I have waited to write this article in hopes that the State of Florida would do the right thing and fix its broken guardianship program. After months of reaching out to the powers to be including the Department of Elder Affairs and the State Attorney General’s office, we find we have no other recourse than to expose this travesty.
About six months ago, a friend asked me to meet with her friend because she knew I had a vast network of political influencers. I agreed and met with Rey Contreas at a local restaurant. After hearing his story, my appetite was lost!
Rey is the son of a Cuban immigrant, Doris Beaty, and the stepson of a well known Polk County entrepreneur, rancher and philanthropist, Pete Beaty.
Pete and Doris had a large estate worth well over $200 million dollars and were living a simple life on their ranch all the while giving to the community and to healthcare organizations such as Mayo Clinic and money to build a surgical wing at a Plant City hospital. Pete was a country boy but a wise man and knew he needed to protect his wealth. He hired an attorney to draw up documents protecting his assets and spent over $100,000 in attorney’s fees for his trust documents, wills and other end of life documents.
Every year those documents were reviewed and changes made if necessary. Pete made sure all his wishes were up to date.
Unfortunately Pete came down with a lite form of dementia – known as sundowner syndrome. As day turned to night, Pete would get agitated and at one point Doris had to call the police to keep Pete from driving.
This story begins to go downhill from here and Rey and his mother, Doris, believe Pete was then targeted by local money grabbers to remove him from his home against his will. His legal documents were thrown aside and he became a ward of the court.
Pete’s story is wild and involves attorneys, so called “guardians”, judges, realtors, and hired hands from Craig’s list and yes, even law enforcement. A defining moment involved a mediation where a local attorney showed up with a gun to intimidate the proceedings. The attorneys in the mediation documented this encounter with signed affidavits. No one was arrested and we do not understand why.
I am convinced Pete’s story will be headline news and a made-for-TV movie one day. But that’s not why we are writing this article.
We are writing to let you know Eye did their investigation and asked local financial planners and attorneys if they have seen this behavior before with judges throwing out the wishes of their clients and their well paid for and well-written legal documents. The answer was a startling “YES!”
They stated it doesn’t matter what documents you write to protect your assets, a corrupt judge with a team of guardians, attorneys, and even law enforcement can deny your wishes and do what they want with your money. You or your family will then need to hire attorneys to fight them and more than likely, the one who wrote your documents cannot and will not represent you in court. It becomes a legal and costly nightmare.
So all that energy, money and time you put into documenting what you want done with YOUR assets – becomes null and void at the whim of a judge.
Rey encouraged me to watch the Amazon movie, I Care A Lot and said it might be a movie but it is close to reality. We watched and we believe it would be helpful for you to watch it too.
Pete’s story is not over but Pete’s life is. Pete died alone in the custody of a court appointed guardian who refused family visitations for Doris and Rey. They were not even allowed to attend his funeral. Pete now lies in an unmarked grave because the courts haven’t felt it was important to spend “HIS” money on a headstone but lawyers are still eating up his wealth with huge attorney bills every month.
Now the lawyers are foaming at the mouth to sell his ranch against his wishes and they will win a major portion of the money from selling it. It is valued at $120 million dollars!
We have heard rumors from other local ranchers that a deal may be brewing with Florida Power & Light to turn it into a solar farm instead of leaving it as the cattle ranch Pete loved.
Pete isn’t the only one this has happened to. There are many stories across the state of Florida about stealing peoples assets and homes within the guardianship program.
UNGUARDED: Buying Guardianship homes turns into family affair
Owner of closed Polk County elder law firm arrested, charged with grand theft
To learn more about Pete’s story, check out this Tampa News Station’s report. You’ll see Pete is a simple guy and self made millionaire who made sure his wishes would be protected by doing all the right things and preparing legal documents before he could no longer take care of himself.
Eye will have more about this story and more about the responses of our governmental officials from our inquiries. One thing we have realized in researching Pete’s case and others is this is the core issue to the problem:
Lawyers and Judges protect each other and they govern themselves with no accountability. And… the government and state legislature is filled with lawyers!
Next up we will be reporting about the Department of Elder Affairs, the Attorney General’s office, bad actors and vultures in the Guardianship Program, unethical realtors, unscrupulous bankers, the lack of concern by the Florida Bar, and legislative stalemates on this crisis.
It’s a sordid messy issue that must be fixed on behalf of the hard working residents of Florida. If it isn’t addressed AND fixed, you and your hard earned dollars could be at the mercy of the courts.
If you have been affected by the Guardianship Program in Florida, please call and leave a detailed message and return information at 1-800-652-2115. Include your name, phone number and email address. We will contact you as soon as possible.
God bless you and God bless America.
