Today, I am part of a national human rights coalition, Victims and Families Harmed by Guardianship, whose purpose is to protect older Americans and disabled individuals of all ages from exploitation by state probate guardianships. In New York State, guardianship has become a powerful legal-industrial complex, a well-designed system to benefit court-appointed lawyers who are party loyalists, former judges, and partners in the law firms of New York’s most powerful politicians. They all work in concert to lure families who have sizable estates into guardianship to resolve a matter and then, instead of appointing the family member who petitioned to be the guardian, they give that role to a court-appointed lawyer.