Guardianships and Conservatorships, Trusts and Estates
HCM assists clients who take care of others or who foresee a time when others will need to take care of them. Our clients include adults caring for an elderly relative, parents of adult children with special needs, and people with concerns about how the affairs of someone they care about are being managed. Generally speaking, these clients are guardians, conservators, trustees and executors, all of whom are called upon to act on someone else’s behalf through a relationship of trust. In the eyes of the law, they are fiduciaries. We counsel these clients on how to conduct themselves as fiduciaries, consistent with their legal obligations.
In guiding our clients through the law’s requirements for fiduciaries, we work with local Virginia courts, commissioners of accounts and clerk’s offices. HCM members Sheila M. Costin and Kathleen J.L. Holmes have been qualified by the Supreme Court of Virginia to serve as Guardians ad litem.
We also counsel beneficiaries. These clients are entitled to receive a share of a trust or estate. They are the people for whom fiduciaries act. We assist these clients in ensuring that they receive the full amount to which they are entitled.
In addition, we counsel our clients about powers of attorney, and best practices for management and record-keeping when managing the affairs of another person. We help our clients understand the assets they are charged with managing on behalf of a beneficiary, as well as the legal duties and responsibilities with respect to any liabilities of the beneficiary.
We often guide our fiduciary clients through complex transactions on behalf of their beneficiaries, such as:
Managing the transfer or winding down of a business
Negotiating the division of jointly-held assets
Navigating disputes that arise during trust or estate administration
Planning for the appointment of caregivers and agents to step in if and when the need arises
We also routinely:
Represent petitioners in petitions for guardianship of adult children with special needs
Represent respondents in petitions for guardianship and conservatorship brought by an adult child
Act as guardians and conservators for incapacitated adults
Prepare accountings for the Virginia Commissioner of Accounts on behalf of conservators
Recent representative matters (please see our disclaimer) include:
We represented beneficiaries in suit alleging breach of fiduciary duty and conversion by the trustee
We represented trustees in suits brought by family members alleging breach of fiduciary duty
We represented an executrix in a debts and demand hearing before the Virginia Commissioner of Accounts