A New York court imposes an extensive surcharge on a guardian who breached her fiduciary duties by paying for repairs on property the ward - a retired judge - did not own, employing her family members without keeping records, and paying her legal fees and personal mortgage without court approval. In Matter of Phillips (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Kings Cty., No. 108298-2000, June 30, 2008) (unpublished).
In 2000 former judge John Phillips was placed under guardianship after it became apparent that he was being taken advantage of while suffering from dementia. Emani Taylor became Judge Phillips's guardian in 2003 and she remained in that position until her resignation in 2006. When a successor guardian was appointed, he discovered numerous irregularities and demanded a full accounting.
Ms. Taylor refused to hand over guardianship records, claiming that they had all been lost in a flood, and was found in contempt of court. She also participated in an action to attempt to negate the entire guardianship and gain control of Judge Phillips's properties, even though she had previously opposed these attempts in court. A subsequent investigation showed that, among other indiscretions, Ms. Taylor paid more than $120,000 from Judge Phillips's funds to renovate a home after it had been sold. She also paid members of her family as caretakers and reimbursed herself for guardianship and legal fees and paid her personal mortgage with guardianship funds without petitioning the court. Ms. Taylor also failed to file Judge Phillips's income tax returns and did not pay capital gains tax on the sale of various properties, resulting in numerous penalties.
The Supreme Court of New York imposes a surcharge of more than $403,000 on Ms. Taylor for her breach of fiduciary duty. The court finds that "it is patently clear that Taylor failed miserably as Phillip's guardian" and that she showed a "fundamental lack of understanding of what her role as guardian entailed." The court is unable to declare a larger surcharge because Ms. Taylor's recordkeeping was so vague that, when combined with her failure to cooperate, the court-appointed examiner could only speculate as to the extent of the loss Judge Phillips incurred.
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