JACK GALE, ESQUIRE, GUARDIAN OF THE PROPERTY OF FELICIA WILLIAMS, A CHILD, APPELLANT,
v.
HARBOR FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN, APPELLEE
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A successor guardian sued Harbor Federal Savings and Loan for allowing the original guardian (the child's mother) to withdraw settlement funds from a custodial account without court supervision, allegedly enabling the mother to misappropriate the funds. The court affirmed summary judgment for Harbor Federal, holding that banks are not responsible for guardians' breaches of fiduciary duty and that Florida law does not require court approval for guardian withdrawals.
Harbor Federal is not liable for the mother's misappropriation of guardianship assets. The incorrect designation of the account as custodial rather than guardianship has no bearing on the outcome because Florida law does not require guardians to obtain court approval before making withdrawals, and banks cannot be held accountable for guardians' breaches of fiduciary duty.
[1] A financial institution is not liable for a guardian's misappropriation of guardianship assets when the court has not ordered the institution to supervise disbursements.
[2] A guardian generally has the authority to make withdrawals from a guardianship account without court approval, as permitted by statute.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Harbor Federal cannot, under the facts of this case, be held accountable for the mother's misappropriation of guardianship assets.”
Establishes the court's holding that the bank is not liable for the guardian's misappropriation
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe mother was appointed guardian of her minor child's person and property. She received a personal injury settlement check for the child and deposite…
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LETTS, Judge.
The appellant-successor guardian timely appeals the final summary judgment in favor of appellee Harbor Federal. Harbor Federal allowed the original guardian to withdraw funds without a court order. We affirm.
In this case, the mother was appointed by the trial court to be the original guardian of her minor child’s person and property. The mother later received a check from a personal injury settlement as guardian for her child.1 Instead of placing the proceeds in a guardianship account, Harbor Federal improperly designated the account in the following manner:
Olive Williams, as custodian for Felicia Williams under the Florida Uniform Gifts to Minors Act.
Upon an inventory of the guardianship, the trial court determined that the mother had wrongfully dissipated the funds in that account for her own use. The trial court removed her as the guardian and appointed a successor guardian.
Subsequently, the successor guardian filed a complaint against Harbor Federal for negligently opening the account as a custodial, rather than a guardianship, account. The savings and loan moved for a summary judgment alleging that it was not responsible for the mother’s breach of fiduciary duty. The trial court granted the motion.
The issue now before this court is whether Harbor Federal is liable for the mother’s misappropriation of funds. Maybe it was error to. place the money in a custodial, rather than a guardianship, account. However, the incorrect designation of the account has no bearing on the result sub judice. Since the trial court did not order Harbor Federal to supervise disbursements pursuant to section 69.031, Florida Statutes (1989), the money could have been withdrawn even if it had been more appropriately placed in a guardianship account. Section 744.444, Florida Statutes (1989) contains no language which would restrict a guardian from making withdrawals without court approval. On the contrary, many of the fifteen subsections of section 744.444 permit a guardian to "pay” all kinds of expenses without court intervention. As we see it, it would be prohibitively expensive, and contrary to the spirit of the statute, to require a bank or savings and loan association to force the guardian to go to court every time he or she wishes to make a withdrawal. Harbor Federal cannot, under the facts of this case, be held accountable for the mother’s misappropriation of guardianship assets.
Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s order. AFFIRMED.
DOWNEY and WALDEN, JJ„ concur. . The settlement check was styled, "Olive Williams, as Guardian of Felicia Williams, a minor."
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Lanz v. Resolution Tr. Corp., 764 F. Supp. 176 (S.D. Fla. 1991)…. Centrust Sav. Bank v. Barnett Banks Trust Co., N.A., 483 So.2d 867 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986). Where, as here, there can be no fiduciary relationship, there can be no breach of trust. 7 The case of Gale v. Harbor Federal Sav. and Loan, 571 So.2d 114 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990) is particularly enlightening on the facts of the instant case. In Gale, a mother was appointed guardian of her minor child’s person and property. The personal injury settlement was made payable to “Olive Williams, as Guardi…