By: Teresa N. Phillips, Esq., ForsterBoughman
In our initial posts on this blog, we told you about the curious case of Douglas Arthur Keegan, the ward of an Orange County Guardianship that was initiated in 2015. Mr. Keegan’s case was unusual because he had been living alone in a hotel for years, regularly used a laptop and sought out help from professionals around the State of Florida in order to draft his own pleadings. However, all that time he was under an incapacity order and had a professional guardian. Just days ago, Mr. Keegan’s legal capacity was restored pursuant to an order entered by Judge Leticia Marques.1
Mr. Keegan’s story is sympathetic. He claims he was never incapacitated and the initial examinations conducted by the examining committee over six years ago were incorrect in diagnosing him with a frontal lobe disorder. According to the recent testimony of a psychiatrist who performed a new examination last year, the initial diagnosis was wrong because that kind of condition would not improve and Mr. Keegan currently was making high functioning decisions and living rather independently by all counts. Mr. Keegan lived in a hotel room alone. He met most of his daily needs through use of a debit card that had limitations on amounts and kind of purchases he could make. Mr. Keegan’s family who initiated the guardianship, have maintained Mr. Keegan has a problem with alcohol and was being exploited by a third party, whom he had married.2
Mr. Keegan has now been returned to a legal status of capacitated and will soon have all his remaining assets as the professional guardian has been ordered to turn them over to him. The current status of his relationships with any family or friends is unknown but one would imagine they cannot be the same as they were before the guardianship started. His home was sold years ago and what monies he has remaining has not been revealed to the public but he has claimed in recent filings that his assets have been depleted.
Prior to the guardianship initiation in 2015, Mr. Keegan had assets, including a home. Mr. Keegan had relationships with his family, friends, and a new love interest. He spoke of a trip he took to Kenya so my guess is he enjoyed traveling and adventures. I have never met nor spoken to Mr. Keegan. But I have read his stories, pleadings and spoken with individuals involved in the case. I wonder if Mr. Keegan ever imagines what he could have done differently so that he had never had incapacity proceedings brought against him or had a professional guardian appointed in the first place.
Believe it or not, there were some warning signs in his story, that Mr. Keegan could be subject to the initiation of guardianship and those warning signs had nothing to do with his physical or mental status. An alleged ward having significant assets, especially of the liquid kind and experiencing family strife are common elements in cases where an incapacity petition is filed and a professional guardian is appointed. Because of the significant uptick in guardianship filings, I increasingly see clients who seek out guardianship avoidance planning. Some people, in an effort to avoid one day being an attractive candidate for a guardianship proceeding, take affirmative steps to try to avoid the process ever being initiated against them by a third party.
Does Mr. Keegan now wish he had taken such precautionary steps before 2015? I imagine he does.
Afterall, in Mr. Keegan’s case his capacity has been restored but the life he once had cannot.
1 https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/the-price-of-protection/florida-judge-ends-7-year-guardianship-of-man-living-independently-in-hotel
2 Mr. Keegan’s professional guardian initiated dissolution proceedings and his divorce was finalized while he was under the incapacity order.