DIVISION OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Grant Maloy, Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Seminole County, Florida DATE: September 22, 2021 GUARDIANSHIP: —_Jan Garwood CASE NO: 2017-GA-001200 ATTORNEY: James D. Kisio GUARDIAN: Denise Y. Willis (professional) PERIOD: August 15, 2018 - August 31, 2019 September 1, 2019 - October 16, 2020 SUBJECT: Audit of Annual Accounting Findings and Recommendations A. SCOPE The Division of Inspector General (IG) conducted an audit, per Section 744.3678, Fla. Stat., of the Final Accounting for the guardianship of Jan Garwood. B. BACKGROUND On August 1, 2017, Letters appointing Rebecca Fierle as Plenary Guardian of the person and property with no bond amount noted On August 15, 2018, Letters appointing Denise Y. Willis as Successor Plenary Guardian of the person and property with professional blanket bond requirement. FILED SEP 22 2021 02:32 PM CLERK OF CIRCUIT COURT SEMINOLE COUNTY, FLGuardianship of: Garwood, Jan Case Number: 2017-GA-001200 Subject: Audit of Annual Accounting On August 21, 2018, Order authorizing payment of fees and expenses of attorney, Thomas P. Moss, Esquire of Sawyer & Sawyer, P.A,, for the period from April 1, 2018 through July 31, 2018 in the amount of $630.00. These fees do not appear to have been paid with guardianship funds. On September 11, 2018, Order authorizing payment of fees and expenses of attorney, Thomas P. Moss, Esquire of Sawyer & Sawyer, P.A., for the period from August 1, 2018 through September 6, 2018 in the amount of $2,318.00. These fees do not appear to have been paid with guardianship funds. On September 11, 2018, Resignation of Rebecca Fierle as Plenary Guardian filed. On September 11, 2018, Order of discharge of Rebecca Fierle as Guardian of the person. The guardianship is transferred to Denise Willis as Successor Plenary Guardian. On September 11, 2018, Order of discharge of Rebecca Fierle as Guardian of the property and release of surety on the guardian's bond, if any. On November 9, 2018, Suggestion of capacity filed. The Ward is capable of exercising several rights which have been removed. These rights are itemized. On November 13, 2018, Order giving notice of filing suggestion of capacity and appointing physician to examine the Ward, On January 29, 2019, Order denying suggestion of capacity. On or around January 29, 2019, Order compensating examining physician, Thomas G. Sawyer, M.D., J.D., in the amount of $500.00. On March 21, 2019, order authorizing payment of fees and expenses of attorney, James D. Kisio of Bogin, Munns & Munns, P.A., for the period from August 15, 2018 through March 15, 2019 in the amount of $8,844.00. These fees do not appear to have been paid with guardianship funds. On April 29, 2019, Order authorizing the Successor Guardian to list the Ward's real property for sale, subject to Court approval, at a list price of $260,000.00. (Note: A certified appraisal was not provided to substantiate the value of the real property.) Order authorizes the Successor Guardian to hire and pay a commercial service to remove and dispose of the personal property within said real property. Page 2Guardianship of: Garwood, Jan Case Number: 2017-GA-001200 Subject: Audit of Annual Accounting On April 29, 2019, Order authorizing the sale of the Ward's vehicle. The Successor Guardian is authorized to remove the vehicle from storage, pay the accrues storage charges, sell the vehicle to CarMax for not less than $10,000.09, and to execute all documents necessary to close the sale. On August 12, 2019, Order authorizing the Successor Guardian to enter into the Contract (attached to related Petition) and to convey the Ward's real property located at 221 Royal Oaks Circle, Longwood, FL and to take all such acts and to execute all documents necessary to effect such conveyance. ‘On October 14, 2019, Order authorizing payment of fees and expenses of attorney, James D. Kisio of Bogin, Munns & Munns, P.A., for the period from March 15, 2019 through September 30, 2019 in the amount of $3,333.00. These fees do not appear to have been paid with guardianship funds. It appears this fee was paid from the Guardian Special Needs Trust. On October 21, 2014, Proposed Supplemental Order authorizing sale of the Ward's real property filed. The Order was rejected by the Court as it was “brought to the Court's attention that Zillow lists the value of her house at $379,780.00. Please provide written evidence or pictures.” On October 31, 2019, Order authorizing payment of compensation and expenses of Successor Guardian for the period from February 12, 2019 through October 11, 2019 in the amount of $5,709.60. On November 5, 2019, Hearing held RE: Sale of Ward's real property. Photographs and Notice of Filing of Affidavit of Daniel Brown presented as exhibits. Affidavit includes a comparative market analysis. On January 13, 2020, Order authorizing payment of fees and expenses of attorney, James D. Kisio of Bogin, Munns & Munns, P.A., for the period from August 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019 in the amount of $321.00. These fees do not appear to have been paid with guardianship funds. On January 15, 2020, Corrective Order authorizing payment of fees and expenses of attorney, James D. Kisio of Bogin, Munns & Munns, P.A., for the period from October 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019 in the amount of $462.00. On April 1, 2020, Order authorizing payment of compensation and expenses of Successor Guardian for the period from October 15, 2019 through March 25, 2020 in the amount of $2,611.20. These fees do not appear to have been paid with guardianship funds. Page 3Guardianship of: Garwood, Jan Case Number: 2017-GA-001200 Subject: Audit of Annual Accounting On April 20, 2020, Order authorizing payment of fees and expenses of attorney, James D. Kisio of Bogin, Munns & Munns, P.A., for the period from January 1, 2020 through March 31, 2020 in the amount of $2,310.00. These fees do not appear to have been paid with guardianship funds. On June 17, 2020, Suggestion of Capacity filed. Ward requests that all of her rights be restored. (On August 10, 2020, Order giving notice of filing of suggestion of capacity and appointing physician to examine Ward. On August 24, 2020, Order of restoration. The Ward is hereby restored to full capacity and regains all rights previously removed from her immediately. The Successor Guardian shall promptly file a Final Report and Final Accounting within 60 days, in addition to her petition for discharge. On December 16, 2020, Order of referral to Probate/Guardianship General Magistrate on Order to Show Cause hearings and Status/Review hearings. On December 16, 2020, Order to appear and show cause hearing set for February 1, 2021 for to file the Final Report and Final Accounting. On February 1, 2021, Order to appear and show cause hearing set for February 15, 2021 for failure to file the Final Report and Final Accounting. On February 2, 2021, nunc pro tunc, February 1, 2021, Order approving and adopting report and recommendation of General Magistrate on Order to Show Cause (OTSC) hearing. The recommendations of the General Magistrate are 1. An OTSC shall be issued in this matter. 2. The next hearing is scheduled for February 15, 2021. 3. Jan Garwood and her attorneys may appear telephonically. On February 5, 2021, Final Accounting for the period from September 1, 2019 through October 16, 2020 filed On February 10, 2021, Division of Inspector General audit letter re: Final Accounting for the period from September 1, 2019 through October 16, 2020. Response due no later than March 25, 2021. On February 10, 2021, Final Report of Guardian of the property filed. On February 24, 2021, Annual Accounting for the period from September 1, 2018 through August 31, 2019 filed. Page 4Guardianship of: Garwood, Jan Case Number: 2017-GA-001200 Subject: Audit of Annual Accounting On March 12, 2021, Division of Inspector General audit letter re: Annual Accounting for the period from August 15, 2018 through August 31, 2019. Response due no later than April 25, 2021. On March 25, 2021, Response to the Division of Inspector General audit letter re: Final Accounting for the period from September 1, 2019 through October 16, 2020. On April 9, 2021, nunc pro tunc, February 15, 2021, Report and recommendation of General ‘Magistrate on Order to Show Cause hearing. Recommendations include: 1) The Final Accounting and Final Report shall be filed within 10 days of this hearing, due on or before February 25, 2021. 2) The required Response to the Inspector General's report shall be filed on or before March 25, 2021. On April 9, 2021, nunc pro tunc, February 15, 2021, Order approving and adopting report and recommendation of General Magistrate on Order to Show Cause hearing. On July 26, 2021, Order to appear and show cause hearing set for August 16, 2021. Only a partial response to the Inspector General's report has been received to date. (On August 13, 2021, Notice of filing Response to IG Inquiry. On September 22, 2021, Notice of hearing. A status he: ig is set for November 1, 2021. Dates of Annual Accountings DUE DATE: December 1* PERIOD DATE SUBMITTED DATE APROVED ‘August 15, 2018 — August 31, 2019 February 24, 2021 Ted ‘September 1, 2019 - October 16, 2020 _| February 5, 2021 TBD ._ SATISFACTORY FINDINGS 1. Per Section 744,104, Fla, Stat., the Annual Accountings include an affirmation under penalties of perjury. These were signed by the Successor Guardian. 2. The beginning balances reported on the Annual Accountings agree to the reported ending balances of the inventory/prior accounting. 3. The remaining assets were compared with those of the previous accountings. There were no unreported sales or purchases of assets to change this list except as noted below. 4, The computations in these returns are mathematically correct. Page 5Guardianship of: Garwood, Jan Case Number: 2017-GA-001200 Subject: Audit of Annual Accounting 5. Some transactions listed on this annual accounting were compared with bank statements. There were no discrepancies. Note: As noted below, several requested bank statements were not provided. 6. Capital transactions and adjustments were reviewed. There are no discrepancies noted. 7. This accounting includes a copy of the bank statements. These statements agree with the remaining asset balances reported, except as noted below. D. DEFICIENCY FINDINGS 1. Based on statements and other documentation provided, the Successor Guardian was, aware of, or should have been aware of Lincoln Benefit Life Company policy x7717 as a September 27, 2019 letter from the company was sent to Denise Willis as Guardian and shows an updated address which reflects the address of the Successor Guardian. Further documentation shows that the Successor Guardian contacted the company on September 3, 2019 to obtain policy values. Though the Successor Guardian was aware of the policy, she failed to report the policy and related activity on the 2019/2020 annual accounting. It should be noted that the policy, holding a value of $7,712.22 as of November 1, 2020, is an asset of the Ward and should be transferred to the Ward accordingly, if not already done so. 2. Itappears the Ward's vehicle was sold significantly under value. The vehicle was not sold to CarMax as approved by the Court. On October 2, 2017, the prior Guardian submitted documentation to support the Kelly Blue Book trade-in value of the Ward's vehicle, a 2015 Nissan Rouge, in the range of $17,539.99 to $19,758.00. On February 3, 2019, just over one year later, the Court ordered that the keys of the vehicle be delivered to the Successor Guardian and that the Successor Guardian place the vehicle in storage. On April 26, 2019, the Court authorized the sale of the vehicle, to CarMax, for not less than $10,000.00. The related petition indicates an unsupported Kelly Blue Book trade-in value in the range of $10,377.00 to $11,776.00. Page 6Guardianship of: Garwood, Jan Case Number: 2017-GA-001200 Subject: Audit of Annual Accounting On May 23, 2019, the guardianship received $7,995.00 from the sale of the vehicle. According to the accounting, it appears the vehicle was sold for $9,005.00, from that amount, $1,010.00 was deducted for storage fee. We requested a copy of the bill of sale of the vehicle and documentat vehicle's value. nto support the The Successor Guardian did not provide a copy of the bill of sale for the vehicle. Instead, an invoice from A&N Twin Towing was provided. The invoice shows what appears to be a sales price of $8,500.00 for the vehicle less $505.00 (for unknown purpose) resulting in a balance of $7,995.00. It appears the total towing and storage cost was $2,370.00. It is unknown how the $2,370.00 was incorporated into the payment. As the bill of sale was not provided, we do not know whether the vehicle was transferred properly. Additionally, the mileage of the vehicle at time of sale is unknown. The Successor Guardian did not provide requested documentation to support the value of the vehicle or support the significant drop in value during the 1 % year period from initial inventory through the sale of the vehicle, during which the vehicle was not driven for around six months. It is unknown why the Successor has been unwilling or unable to provide documentation to support the sales value of the vehicle. An unsupported value was provided to the Court, it would be reasonable for a guardian to maintain such records. Given the significant drop in value, we requested copies of any insurance claims, mechanic reports/invoices, pictures or other documentation to support the reduction in value. No such documentation was provided. The Successor Guardian did not sell the vehicle to CarMax as Ordered by the Court. Instead the vehicle was sold to A&N Twin Towing. The Petition to the Court states that sale to CarMax would “constitute the most cost-effective approach to obtaining the best value from the Vehicle.” The Response to the Division of Inspector General states that “The guardian would have incurred cost and expenses to have car towed back and forth to various agencies to obtain a negotiated sale price of the vehicle.” At no point did the Guardian inform the Court of the intended change in buyer. We do know that CarMax does offer quotes showing vehicle value. A CarMax quote was not provided. It is unknown whether the Successor Guardian has a relationship with A&N Twin Towing which would cause a conflict of interest. Information provided by the Successor Guardian, related to the sale of the vehicle, is conflicting and overall not supported. It should be noted that according to Section 744.20041(r), Fla. Stat., “Failing to maintain all records pertaining to a guardianship for a reasonable time after the court has closed the guardianship matter, “is grounds for Page 7Guardianship of: Garwood, Jan Case Number: 2017-GA-001200 Subject: Audit of Annual Accounting discipline. Per Section 744.361(10)(A), Fla. Stat., guardians must “keep clear, distinct, and accurate records of the administration of the ward's property.” Per Section 744.365(5)(a), “The guardian shall maintain substantiating papers and records sufficient to demonstrate the accuracy of the initial inventory for a period of 3 years after her or his discharge. The substantiating papers need not be filed with the court but must be made available for inspection and review at such time and place and before such persons as the court may order.” It should also be noted that the Ward's real property may have also been sold below true market value. Though a real estate comprehensive was provided, the Court was NOT provided with a property appraisal conducted by a licensed property appraiser. 3. The Successor Guardian was not able to provide documentation to support missing Social Security income. Monthly income from the Social Security Administration (SSA) was missing for four months during the 2018/2019 period and for nine months during the 2019/2020 period. The Successor Guardian has not been discharged as Guardian so that she may satisfy her duties as guardian. According to the Response to the Division of Inspector General, the Ward changed the address for the social security payments. “It is not available to obtain a copy of the SSA statement because | am no longer the guardian. Also, the SSA office has been closed to the public since the beginning of the pandemic shutdown, March 2020.” We have no documentation to support the missing Social Security Income or the reason for the loss of this income. 4, The Guardian did not provide all bank statements requested. Both the February 10, 2021 and March 12, 2021 Division of Inspector General audit letters request all bank statements for the 2019/2020 period. Both the March 25, 2021 and August 13, 2021 Reponses to the Division of Inspector General state that statements were provided. We were unable to locate all bank statements. Statements for the period from September 1, 2019 through May 15, 2020 are not available for review. This period covers the time during which the Ward's Social Security Income stopped being reported. 5. The proceeds from the sale of the Ward's real property were deposited into the Ward’s Special Needs Trust (SNT). According to the Response to the Division of Inspector General, “it was necessary to deposit the proceeds into the SNT to protect the Ward's government benefits. Any monies deposited into the guardianship account would have caused a loss of the Ward's benefits. Additionally, the funds from the home would have caused a payback to Medicaid for all benefits received by the Ward to date. ‘Though we have no issues related to the reasons for the deposit of the sales proceeds into the SNT, the circumstances were not disclosed to the Court. The Court did not approve Page 8Guardianship of: Garwood, Jan Case Number: 2017-GA-001200 Subject: Audit of Annual Accounting the deposit of the guardianship assets into the SNT which is not controlled by the Guardian. Further, an accounting of the use of the funds was not provided. Per Section 744.441(s), Fla. Stat., “The court shall retain oversight of the assets transferred to a trust, unless otherwise ordered by the court.” 6. We requested a statement from the Trustee of the Ward's trust itemizing any and all fees paid to the Successor Guardian or the Guardian’s business for the period from August 15, 2018 through October 16, 2020. The Successor Guardian did not provide documentation from the Trustee of the trust to support payments made to the Successor Guardian or other transactions for the FULL period requested. According to both the March 25, 2021 and August 13, 2021 Responses to the Division of Inspector General, an accounting for the period from August 15, 2018 through October 16, 2020 has been requested from the Trustee. “A verbal response was provided from Johannah at Guardian Trust, who advised that because rights were restored to Jan Garwood, | have no authority to request documents from the trust company.” It should be noted that the Successor Guardian has not yet been discharged as Guardian. We have not yet requested a full accounting of the funds in the Ward's trust, including those related to the proceeds from the sale of the Ward's real property. The Responses do include a statement from Guardian Special Needs Trust. The document indicates a S-page report covering the period from August 15, 2018 through October 16, 2020 was generated. Only page three of the report, covering the period from May 31, 2019 through December 31, 2019 was provided. The report shows that for this period, there were no payments to the Successor Guardian. The report shows the receipt related to the proceeds from the sale of the Ward's real property. It also shows disbursements for the ‘mortgage on the Ward's real property and later the Ward's Assisted Li 7. The March 12, 2021 Division of Inspector General audit letter requests and other documentation to support the following disbursements: a. $434.76 to Rainaldi Plumbing (invoice to include service address) b. $241.02 to Successor Guardian c. $455.00 to Capital One (no Capital One accounts are listed on the accounting) 4d. $3,787.00 for pre-paid credit cards (to include signature acceptance of Ward) Page 9Guardianship of: Garwood, Jan Case Number: 2017-GA-001200 Subject: Audit of Annual Accounting The Guardian did not provide documentation to support these expenses. We cannot determine the benefit to the Ward for these expenses. Per Section 744.20041(r), Fla. Stat., “Failing to maintain all records pertaining to a guardianship for a reasonable time after the court has closed the guardianship matter, “is grounds for discipline. Per Section 744.361(10)(A), Fla. Stat., guardians must “keep clear, distinct, and accurate records of the administration of the ward’s property.” Per Section 744,365(5)(a), “The guardian shall maintain substantiating papers and records sufficient to demonstrate the accuracy of the initial inventory for a period of 3 years after her or discharge. The substantiating papers need not be filed with the court but must be made available for inspection and review at such time and place and before such persons as the court may order.” E, INSPECTOR GENERAL CONCERNS Per Section 744,367(2}, Fla. Stat,, “If the court authorizes or directs filing on a fiscal-year basis, the annual accounting must be filed on or before the first day of the fourth month after the end of the fiscal year.” Administrative Order No. 15-40 for the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida establishes a fiscal-year basis for filing of annual accountings. The August 24, 2020 Order of Restoration states that the Guardian “shall promptly file a Final Report and Final Accounting within (60) days..” The 2018/2019 accounting was filed over one year late. The 2019/2020 final accounting was filed over three months late. The Responses to the Division of Inspector General were not filed timely. F, RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COURT There are a significant number of deficiency findings. Though the Successor Guardian, a professional, provided explanation for some of the issues, supporting documentation was largely not provided. We have limited assurance that the Ward's funds were managed in the best interest of the Ward. We recommend the Court determine what further documentation should be provided and action taken related to the issues noted prior to approval of the accountings for the periods from August 15, 2018 through August 31, 2019 and September 1, 2019 and October 16, 2020. Sheena Patel, CIA, CIGA Inspector General Auditor Division of Inspector General Page 10