Romano v. Olshen
Romano v. Olshen , 153 So.2d 912 (2014), 2014 WL 940700 The Appellate Court described this case as one "at the intersection where guardianship law meets the law concerning forms of ownership of joint bank or brokerage accounts." It involved the ability of a guardian of the property and the attorney for guardian to recover fees from an account owned by the ward and his wife as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. The ward and his wife were at odds when he was declared incompetent, and their divorce proceedings were put on hold during the guardianship. Eventually, the ward died while still married to his wife. The main asset of the guardianship estate was an account titled in the names of the husband and the wife, as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. Even though the guardianship court authorized the fees of the guardian and his attorney, other than the account held with the wife, the guardianship estate did not have enough liquid assets to p...