Dear Freinds

Please consider calling or writing an email to the Judge in this case:

Read till the end. The guardian in this case is well known to victims in Florida.

When Julia Googins, a long-time healthy, active widowed resident (and pioneering female pilot) of Lido Beach, reported to the police in 2017 that her bank accounts had been pilfered and sought to revoke her Durable Powers of Attorney and Trust documents, her attorney, Christopher Smith, filed 3 court petitions against Julia in order for her to be determined
incapacitated and put into involuntary guardianship. In his petitions, Christopher Smith stated under oath that Julia’s former neighbors, while they were acting as Julia’s Durable Powers of Attorneys and Trustees, had “added their names to her accounts and have made large deductions from those accounts to their own personal accounts.”

On July 26, 2017, Julia was taken to court and placed under the control of professional guardian Anne Ridings, who subsequently obtained numerous court orders from Judge Charles Williams to have law enforcement remove Julia from her home, sell her cars, and sell Julia’s second home in Sarasota. Immediately, Julia lost all control over her homes, cars, bank accounts, personal possessions, choices of health care, choices of residence, and decision-making. Since August 2017, Julia has been forced to
live in a nursing home in Bradenton, far away from her own homes, friends, and beloved Lido Beach lifestyle.

In other motions to Judge Charles Williams, Anne Ridings sought to have the same neighbors reinstated as Julia’s DPOAs and Trustees, despite the fact that Julia’s friends and advocates vociferously opposed any such reinstatement. Elder Advocate Dr. Beverly Newman petitioned the court to appoint her as DPOA and Trustee for Julia and to let Julia return home to Lido.

In court on December 6, 2017, Dr. Newman and two other persons testified that Julia Googins should not be put under the control of the same DPOAs and Trustees that had already been in control of Julia’s finances and had “made large deductions from [Julia’s] accounts to their own personal accounts.” Although Julia’s hearing was public, Julia was not brought by her professional guardian to her own hearing to testify for herself; despite Julia’s good health and excellent communication skills. Instead,
Julia was left at the nursing home by herself, unable to exercise her due process rights to tell the court her wishes and the facts of her case.

While ABC Action News and the public were present in the courtroom during Dr. Newman’s testimony, Judge Charles Williams has refused to permit Dr. Newman to buy the audio recording of her own testimony, and Julia continues to live out her life in a nursing home against her will. You can support Julia in her right to return home and to choose the persons who will protect her from further disruptions of her life and exploitation of her
assets.

Judge Charles Williams

Lynn N. Silvertooth Judicial Center, Courtroom 8B

cwilliams@jud12.flcourts.org

2002 Ringling Boulevard

Sarasota, Florida 34237

Phone: (941) 861-7942; Fax: (941) 861-7913

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