Contrary to popular belief, most wills won’t avoid taxes, and can’t determine custody issues.  However, wills can put good, common sense conditions even on transfers of property that most people consider normal, and they can be tailored to suit your personal family situation.  They can also prevent court action to determine trustees, guardians, and conservators, actions which are typically much more expensive than a simple will, and which may occur if you don’t spell the matters out in a will.  Along with your will, at Hillman, Brown & Darrow we also will draft Powers-of-Attorneys and Living Wills to assist your affairs upon disability and end-of-life decisions.  These are documents that clients often don’t consider but are of tremendous help.  The attorneys here stand ready to assist you in planning for your family’s future, during your life and beyond.

ADVANCED DIRECTIVE and DESIGNATION OF HEALTH CARE AGENT. These are for medical decisions. We recommend that you read and execute the State of Maryland ADVANCED DIRECTIVES forms, as these have been adopted for uniform acceptance by all hospitals and health care providers.

SIMPLE WILLS. A standard Simple Will is about 7 pages long, and typically leaves your household belongings to your spouse if living and your children. Typically your entire residuary estate would be left to your spouse first if living, and then to your children in equal shares. If any of your children are under the age of 25 there can be a Trust provision to hold their shares until they reach 25. SPECIFIC BEQUESTS. Usually, more often than not, spouses with children don’t make specific bequests. Rather, everything is left all to your spouse if living and then to your children. If you have specific bequests, you must state so specifically in the standard will. Specific bequests can also be added later by a short specific Codicil.

Powers of Attorney must be notarized in proper form. Wills must be correctly executed with at least two witnesses and should be kept in a safe place. There is specific and necessary language for legal and proper Wills and an attorney should be consulted to make sure that your Will has been executed properly.

“In good faith; In a manner he reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation; and with the care that an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances.”

See MD Code, Corporations and Associations, § 2-405.1 and MD Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings, § 5-417

However, this immunity does not apply to individual actions committed by an individual (for example causing an accident while driving a company car or operating the company’s saw mill).

Whether or not an officer or director is immune from suit, this is why all corporations and their boards should have good insurance to pay for the costs of defending against lawsuits. Liability insurance for Officers and Directors Coverage in Maryland is relatively modest in cost because officers and directors are rarely liable for corporation claims.

Regarding the normal duties for a non-stock not for profit corporation in Maryland, there are only a few things necessary to maintain the corporation in  good standing.

The corporation should file its Maryland Personal Property Tax Return by April every year.

The corporation should file its State and Federal Income Tax return every year (Federal Form 990). A copy of the Federal Form 990 gets filed with the Maryland Secretary of State as part of the charitable registration process.

The corporation should register with the Maryland Secretary of State in Annapolis.

The corporation should have at least one annual meeting of its members and directors (even if there are no members other than directors)

The purpose of the meeting is to appoint officers and to continue the directors in office. If no meeting is held the last acting directors and officers continue in their capacities until replacements are appointed.

Standard Bylaws for a non-profit are easy to obtain from numerous sources.

The annual meeting should include the following items:

ORDER OF BUSINESS.

The order of business at all meeting of the members shall be as follows:

a. Roll Call.
b. Proof of notice of meeting or waiver of notice.
c. Reading of minutes of preceding meeting.
d. Reports of Officers.        (usually treasurer’s financial report)
e. Reports of Committees.
f. Election of Directors.
g. Unfinished Business.
h. New Business.

Keeping minutes of meetings is a good idea so that there is a paper record that you acted responsibly as a board of a corporation.

There is no magic required language for minutes. The most important thing is to record that a meeting occurred at a place, date and time.

State who was present at the meeting, and describe what business was discussed, and what actions were taken.

Keep a copy of all minutes in the corporation’s records, so you can later remember what transpired at meetings over the years.

Drunk driving cases have the potential for many viable defenses.  Your dui attorney needs to aggressively go after the prosecutor’s case and fight for you from the traffic stop to the moment you walk out of the police station.