JAMAICA ESTATES, NY — August 15, 2025 — Amid growing reports of abuse and neglect in New York’s guardianship system, legal expert and elder law attorney Tanya Hobson-Williams is urging state lawmakers to go beyond recent recommendations from a gubernatorial task force and enact sweeping legislative reforms.
“The system is broken — and without new laws to strengthen oversight and accountability, the most vulnerable New Yorkers will continue to fall through the cracks,” said Hobson-Williams, who has represented dozens of individuals in guardianship cases across the state.
A task force appointed by Governor Kathy Hochul recently called for a $15 million investment and the transfer of guardianship oversight to state courts — a major shift from the current decentralized system with almost no regulation of the private and nonprofit entities entrusted with care of some 30,000 residents.
But Hobson-Williams warns that funding and administrative changes alone won’t fix a system plagued by exploitation. “There needs to be legislative changes to Article 81 of the Mental Hygiene Law,” she said. “There should be changes in who can commence a guardianship proceeding because now just about anyone can, which includes banks and nursing homes, which, on occasion, use the proceeding to collect nursing home debts.”
The need for reform is urgent. A recent ProPublica investigation uncovered widespread neglect and alleged financial abuse by guardianship companies, triggering a probe by New York Attorney General Letitia James and raising alarms across the judicial system.
While the task force’s recommendations have been submitted, Governor Hochul has not yet announced any action.
“The state can’t wait,” Hobson-Williams said. “These are people’s lives, and the failure to act is costing them their dignity — and in some cases, their safety.”
