I recently received the correspondence below.
Dear Mr. Gatesman,
I just wanted to reach out to you to thank you for a case you worked on and won for my fiance, Althea’s mother, Beatrice, in about 2005
Beatrice was the widowed, unmarried partner of a man who died intestate in DC in 2004. I can’t remember the exact ownership of the real estate they held together , but it was not the typical joint, with survivorship held by most married couples.
Anyway, my fiancé and I are Long Term Care executives, and had previously encountered another elder law lawyer (on the opposite side of the bench) and found him to be a worthy opponent. So, when this situation arose I told my fiance to call the other lawyer, who was either unavailable or didn’t do real estate cases in DC. Anyway, what a stroke of luck for us that the other lawyer referred us to you to be our counsel!
I remember Althea telling me that you listened to the case details and remembered a similar case decided in 1924 in favor of the unmarried survivor widow, I think it may have been Campbell v District of Columbia.
So, it turned out Beatrice was the rightful owner of the real estate due to how the ownership was structured. She lived until her death in 2014 in the house. Her ability to live out her years in her home was due to your capable and competent representation. I remember Althea and I spoke to several 5 star DC Martindale lawyers at the time in 2005, and none of them gave us any encouragement about her retaining her home in the estate battle.
So , Mr. Gatesman, after all these years I wanted to reach out to you to thank you for your capable representation of Beatrice, who would likely have lost her home and been quite destitute but for your advocacy and representation.
Thank you for helping us get through that difficult period and helping Beatrice retain ownership of her home.