“It’s the damndest thing I’ve seen in a while,” Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder said. “ It just seems to me we better hold some hearings.”
Batchelder, R-Medina, an attorney and former common pleas judge, said the legislature should address the problems revealed in the Dispatch investigation.
A yearlong look at guardianships in Ohio found numerous examples of guardians — chiefly family members and lawyers — who were ignoring their wards for months while draining their bank accounts. And it revealed a lack of oversight by the probate courts that appoint guardians, which allowed the behavior to continue.
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor cautioned against a legislative fix, however, pointing out that probate court judges have the power to enact strict rules that she said can ensure people under guardianship are protected from exploitation and abuse.
“Across the state, there are judges who have kind of taken the bull by the horns and instituted local rules that address some of the concerns you may have uncovered,” O’Connor said, adding that they have done so under the rules already in place.
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Guardian problems prompt call for action