Frank v. Guardianship of Muriel Frank

The Fourth District reversed orders declaring a ward incapacitated-appointed plenary professional guardian, holding the circuit court bypassed the mandatory less-restrictive-alternative sequencing of section 744.331(6)(b) and failed to make contemporaneous, factually supported findings that the ward's preneed/advance directives naming her daughter were contrary to the ward's best interests under section 744.312(1). The court also held the ward's death did not moot the appeal because the property guardian had engaged in significant transactions (a $700,000 non-arm's-length home sale) and fee litigation continued, and that the trial court denied due process by imposing an arbitrary evidentiary cutoff at the date of the original appointment during the 2024 rehearing. All derivative orders, including the sale of the home and fee awards, were reversed.

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