Latest Post: Testamentary Formalities: Alive & Well in Maryland

By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC The latest word from the appellate courts defining familial relationships is the Court of Special Appeals which revisited the issue of de facto parent status in In Re:   J.M., Jr., 2017 WL 3141086 (7/25/17, unreported).   Last year, the Court of Appeals recognized de facto parenthood […]

By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC The Court of Special Appeals has delivered a useful reminder that the procedural rules governing appeals from the Orphans’ Court are unique and dissimilar to those governing Circuit Court actions. This is particularly true when determining whether an order is final for the purposes of an appeal […]

By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC In probably the last decision before the “new” Maryland Trust Act fully kicked in, the Court of Appeals addressed how courts traditionally determined settlor’s intent under the Maryland common law. Vito v. Grueff, No. 75, September Term, 2016 (filed May 22, 2017). Although the Vito court seemed […]

By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC As anticipated, a relatively new federal estate tax benefit has generated litigation among family members in the state courts. The “portability” election that permits a surviving spouse to carry forward the deceased spouse’s unused federal estate tax exclusion amount is a powerful tool for married couples with […]

By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC A recent Court of Special Appeals case, Shump v. Wannall, 2016 W.L. 588, 572-9 (10/4/16)(unreported), addressed whether a pour-over will is effective if the inter vivos trust comes into existence several weeks after the will is executed. The answer is no. Maryland Estates & Trusts Art. § […]

ANTI-LAPSE MEANS ANTI-LAPSE By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC A recent Court of Special Appeals case held that the anti-lapse statute means what it says.   The case was not reported, perhaps because it broke no new ground.

POST-MORTEM DIVORCE IN MARYLAND By Fred Franke Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC Recently the Court of Special Appeals held that the personal representative could not bring suit to annul the decedent’s marriage based on fraud.   Morris v. Goodwin, ___ Md.App. ___, 2016 W.L. 6248538 (10/26/16). In Morris, the allegation was that a U.S. Army […]

By Fred Franke, Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC The Court of Appeals decided a child custody case arising out of a divorce action that will have reverberations in the law of estates and trusts. In Conover v. Conover, 2016 W.L. 3633062 (July 7, 2016), the Court of Appeals held that Maryland recognizes de facto parenthood. […]

A core element of Maryland asset protection planning for married couples is holding the property as tenants by the entirety. A judgment against either the husband or the wife does not attach to the judgment debtor’s interest in entirety property. Hertz v. Mills, 166 Md. 492 (1934). A principal aspect of tenants by the entirety […]

Once again this year, the General Assembly seeks to enact a bill to permit fiduciaries access to digital assets. The earlier effort was based on the original Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act drafted in July 2014 (“UFADAA”). This initial effort sought to place the fiduciary in the shoes of the accountholder for all […]

Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC Seldom do criminal cases help us understand the laws governing estates and trusts. Yet Wagner v. State, 445 Md. 404 (12/17/15) is one of those rare cases. In Wagner, a father added his daughter as a “joint owner” of a multi-party account. The daughter also enjoyed a right of survivorship […]

Franke, Sessions & Beckett LLC OPENING THE DOOR TO EVIDENCE The Dead Man’s Statute is a carryover from the ancient prohibition against persons with an interest in a transaction from being witnesses in litigation over that transaction. In the case with the Dead Man’s Statute, one party to the transaction is silenced by death so […]