Duty to Report Improper Conduct by a Personal Representative
Maryland State Bar Association, Inc., Committee on Ethics
Ethics Docket No. 2001-18 (2001)
- Written by Jenny Perry, JD
Facts
The personal representative of an estate engaged counsel to prepare certain probate documents. The sole beneficiary of the estate was an elderly woman in a nursing home. While working on the estate accountings to be filed with the probate court, the attorney noticed a discrepancy between the balance of the decedent’s bank accounts at the time of death and the amount of cash the personal representative used to open the estate account. The attorney also discovered other evidence suggesting that estate assets had been misused and received information that the beneficiary’s bills were not being paid. The attorney’s attempts to contact the personal representative after these discoveries were unsuccessful. The attorney planned to withdraw as counsel of record and requested an opinion from the Maryland State Bar Association’s Committee on Ethics as to whether the attorney’s suspicions regarding misuse of the estate’s assets could be reported to adult protective services.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning ()
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