Posted on November 08, 2012 in Same-Sex Marriage

Effective January 1, 2013 same-sex couples will be allowed to marry in the State of Maryland. So how do they go about doing so? Find our step by step guide below:

1. Prior to obtaining a marriage certificate or making plans for a wedding, consider whether you and your partner will enter into a pre-nuptial agreement. If so, consult with an attorney. Maryland divorce and custody laws may apply if you get divorced, so it is important to know if you have pre-marital or other assets you want/need to protect in the event of divorce.

2. If you have children, consult with an attorney about how your marriage may or may not effect the custody of your child(ren) if you divorce.

3. You need to obtain a marriage license from the Circuit Court in the county in which you plan to get married.

4. You will need to bring identifying information with you to obtain the license and while only one of you will need to be present to obtain the license, you will need the following information for each applicant:

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 Posted on November 07, 2012 in Child Custody

Now that the same-sex marriage legislation has been approved by the voters of the State of Maryland, we thought it would be a good idea to re-visit the issues surrounding the children of same-sex couples. If you are a frequent reader of our blogs, you may recall on February 28, 2011 we wrote about the current legal status of those children of same-sex couples. The passage of the same-sex marriage legislation in Maryland does not change the legal status of those children. The passage of the current legislation will, however change the legal status of children adopted or born during the course of the marriage of a same-sex couple.

In the State of Maryland, “a child born or conceived during a marriage is presumed to be the legitimate child of both spouses” in accordance with Section 1-206 of the Estates and Trusts Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland. The Code further states that “a child conceived by artificial insemination of a married woman with the consent of her husband is the legitimate child of both of them for all purposes”. It is my belief that it would follow that that those children born or conceived during a same-sex marriage are the legitimate children of both parents, not only the spouse who gave birth to the child.

In the past when a same sex couple adopted a child in the State of Maryland, only one of them actually adopted the child from the agency, country, service, because two people without a legal tie to one another are generally not permitted to adopt a child together. Therefore, only one parent in a same sex unwed relationship is deemed to be the legally recognized parent of the child. It is presently a grey area in our law for same-sex couples who were legally married in another state, but adopted a child in Maryland, whether the adopted child would be legally recognized by the Court as the child of both parents. As of January 1, 2013 when Maryland’s same-sex marriage legislation becomes effective and same-sex couple can marry in our State, children adopted to same-sex married couples will be the children of both parents. Both parents will be on the birth certificate and will be able to make legal decisions for their children.

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 Posted on November 07, 2012 in Same-Sex Marriage

As the Baltimore Sun reports, and most of Maryland has heard, Maryland voters made history on Election Day as they voted to make same-sex marriage legal in our State. As we discussed in our February 24, 2012 blog the Maryland Senate passed the Civil Marriage Protection Act legalizing same-sex marriage in February 2012, but we knew that the decision would ultimately be up to the voters. After months of campaigning, fundraising and controversy over the law, the voters have spoken. Maryland has joined six other states and Washington D.C. in allowing same-sex marriage and is one of only two States to pass same-sex legislation by the popular vote.

As of January 1, 2013, same-sex couples will be permitted to obtain a marriage license from the Court, just as a heterosexual couple would. As of now the current law defining a legal marriage in Maryland, found at Maryland Code Family Law, § 2-201 states “[o]nly a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in this State.” As of January 1, 2013 the statute will read “[o]nly a marriage between two individuals who are not otherwise prohibited from marrying is valid in this State.”

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 Posted on November 02, 2012 in Divorce

Most of us are covered in case of death, disability, illness, car accident, fire, but what about for divorce? As we are aware divorce can be a lengthy and expensive process and unfortunately the divorce rate in the United States is high. We stumbled across the following website, which promotes “divorce/ marriage insurance.” It was featured in the Huffington Post in April 2012. Basically, the premise is that this insurance will reimburse you your costs of a divorce, including attorney fees, however the insurance will also eventually reward those who stay married. As stated by the Huffington Post, the insurance is not currently available and the website states the following:

WedLock Divorce Insurance was the first insurance product developed by SafeGuard Guaranty. Introduced in 2010 and originally underwritten by a Utah Surplus Lines insurance company, WedLock is not currently available until a new underwriter is found. However, although providing that kind of protection will certainly keep people from falling below the poverty line, we’d like the biggest reward go to those that have the good fortune to stay married and we are currently involved in the development of a product with that in mind.

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 Posted on October 12, 2012 in Hospital Malpractice

Johns Hopkins Hospital researchers recently uncovered a startling figure regarding hospital medical malpractice: 40,500 intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients die each year as a result of misdiagnosis, as opposed to life threatening conditions that cannot be treated.

The study, released September 26, 2012, found that patients in the ICU are fifty percent more likely to be misdiagnosed than patients in other parts of a hospital. Further, according to the study, the most common misdiagnosis involves the vascular system, often resulting in heart attack or stroke.

This is an important study because it shows that there is malpractice at many of Maryland’s hospitals. It also shows that even some of the best hospitals in the state, such as Johns Hopkins Hospital or the University of Maryland Medical Center, are still striving to improve quality of care and reduce the incidence of medical malpractice and wrongful death

We handle cases like these all of the time in my practice.

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 Posted on October 03, 2012 in Civil Tax

In this economy, many small businesses continue to struggle just to stay afloat and, out of desperation, find means of shuffling business funds around to pay immediately due bills and put off paying others. Some business owners have used employment tax withholding to use the government as a bank to ‘borrow the money for a short while’ during financially difficult times with good intentions to pay it back later. Others have been prosecuted for collecting employment taxes from their employees and willfully failing to pay them to the IRS. Former IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson has stated that the “failure to pay employment taxes is stealing from the employees of the business.”

The IRS vigorously audits and investigates businesses for employment tax related issues. During the 2011 Fiscal Year, the IRS recommended 110 criminal employment tax investigations for prosecution. Of those, 85 were criminally charged by indictment or information, and 79 of the 85 were sentenced, resulting in an 81% incarceration rate, with an average 24-month sentence per case. These statistics are consistent with prior years’ investigations.

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 Posted on September 24, 2012 in Uncategorized

Some of the more difficult cases that confront Aggressive Baltimore Criminal Attorneys are charges involving the possession of illegal firearms or possession of firearms by people who are prohibited to possess them due to a prior criminal conviction. Prosecutors in Baltimore City in particular are instructed to prosecute these cases under a zero tolerance policy and to seek incarceration in every cases.

Last week I successfully defended a man charged in a 10 count charging document of various charges alleging illegal possession and use of firearms. The charges included illegal possession of a short barrel shotgun, illegally discharging a firearm within the city limits, handgun on person, reckless endangerment and other related offenses. This case is a good example of how aggressively the State’s Attorney’s Office is prosecuting firearms cases, even in a situation like this one where the evidence was quite weak and the defendant had no prior criminal record. Here are the facts:

In March of this year, police responded to an area in Baltimore City for a call of “shots fired”. Several people had called 911 and stated that 4 men in a car had fired 10 or 12 shots and then left the area. One of the callers provided the license plate number of that vehicle. Upon arrival the police were unable to locate the vehicle but did recover about a dozen spent 40 caliber shell casings on the ground. Using this information the police conducted records checks and determined that the registered owner of that vehicle, my client, in fact legally owned several weapons. These weapons were properly registered and included several 40 caliber handguns.

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 Posted on September 17, 2012 in Assault

I have blogged my times about the need to hire and Experienced and Aggressive Criminal Attorney if charged with a criminal offense in Maryland. I usually begin these blogs by positing the question, “Did you hire the right lawyer”. The reason for this is that so many people do not inquire into the experience and qualifications of an attorney before hiring him or her. Sometimes the lack of qualifications is a basic as the lawyer is simply not a criminal attorney but instead is a divorce lawyer or a personal injury lawyer. Sometimes it is lack of experience in a particular type of case or in the jurisdiction in which the defendant is charged.

Hiring the wrong lawyer is obviously a mistake regardless of the type of case at issue, but in a criminal case, the mistake can cause lifelong negative consequences. Unfortunately I witness this happening in court virtually everyday. I recently resolved an assault case that is a good example of this. Here are the facts:

My client attends college here in Maryland. He was involved in a relationship with a girl who was also a student at the institution. He believed that they were in an exclusive dating relationship. She apparently did not. One evening after being unable to get in touch with the young woman, my client went unannounced to her residence. Some other students let him into the secured building and he walked into her unlocked room. There he found her embracing another boy and not surprisingly, a fight ensued.

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 Posted on September 13, 2012 in Sales and Use Tax

As tax defense attorneys and former IRS prosecutors, we are very experienced in resolving Maryland and federal tax problems. One of the common issues we encounter involve the failure to pay Maryland sales and use tax.

I. Applicable Statutes and Case-Law
Section 11-102(a) of the Tax-General Article, Annotated Code of Maryland, imposes a sales and use tax on a retail sale in Maryland, or a use of tangible personal property or a taxable service in Maryland, unless otherwise provided. See MD. CODE ANN., TAX-GEN. § 11-102(a)(1)-(2). Section 11-601 of the Tax-General Article, Annotated Code of Maryland, provides for the payment of sale and use tax to the Comptroller of Maryland by buyers or vendors. See MD. CODE ANN., TAX-GEN., § 11-601(b)-(c) (West 2010).

If a vendor that is liable for the payment of sales and use tax, including interest and penalties, is a limited liability company (hereinafter, “LLC”), then personal liability for the same extends to all members of the LLC if there is no operating agreement, or to those individual who manage the business and affairs of the LLC if there is an operating agreement. Id. at § 11-601(d)(2). Under Tax-Gen. § 11-601(e), a member of an LLC is not considered to be managing the business and affairs of the company solely by doing one or more of the following: (a) consulting with or advising the individuals who manage the business and affairs of the company; (b) directing the management of the company in the same manner as a director of a corporation directs the management of a corporation; or (c) voting on any matter required to be voted on by the members of the company. See id. at § 11-601(e).

Pursuant to § 13-805(a), any “[u]npaid tax, interest, and penalties constitute a lien, in favor of the State, extending to all property and rights to property belonging to: . . . the person required to pay the tax . . . .” Id. at § 13-805(a). Under § 13-807(a), “[a] tax collector may file a notice of tax lien with the clerk of the circuit court for the county where the property that is subject to the lien is located.” Id. at § 13-807(a). Further, under § 13-810(a), “[i]f a tax lien is not satisfied or released on or before the 15th day after the notice of the lien is filed, recorded, and indexed under § 13-807 of [the Tax-General Article], a qualified attorney . . . of the Comptroller . . . may bring an action in a court of the State to enforce the lien.” Id. at § 13-810(a). If the claim for the lien is established by the State, “the court may order: (1) a sale of the property or rights to property; and (2) a distribution of any proceeds of any proceeds of sale in accordance with the interest of the parties and the State.” Id. at § 13-810(d).

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 Posted on September 13, 2012 in Insider Trading

As a lawyer who has successfully defended many types of insider trading allegations by both the SEC and CFTC, I am often asked to explain what type of insider trading is prohibited by the CFTC within the commodities and futures markets?

I. General Overview and Background of CFTC
Generally, regulation of the U.S. financial markets is divided between the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), with authority over securities, and the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), with authority over futures/derivatives. See Gary Rubin, CFTC Regulation 1.59 Fails to Adequately Regulate Insider Trading, Note, 53 N.Y.L. SCH. L. REV. 599, 606 (2008-09). The Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) of 1936 was the first major congressional initiative aimed at regulating derivatives. See Commodity Exchange Act of 1936, ch. 545, 49 Stat. 1491 (1936) (codified as amended at 7 U.S.C. § 1 (2006)); see also id. at 604. Generally, the CEA expanded upon prior acts by increasing the Secretary of Agriculture’s authority and making it “unlawful to engage in commodity brokering without first registering with the secretary.” Rubin, supra, 53 N.Y.L. SCH. L. REV. at 605 (citing CEA § 5, 49 Stat. at 1492-97).

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