Attorney Suspended for Mishandling Medicaid Planning Matter

Last Updated: 1/5/2010 10:51:10 AM

The Supreme Court of Ohio suspends an attorney whose mishandling of the creation of an irrevocable trust and failure to communicate with his clients delayed their eligibility for Medicaid nursing home benefits. Dayton Bar Association v. Brown (Ohio, No. 2009-1231, Dec. 15, 2009).

A married couple retained attorney Keith Brown to prepare an irrevocable trust into which they could transfer assets, including real estate, to facilitate their eventual move to a nursing home and receipt of Medicaid benefits. After the couple complained to attorney Brown that they were still receiving tax notices for the real estate in their names rather than that of the trust, he promised to look into the matter, but instead never spoke with them again. The couple retained a second attorney who determined that attorney Brown had failed to file a needed declaration of trust with the county recorder. As a result, the couple's Medicaid eligibility was delayed.

The couple complained to the Dayton Bar Association, and as a result of their complaint and one brought by another couple, a board determined that attorney Brown had violated multiple professional conduct rules. Attorney Brown never answered the complaints against him and a default judgment was entered. including the recommendation that his law license be suspended indefinitely. Attorney Brown objected to the board's report and findings, arguing that he received insufficient notice of the disciplinary proceedings and charges against him.

The Supreme Court of Ohio disagrees that attorney Brown received insufficient notice and imposes the recommended sanction. The court finds that the sole mitigating factor -- attorney Brown's clean disciplinary history -- does not outweigh the aggravating factors that he had committed multiple offenses, had failed to cooperate in the disciplinary process and had harmed vulnerable victims.

To download the full text of this decision in PDF format, go to: http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/pdf/0/2009/2009-ohio-6424.pdf. (If you do not have the free PDF reader installed on your computer, download it here.)

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