Professional Guardian ($50,000) Bond - Statewide in Florida

Brief Summary

Your Florida registration expires on your bond anniversary date, not on a calendar date the state picks, and the renewal has to be in at least 30 days before that. So the bond drives your whole compliance clock. Get it written cleanly, keep the anniversary in front of you, and the renewal is a formality. Miss it and the court cannot appoint you, because an unregistered professional guardian cannot be appointed at all.

Florida requires a blanket fiduciary bond of not less than $50,000 from every professional guardian, under section 744.2003(2), Florida Statutes. It is posted with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the guardian keeps a primary place of business, made payable to the Governor of the State of Florida and successors in office, and it must cover all wards the guardian serves at any given time. A copy goes to the Office of Public and Professional Guardians with the registration application and the $35 fee. Attorneys licensed and in good standing in Florida, financial institutions as defined in section 744.309(4), and public guardians are exempt from the bond.

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How to Apply for a Professional Guardian ($50,000) Bond:

• Confirm you meet the professional guardian definition in s. 744.102(17), which is three or more wards served at any time.
• Confirm you are not within an exemption in s. 744.2003(2), meaning a Florida licensed attorney in good standing, a financial institution under s. 744.309(4), or a public guardian.
• Guardian name exactly as it will appear on the OPPG registration form and on court filings.
• Home address and Social Security number for the credit review by the surety.
• Complete the bond application and review the quoted annual premium.
• Pay the premium and receive the executed $50,000 blanket fiduciary bond, payable to the Governor of the State of Florida and his or her successors in office.
• File the bond with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where your primary place of business is located.
• Send a copy of the bond with the OPPG Professional Guardian Registration Form and the $35.00 registration fee to the Office of Public and Professional Guardians, Department of Elder Affairs, 4040 Esplanade Way, Tallahassee FL 32399-7000.
• Calendar your bond anniversary date. Registration ends on it, and renewal is due at least 30 days before.

Detailed Information About the Florida Professional Guardian ($50,000) Bond:

First question: are you a professional guardian at all

Florida does not define this by job title or by whether you charge fees. Section 744.102(17) defines a professional guardian as any guardian who has at any time rendered services to three or more wards as their guardian. Three wards is the line. Someone serving two or more relatives, as relative is defined in section 744.309(2), is not a professional guardian for this purpose. Public guardians are treated as professional guardians for regulation, education and registration.

The practical effect catches people. A family member or friend serving one ward is not in this system. Take on a third unrelated ward and you are, retroactively, in it.

$50,000 is the floor, not a fixed number

Section 744.2003(2) sets the bond at an amount not less than $50,000. Most registrations are written at exactly $50,000 because that is the statutory minimum and what the Office of Public and Professional Guardians asks for. There is no tier schedule by ward count or by assets under management. But the statute says not less than, so a larger figure is possible and nothing in the statute caps it.

The blanket bond does not replace the guardianship bond

This is the single most expensive misunderstanding on this subject. Two separate instruments exist.

The blanket fiduciary bond under 744.2003(2) is the registration bond. One bond, covering all wards, filed once with the clerk in the county of the guardian's primary place of business.

The guardianship bond under section 744.351 is a different animal. Every guardian of the property of a ward must file a bond with surety, approved by the clerk, before exercising authority. The court sets the penal sum, and it must be at least the value of the ward's cash on hand, deposits, bearer instruments and readily tradeable intangible personal property with a determinable market value. That bond is per guardianship and moves with the size of the estate. The court can waive it for compelling reasons, or order the property deposited in a designated financial institution instead. Financial institutions and public guardians authorized by law to serve as guardians do not file it.

Having the $50,000 blanket bond in place says nothing about whether the judge will require a bond on the individual case, and it will usually not be $50,000.

Who is exempt from the blanket bond

Section 744.2003(2) states that the subsection does not apply to an attorney licensed to practice law in Florida and in good standing, to a financial institution as defined in section 744.309(4), or to a public guardian. Those three categories only. Being licensed in another state, holding a national guardianship certification, or having served for decades does not get you out of it. The subsection also applies to professional guardians who filed a petition for appointment after October 1, 1997, which at this point is effectively everyone practicing.

Education and screening do not waive the bond

Registration under section 744.2003 also requires a minimum 40 hours of instruction and training, a competency examination approved by the Department of Elderly Affairs with an examination fee that may not exceed $500, level 2 background screening, and a credit history investigation. Continuing education runs a minimum of 30 hours every 2 calendar years after the year the initial 40 hours is completed. Completing all of it does not reduce or remove the bond. The court may not appoint any professional guardian who is not registered by the Office of Public and Professional Guardians.

The renewal clock runs off your bond

Florida Administrative Code Rule 58M-2.001 sets the registration period to begin the day OPPG approves the registration and to end on the applicant's bond anniversary date. Renewal applications are due at least 30 days before the current registration expires. The registration fee is $35.00 for each professional guardian or professional guardian employee with fiduciary responsibility. A first time registrant attaches a copy of the bond. On renewal, proof that the bond has been renewed goes in with the application.

The credit report submitted with the application must be complete, all pages, from a nationally recognized agency. Rule 58M-2.001 lists items treated as adverse, including personal bankruptcy within 5 years, outstanding tax or governmental liens, judgments within 15 years involving fraud, embezzlement, misrepresentation or deceit, unpaid collection or charged off accounts, and foreclosure within 5 years. Those matter for both registration and for how the surety prices the bond.

Eligibility and Requirements for a Florida Professional Guardian ($50,000) Bond:

• A surety company authorized to write surety business in Florida.
• Bond amount of not less than $50,000. Fifty thousand is the statutory floor.
• Blanket form covering all wards for whom the guardian has been appointed at any given time.
• Payable to the Governor of the State of Florida and his or her successors in office, conditioned on faithful performance of all duties by the guardian.
• Filed with the clerk of the circuit court in the county of the guardian's primary place of business.
• Copy submitted to the Office of Public and Professional Guardians with the registration application and $35.00 fee.
• Credit review of the guardian. Items listed as adverse in Rule 58M-2.001, such as recent bankruptcy, open liens or fraud related judgments, affect both registration and pricing.

Florida Professional Guardian ($50,000) Bond FAQs:

Official and Additional Resources for the Florida Professional Guardian ($50,000) Bond: