Maryland Family Law

Suing your lawyer

 

Bloomberg.com reported on a new lawsuit filed by Susan Stanford (the estranged wife of R. Allen Stanford) against her erstwhile attorney.  In her suit, she claims that her attorney did not tell her of a verbal settlement offer regarding her divorce.  She is seeking $200 million in damages.  (Yes, you read that correctly.)  If the allegations are true, then I would agree, her lawyer should have informed her about the offer.  Still I can't help but see a few other issues with the viability of the lawsuit.  For one thing, it is common for litigants to have "buyer's remorse."  After the fact, it is natural to start to wonder if you settled for too little, or that you should have taken the offer last proposed.  And finally, does the attorney even HAVE $200 million in assets?  Also relevant is the fact that most complaints about lawyers are unfounded...this is the backdrop by which a judge might look at any complaint.  One always has to keep in mind, sometimes winning your case is only half of the battle, now you have to actually collect that money...but that is a post for another day!

Back to school

Did you know that even non-custodial parents have the right to access medical and educational records for their children?  See Maryland Code, Family law 9-104.