The Florida Senate

744.3135  Credit and criminal investigation.--The court may require a nonprofessional guardian and shall require a professional or public guardian, and all employees of a professional guardian who have a fiduciary responsibility to a ward, to submit, at their own expense, to an investigation of the guardian's credit history and to undergo level 2 background screening as required under s. 435.04 The clerk of the court shall obtain fingerprint cards from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and make them available to guardians. Any guardian who is so required shall have his or her fingerprints taken and forward the proper fingerprint card along with the necessary fee to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for processing. The professional guardian shall pay to the clerk of the court a fee of up to $7.50 for handling and processing professional guardian files. The results of the fingerprint checks shall be forwarded to the clerk of the court who shall maintain the results in a guardian file and shall make the results available to the court. If credit or criminal investigations are required, the court must consider the results of the investigations before appointing a guardian. Professional guardians and all employees of a professional guardian who have a fiduciary responsibility to a ward, so appointed, must resubmit, at their own expense, to an investigation of credit history, and undergo level 1 background screening as required under s. 435.03, at least every 2 years after the date of their appointment. At any time, the court may require guardians or their employees to submit to an investigation of credit history and undergo level 1 background screening as required under s. 435.03 The court must consider the results of these investigations in reappointing a guardian.

(1)  Upon receiving the results of a credit or criminal investigation of any public or professional guardian, the clerk of the court shall forward copies of the results to the Statewide Public Guardianship Office in order that the results may be maintained in the guardian's registration file.

(2)  This section does not apply to a professional guardian, or to the employees of a professional guardian, which is a trust company, a state banking corporation or state savings association authorized and qualified to exercise fiduciary powers in this state, or a national banking association or federal savings and loan association authorized and qualified to exercise fiduciary powers in this state.

History.--s. 30, ch. 89-96; s. 1076, ch. 97-102; s. 2, ch. 97-161; s. 10, ch. 99-277; s. 5, ch. 2002-195; s. 10, ch. 2003-57; s. 114, ch. 2003-402; s. 12, ch. 2004-260; s. 22, ch. 2004-267.