Sharon Bock is an American attorney and former business executive who served as Palm Beach County, Florida’s elected Clerk & Comptroller from 2005-2021. During her tenure as an elected official, Sharon Bock developed a guardianship fraud program and hotline in 2009 to allow anonymous tips on waste and financial fraud in court-appointed guardianships over the elderly, minor children, and other wards.
She has since audited and investigated more than 900 cases involving allegations of missing money or property, suspicious loans, financial transfers, unauthorized access to bank accounts, conflicts of interest, and other violations of federal, state, or local laws.
Bock’s Guardianship Fraud Program and Fraud Hotline have been recognized as national and international models for independent investigations of fraud, waste, and abuse by court-appointed guardians. In 2015 and 2016, Bock initiated and helped draft changes to Florida’s guardianship statutes, formalizing the Clerk’s investigative role throughout the state. In 2016, Bock created the Alliance of Inspector Generals, a highly trained statewide group of clerk investigators.
She went on to negotiate a partnership with the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and the Office of Public and Professional Guardians to investigate allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse throughout the state. Working closely with law enforcement and prosecutors, Bock had the first criminal charges leveled against a guardian, changing the dynamics of guardian fraud as a civil offense to its treatment as theft, a criminal offense.
This achievement was a milestone in national recognition of the rights of the elderly. At the 4th World Congress on Adult Guardianship held in Berlin, Germany, in 2016, Bock’s program was chosen for the International Special Projects Award. She was then featured as a speaker at the 5th World Congress on Adult Guardianship, Seoul, South Korea, in 2018, allowing the steps of her program to be initiated worldwide.
Nationally, Bock received the Joanne Otto Distinguished Service Award from the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA) in recognition of the Clerk’s Guardianship Fraud and Hotline Program. In 2017 the National Guardianship Association praised her program as a blueprint for the nation and chose her for their top award, Member of the Year.
Statewide, Bock was included in the Daily Business Review’s Top 20 Women in Law and the Quality Senior Living Award by Florida Council on Aging in 2016. The Rosalinda Gilbert Innovations in Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiving Legacy Award for Policy and Advocacy in Guardianship Innovation was given to Bock in 2015 in recognition of her groundbreaking work.
Bock received her undergraduate degree from Slippery Rock University, graduating in 1974 with a dual major in Special Education/Early Childhood Education. She taught the first program in Ashtabula, Ohio, for physically challenged children K-8. Bock engaged in social issues focused on improving individuals’ lives. She attended law school and completed her Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law Houston in 1986.
During law school, she was selected by the American Bar Association as the national Law Student Liaison for the Law Practice Management Section. Bock was assistant managing editor of the South Texas Law Review and has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1987