In 2024, Disability Rights Nebraska issued a comprehensive investigation of Nebraska’s guardianship system. The report found serious concerns about the lack of oversight into how for-profit guardians handled the money and wellbeing of vulnerable Nebraskans with disabilities. Our findings in 2024 included:
- Guardians with a debit card that allows them to charge up to $500 in the client’s money with no accounting.
- Guardians being paid thousands of dollars each year for their services without itemized explanation to the court of their time spent for each client.
- Elderly and aged Nebraskans being moved by the guardian to cheaper nursing homes far away from their friends and communities while the guardians’ annual reports reveal they never visit to check on the individual.
- Nebraskans with serious mental illness or developmental disabilities assigned to a single guardian with a caseload over three times the limit of 20 clients placed on the state Office of Public Guardian.
In November, 2025, a woman with over 30 guardianship clients spread across 16 counties was arrested and charged with stealing over $20,000 from a vulnerable adult in York County. Disability Rights Nebraska has examined the publicly available court documents to see how this woman was conducting her guardianship business and found a repeat of the same concerns outlined in our previous report, including:
- Courts had appointed this woman to serve as guardian for clients stretching from Omaha to Scottsbluff without any real chance she could be checking on each client regularly to ensure they were being cared for appropriately.
- Red flags had been present for several years, as she failed to file the single annual report explaining her services and handling of client finances. Despite repeatedly missing the annual report deadlines, courts permitted her to keep serving.
- Credit history checks are required before appointing a guardian, though it is unclear who reviews those and what is disqualifying. This woman had been sued for debt collection several times, including a large claim for over $10,000 that was brought immediately before the alleged date of her first theft from the York County client.
- Clients tried to tell the judges in their case that they weren’t receiving any services from the woman. In one tragic case, an 82 year old Lincoln man was evicted from his apartment when the woman failed to pay his rent. Court files reveal that his current whereabouts are unknown.
“We issued a clear warning last year,” said Legal Services Dianne DeLair. “Over 10,000 Nebraskans are currently under full guardianship where they lose all power to make their own decisions. Our current system does not have enough oversight to ensure the guardians are providing quality support and handling their client funds honestly and transparently. Until Nebraska adopts the modern commonsense reforms that are working in other states, Nebraskans with disabilities will continue to be vulnerable to negligent and predatory guardians.”
Disability Rights Nebraska CEO Tania Diaz said, “County courts are simply stretched too thin with their many obligations to be the sole oversight for each questionable expenditure by guardians. In most cases, the money at risk is taxpayer funds such as Social Security Disability, so the public deserves hard scrutiny of the guardians handling the money. Every Nebraskan with a disability who is under guardianship deserves to have their wellbeing, finances and dignity protected.”
Disability Rights Nebraska Monitoring Attorney Amy Miller said, “We have issued this latest report to give concrete examples of the gaps in oversight in our current guardianship system. But we have also provided a roadmap with clear solutions adopted by other states. We can’t afford to wait for yet another scandal or tragedy: we need guardianship reform now.”
You can read the latest report as well as our original 2024 report on our website: Guarding from the Guardians 2025
Disability Rights Nebraska is the Protection and Advocacy system for people with disabilities in Nebraska. We protect, support and promote the rights of people with disabilities. This includes people with just about any disability including intellectual or developmental disabilities, mental illness and physical disabilities. Learn more here.
