Client Meetings and Social Distancing

In a time of crisis, people may wonder how they can address urgent legal needs with the least risk to themselves when governments are calling for avoiding large gatherings of people and other forms of “social distancing.”

For years, William M. Gatesman has given people the opportunity to engage in free initial consultations by means of telephone conferences and email exchanges. People have welcomed these methods, some because they are busy and appreciate the convenience of such meetings, others because they have found that some lawyers insist on high-cost meetings just to get the ball rolling, and still others for any number of other reasons.

In addition, William Gatesman has worked with clients by sending draft documents by mail or email, or both, and has addressed client questions and concerns by telephone and email. Video conference also may be used to facilitate the representation.

Often, Mr. Gatesman will wrap up the engagement with a single meeting with the client, once the preliminary matters have been addressed in the manner discussed in the paragraphs above, and sometimes, if necessary, there will be multiple additional meetings, but only if those are needed to meet the client’s needs. Some engagements, however, may be completed entirely through remote communications.

While some law firms now are struggling to try to figure out how to meet a client’s needs with less face to face interaction, the Gatesman law office has years of experience in meeting clients’ needs through various forms of communications, including face to face meetings, telephone and email consultations, and other means.

William M. Gatesman stands ready to assist you and your loved ones with your legal needs even where social distancing is the order of the day.

Please feel free to contact Mr. Gatesman by telephone at 301-260-0095, or by email at contact@gatesmanlaw.com

The Fox is Guarding the Hen House in a Maryland Guardianship

In Maryland, if one asks a Court to appoint a guardian for a person who is alleged to be disabled (the “alleged disabled person”) where such alleged disabled person is believed to be unable to manage his or her own affairs, the Court will appoint a lawyer to represent the alleged disabled person (the “court appointed counsel”). Sometimes, if there is a need to take immediate action to protect the alleged disabled person, the Court might, on the strength of a petition alone, appoint a temporary guardian for the alleged disabled person, which temporary guardian often is a lawyer chosen by the court.

In theory, the court appointed counsel and the temporary guardian are fiduciaries whose job it is to protect the interests of the alleged disabled person. Sometimes, however, it appears that such court appointed fiduciaries do not fulfill that responsibility.

Consider the following circumstance.

A health care facility is caring for Husband. Wife is unhappy with the facility’s treatment and wants husband to come home, and for the moment is withholding payment. Wife holds a financial power of attorney and a medical power of attorney for her husband, meaning that she has authority to manage his personal, medical, and financial affairs.

Continue reading “The Fox is Guarding the Hen House in a Maryland Guardianship”

When a Mere Guardianship is Not Enough

Father, who had been enjoying late middle age, had a brain aneurysm and now is in a permanent coma. Unfortunately, he did not have a power of attorney or advance directive, so his adult son could not access his bank account, in which he had $20,000. He has no other assets. Father’s hospital and nursing home bills now exceed $300,000.

Son applied for Medicaid for his father but was denied benefits because Medicaid will not be allowed if Father has more than $2,500. Unfortunately, without a power of attorney, no one has the authority to spend the funds in Father’s bank account so that he can get Medicaid benefits.

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Maryland Legislature Changes the Rule Regarding Paying Guardianship Fees After Ward Dies

In January, 2008, I wrote an article on the Maryland Court of Special Appeals Case, Battley v. Banks (Md. App. December 20, 2007). In that case, the Court ruled that, upon the death of the disabled person (a disabled person under a guardianship is called the “ward”), the ward’s assets become the property of the personal representative of the ward’s probate estate, or if none is appointed immediately, then the guardian must hold the property to be transferred to such personal representative when appointed. Moreover, the Court ruled that the guardian may not pay himself compensation for services or pay any legal fees even after the guardianship court approves such compensation and fees. Instead, the guardian and the lawyer, once the guardianship court approves such fees, must file a claim in the ward’s probate estate to be paid by the Personal Representative of such estate.

That rule, however has been changed by the Maryland legislature, such change to be effective October 1, 2010. The new legislation changes the Annotated Code of Maryland, Estates and Trusts Section 13–214(c)(3).

After October 1, 2010, the relevant statutory provision will read as follows:

When a minor or disabled person dies, the guardian shall deliver to the appropriate probate court for safekeeping any will of the deceased person in his possession, pay from the [guardianship] estate all commissions, fees, and expenses shown on the court-approved final guardianship account, inform the personal representative or a beneficiary named in [the will] that he has done so, and retain the balance of the estate for delivery to an appointed personal representative of the decedent or other person entitled to it.

In the meantime, the strictures of Battley v. Banks shall apply.