakis, Esq. 

The Netflix movie I Care a Lot provides a dark, violent, and somewhat comedic take on the real-life and not-at-all-fun dangers of the legal (and sometimes corrupt) guardianship system. While the film’s twisting plot may seem far-fetched, it sheds light on a tragic phenomenon—the abuse of seniors at the hands of crooked “professional” guardians.

In this two-part series, we’ll discuss how the movie depicts such abuse, how this can occur in real life, and how to prevent something similar from happening to you or your loved ones using proactive estate planning and our Life & Legacy Planning process. For support in putting airtight, protective planning vehicles in place, meet with us at Florida Wills and Trusts Law.

Note: This article contains spoilers for the movie I Care a Lot.

At the movie’s beginning, we meet Marla Grayson, a crooked professional guardian who makes her living by preying on vulnerable seniors. A professional guardian is a person appointed by the court to make legal and financial decisions for senior “wards” of the court, who are deemed unable to make such decisions themselves.

Working with a corrupt doctor, Marla targets wealthy victims and gets a judge to order these individuals unfit to care for themselves, and then appoints her as their guardian. From there, she and her business partner/ girlfriend, Fran, move the seniors into a nursing home, seize their homes, and sell all their assets for their financial gain.

Marla’s scheme takes a turn for the worse when her latest senior victim, Jennifer Peterson, turns out to be the mother of a Russian mob boss named Roman Lunyov. After Marla has Jennifer placed in a long-term care facility, Roman tries unsuccessfully to get his mother out of the facility, first by bribing Marla, then through the court, and finally by trying to break her out.

While this may seem ludicrous, this kind of abuse happens outside of the movies to seniors with significant assets, even those with caring adult children like Roman.

At this point, the movie descends into a violent back-and-forth between Roman and Marla, as they each try and fail to kill one another, until they both decide that rather than murdering each other, they could make more money by going into business together.

Fast-forward several years, and we learn that Marla and Roman have become millionaires after starting a global chain of senior care services called Grayson Guardianships. This chain employs thousands of crooked guardians overseeing hundreds of thousands of “clients” all over the world.

Based On True Events

With its over-the-top violence, kidnappings, and Russian mobsters, some might dismiss I Care a Lot as nothing but Hollywood hype and find it hard to believe that an operation as sinister as Marla’s could ever actually exist. But the fact is, the movie’s writer and director, J. Blakeson, came up with the idea after reading news stories about very similar (less the mob and murder) situations. And knowing such things happen makes the movie even more terrifying.

“The idea first came when I heard news stories about these predatory legal guardians who were exploiting this legal loophole and exploiting the vulnerability in the system to take advantage of older people, basically stripping them of their life and assets to fill their own pockets,” Blakeson told Esquire Magazine. “They run through their money as fast as possible, store them in the worst care home, and just forget about them. Just park them and then move on to the next one, and that felt almost like a gangster’s operation.”

And while the real-life scams never reached a level on par with Grayson’s Guardians, one crooked professional guardianship business in Las Vegas did manage to bilk hundreds of unsuspecting seniors out of their life savings. A real-life Marla Grayson named April Parks, who owned a Las Vegas-based company called A Private Professional Guardian, was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison in 2018 after being indicted on more than 200 felonies for using her guardianship status to swindle more than 150 seniors.

In her case, prosecutors described how Parks, in a similar fashion to Marla, used a shady network of social workers and medical professionals who helped her track down her elderly victims. On the lookout for wealthy seniors with a history of health issues and few living relatives, Parks was often able to obtain court-sanctioned guardianship during court hearings that lasted less than two minutes.

From there, the guardians would force the elderly out of their homes and into assisted-living facilities and nursing homes. They would then sell off their homes and other assets, keeping the proceeds for themselves. Even worse, the guardians were often able to prevent the seniors from seeing or speaking with their family members, leaving them isolated and even more vulnerable to exploitation.

The Most Punitive Civil Penalty

What makes these cases particularly tragic is that, for the most part, everything these unscrupulous guardians did was perfectly legal. As Blakeson put it, “They had the law on their side, and there was nothing you could do.” Although guardianships are designed to protect the elderly from their own poor decisions, they can turn out to be more of a punishment than a benefit.

In a 2018 New York Times article detailing the state of the guardianship system in New York, Florida congressman Claude Pepper described guardianship as “the most punitive civil penalty that can be levied against an American citizen, with the exception, of course, of the death penalty.”

Indeed, once you’ve been placed under court-ordered guardianship, you essentially lose all of your civil rights. Whether it’s a family member or a professional, the person named as your guardian has complete legal authority to control every facet of your life. While guardianship is governed by state law and varies from state to state, some of the most common powers guardians are granted include the following:

• Determining where you live, including moving you into a nursing home
• Complete control over your finances, real estate, and other assets
• Making all of your healthcare decisions and providing consent for medical treatments
• Placing restrictions on your communications and interactions with others, including family members
• Making decisions about your daily life, such as recreational activities, clothing, and food choices
• Making end-of-life and other palliative-care decisions

Additionally, though the court can terminate a guardianship if it can be proven that the need for guardianship no longer exists, a study by the American Bar Association (ABA) found that such attempts typically fail. Those family members who try to fight against court-appointed guardians frequently pay hefty attorney’s fees and court costs, and some even go bankrupt.

Protection Through Planning

Given the potential for neglect, abuse, and exploitation that guardianship affords, seniors and their families must take the proper steps to prevent any possibility of falling prey to such scams. Moreover, because any adult could face court-ordered guardianship if they become incapacitated by illness or injury, every person over age 18—not just seniors—must take proactive measures to prepare for potential incapacity.

Fortunately, multiple estate planning tools can prevent such abuse from occurring. With Florida Wills and Trusts Law, we can put planning vehicles in place and offer ongoing advisory and support that would make it practically impossible for a legal guardian to ever be appointed—or need to be appointed—against your wishes.

We’ll continue with part two of this series on the dark side of adult guardianship and offer tips on how estate planning can help you avoid the potential for abuse.

Click here to schedule your complimentary 30-minute Legacy Planning Meeting with us!

This article is a service of Dana M. Fragakis, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a comprehensive Life & Legacy Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than ever before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Life & Legacy Planning Session™.

The content is sourced from Personal Family Lawyer® for use by Personal Family Lawyer® Firms, a source believed to be providing accurate information. This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal, or investment advice. If you are seeking legal advice specific to your needs, such advice services must be obtained on your own separate from this educational material.

By: Dana M. Fragakis, Esq.

As summer approaches, you’re likely focused on planning the perfect getaway with your children—booking flights, reserving hotels, and mapping out exciting activities. However, one crucial aspect of travel planning often gets overlooked: ensuring your children’s safety and care if something unexpected happens to you during your trip. While no one wants to think about emergencies during vacation, having proper protection lets you truly relax and enjoy making memories together.

Let’s explore why having a Kids Protection Plan^Ⓡ (“KPP”) in place before traveling is essential and what steps you can take to protect your children. Please note: most lawyers, even at the top estate planning firms, often make at least one of 6 common mistakes the KPP is designed to address when naming legal guardians for children in an estate plan. 

The Hidden Risks of Traveling Without Protection

When you’re caught up in vacation planning excitement, it’s easy to focus only on the fun ahead. However, traveling presents unique risks and scenarios you need to consider. If you become incapacitated in a car accident or experience any other emergency while away from home, what would happen to your children in those critical first hours or days? Without proper legal documentation, your children could be temporarily taken into the care of strangers or social services until the proper authorities can determine who has the legal authority to care for them.

This becomes even more complicated when traveling internationally. Different countries have varying laws about child custody and care in emergencies. Without clear legal documentation designating temporary guardians, your children could face significant trauma while authorities work through bureaucratic processes to determine their care. Even domestic travel can present challenges if you’re incapacitated in another state, as local authorities may not immediately recognize out-of-state guardianship arrangements without proper documentation.

Essential Components of Protection While Traveling

A comprehensive KPP, which we create for you as part of the Life & Legacy Planning^Ⓡ process,  provides crucial legal documentation and instructions that activate immediately if something happens to you. This includes the designation of temporary guardians who can care for your children until your long-term guardians arrive, as well as detailed information about your children’s medical needs, allergies, medications, and daily routines.

When you work with us to create a KPP, we include several key components that many parents overlook. First, you’ll receive ID cards that list emergency contacts that can care for your children in your absence. Second, we’ll create a medical power of attorney forms that allow designated caregivers to authorize treatment for your kids if they need medical care if needed. Third, your KPP will include temporary guardianship documentation so your kids are never taken into the care of strangers while the authorities locate the long-term guardians for your children. Finally, if there is anyone you would never want raising your children, we document that (confidentially), too. 

Beyond these basics, your KPP should include detailed information about your children’s daily lives—their favorite foods, bedtime routines, fears or anxieties, and comfort items. This helps caregivers maintain normalcy during a stressful situation. You can also include passwords for electronic devices, social media accounts, and educational platforms your children might need to access.

Take Action Before You Travel

Before heading off on your summer adventures, schedule time with me; we will help you consider all the potential issues that could arise so that you can make the best decisions for yourself and your kids. We’ll start by carefully selecting local and long-distance temporary guardians who can respond quickly in an emergency, considering factors like their proximity to your vacation destination, ability to travel on short notice, and familiarity with your children’s needs.

Then, we’ll help you create an emergency response plan that outlines what should happen in various scenarios. This plan should include who should be contacted first, in what order, and what immediate actions they should take. 

Importantly, your plan should be easily accessible to designated guardians and include clear instructions for first responders or authorities who need to refer to it in an emergency. We will help you with this by ensuring you have access to the documents you need and that your chosen guardians know precisely how to access the information and documents they need. We will also support them in an emergency so they know exactly what to do. 

Making these arrangements isn’t about dwelling on worst-case scenarios—it’s about creating peace of mind so you can fully enjoy your vacation. Proper protection allows you to create wonderful memories with your children instead of worrying about “what-if” scenarios. Think of it as travel insurance for your children’s well-being—something you hope you’ll never need but will be incredibly grateful to have if an emergency arises.

Your Next Steps for Peace of Mind

We support you in creating a comprehensive Life & Legacy Plan that includes a Kids Protection Plan so your children are always protected, no matter where your travels take you. Take the first step today by booking a Life & Legacy Planning Session, where you’ll get educated on what will happen if you become incapacitated and when you die so you can make the very best decisions for your loved ones. From that place of empowerment, we’ll work together to create your comprehensive Life & Legacy Plan that gives you peace of mind, knowing you’ve done all you can for the people you love most.

Click here to schedule your complimentary 30-minute Legacy Planning Meeting with us!

This article is a service of Dana M. Fragakis, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a comprehensive Life & Legacy Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Life & Legacy Planning Session™.

The content is sourced from Personal Family Lawyer® for use by Personal Family Lawyer® Firms, a source believed to be providing accurate information. This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal, or investment advice. If you are seeking legal advice specific to your needs, such advice services must be obtained on your own separate from this educational material.

By: Dana M. Fragakis, Esq.

The July 2024 passing of beloved Gen X actress Shannen Doherty offers important lessons about estate planning during divorce. Known for her iconic roles in “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Heathers” and “Charmed,” Doherty not only faced a courageous and public battle with breast cancer but also raced against time to finalize her divorce and protect her estate. Her story shows why proper timing and planning are crucial when navigating divorce – one of life’s most challenging transitions.

The Power of Timing

According to reports, just one day before her death, Doherty filed for an uncontested divorce from her husband, Kurt Iswarienko, who signed the agreement the following day. This eleventh-hour timing proved crucial for her estate. By finalizing the divorce, Doherty ensured her assets—including a $6 million Malibu home and future residuals from her acting career—would be distributed according to her wishes rather than subject to community property laws.

Had the divorce not been finalized, the outcome could have been drastically different. In some states, if a person dies during an active divorce proceeding, the process either halts or is significantly altered. Without a finalized divorce agreement in a community property state like California, Iswarienko could have had a legitimate claim to significant portions of Doherty’s estate, potentially leading to years of costly legal battles and family conflict.

Common Estate Planning Mistakes During Divorce

While Doherty finalized her divorce just in time, many people make critical estate planning mistakes during divorce that can have lasting consequences for their families. 

Here are the most common pitfalls to avoid:

Waiting Too Long to Update Beneficiary Designations. One of the biggest mistakes is assuming your divorce automatically removes your ex-spouse as a beneficiary from your accounts and insurance policies. The reality is more complicated. While some states have laws that automatically revoke ex-spouse beneficiary designations upon divorce, others don’t. Moreover, federal law may override state law for certain types of accounts, like employer-sponsored retirement plans. This means your ex-spouse could still inherit your 401(k) or life insurance proceeds even after divorce if you don’t actively change your beneficiaries. When you work with me to create your Life & Legacy Plan, I will support you in making sure your assets go to the people you want in the way you want. That includes changing your beneficiary designations if needed.

Forgetting About Digital Assets. In today’s digital world, your online presence and digital assets must be considered during divorce. Streaming service accounts, airline miles, cryptocurrency, digital photos, and social media accounts must be addressed. Many forget to update passwords and access information or specify who should inherit these digital assets. This oversight can leave your loved ones unable to access essential memories, valuable assets, or necessary account information.

Neglecting Incapacity Planning. Divorce often focuses people’s attention on what happens after death, but incapacity planning is equally important. Your ex-spouse may have been your healthcare proxy or had power of attorney over your financial accounts. During and after divorce, you need to designate new agents to make medical and financial decisions if you become incapacitated. Without updated incapacity planning documents, your ex-spouse might still have legal authority to make crucial decisions about your care, which you may not want.

Making Emotional Decisions. Divorce is emotionally charged, and many people make hasty decisions based on anger or hurt. For example, you might make choices that could trigger expensive legal battles after death. As a Personal Family Lawyer, I am your trusted advisor who can help you see the impact of your decisions and support you to create a Life & Legacy Plan that aligns with your long-term goals and values.

Protecting Your Assets During Divorce

To avoid these common mistakes and protect your assets during divorce, consider these three practical steps:

Step 1: Create an Asset Inventory

Document all your assets, including property, bank accounts, retirement accounts, investments, life insurance policies, and digital assets. Note which assets are yours alone and which ones are joint assets. This inventory will help ensure nothing is overlooked during the divorce process. When you meet with me for a Life & Legacy Planning^Ⓡ Session, I will support you with this step.

Step 2: Review and Change Beneficiary Designations

Systematically review and update beneficiary designations on all financial accounts, retirement plans, and insurance policies. Remember that beneficiary designations typically override what’s written in your will or trust.

Step 3: Create a Life & Legacy Plan

When you work with me to create your comprehensive Life & Legacy Plan, you’ll know your assets will go to the people you want in the way you want and that you’ll be cared for by those you trust most if you become unable to care for yourself. You’ll also know that your beneficiary designations will be updated, your assets accounted for, and that you’re making the best decisions for the long term. 

Your Next Step

I help you navigate life’s transitions while protecting your assets and loved ones. I don’t just create estate planning documents – I provide ongoing support to ensure your plan evolves with your life changes and works when you and your loved ones need it most. Through the Life & Legacy Planning process, I will help you make informed decisions about your estate, especially during significant life transitions.

Click here to schedule your complimentary 30-minute Legacy Planning Meeting with us!

This article is a service of Dana M. Fragakis, a Personal Family Lawyer® Firm. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a comprehensive Life & Legacy Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Life & Legacy Planning Session™.

The content is sourced from Personal Family Lawyer® for use by Personal Family Lawyer® Firms, a source believed to be providing accurate information. This material was created for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as ERISA, tax, legal, or investment advice. If you are seeking legal advice specific to your needs, such advice services must be obtained on your own separate from this educational material.