Bill would promote ADR coordinators in elder law cases
Rep. Brett Hage
Bills allowing judges to appoint elder care coordinators to help resolve disputes that can affect the elders’ safety and autonomy are moving in the Florida House and Senate.
The latest action came March 18, when the House Civil Justice and Property Rights Subcommittee approved HB 441 by Rep. Brett Hage, R-The Villages.
Hage said the bill gives judges an additional alternative dispute resolution tool where there are disagreements among family members and/or guardians over issues involving a senior citizen.
“This bill enables families to resolve disputes in a manner that respects the needs, safety, and autonomy of their aging loved one in a private forum with the assistance of elder caring coordinators,” he said.
There has been a pilot program for the coordinators in the Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, 12th, 13th, 15th, 17th, and 18th circuits with about 75 referrals and “it’s working wonderfully,” Hage said.
The bill sets standards for and requires background checks for the coordinators.
Fifth Circuit Judge Michelle Morley, a member of the Supreme Court Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and Policy and who helped write the bill, said judges and participants in the pilot program were surveyed and were strongly supportive.
“Primarily we see these cases in guardianships and incapacity [cases],” Morley said. “We also see them in adult protective services where the Department of Children and Families will get involved with an emerging situation where they see dysfunction in the family and they can refer them into elder caring coordination as part of that abuse case.”
They are also used in guardianship and trust cases where there is suspicion of exploitation of an elderly person, she said.
The program has saved timed, money, allowed problems to be resolved without going to court, and led to shorter and streamlined sessions when the court was involved, Morley said.
And not insignificantly, she added, “Bickering among family members is taken care of privately. I have seen the reaction of aging people when their families are ‘at it,’ so to speak, and blaming each other for things that have gone wrong. It’s mortifying for that aging person and it’s heartbreaking as well.”
Rep. Ben Diamond, D-St. Petersburg, praised the bill.
“I practice in the guardianship court in the Sixth Judicial Circuit and I’ve been involved in some of these cases recently that have been very, very challenging. I wish I had the benefit of the pilot in my circuit,” he said.
HB 441, which is endorsed by the Bar’s Elder Law Section, passed 18-0 and next goes to the Children, Families and Seniors Subcommittee and the Judiciary Committee. The Senate version of the bill, SB 368 by Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Lady Lake, has passed the Judiciary and Children, Families, and Elder Affairs committees and next goes to the Appropriations Committee.
