Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Mental incompantence

Generally incompentence will be found where the evidence is satisfactory. An action

will need to be filed in Circuit Court of the county of your wife's residence. Two letters from doctors are needed.

There is also an emergency process that can be brought before the commissioner and this is often used to get a person

committed for pshyciatric treatment. This process also involves two doctor's letters.

An alternate method is to take her

in for an evaluation. You may have difficulty in getting her to go and may need to be persuasive or simply not tell her where you

are going. The standard that the admissions staff will apply is whether she is in such a state to cause harm to herself or others. If this standard is not met then they cannot

admit her over her not giving consent for admission. Further matters are your financial position to afford inpatient care which is costly and/or the adequacy of your health insurance. Lastly,

state funded facilities may be available if you qualify to receive this benefit.

Alternative actions could be to turn your wife in for possession of narcotics. Her going to jail and having to face charges is certainly better than a fatal outcome. And, once an offender of controlled substance law, the court will exercise power over her to ensure she receives on-going treatment. Obvioulsy this option is not the

most optimal, but this could possibly provide leverage to pursuade her to voluntarily admit herself to a treatment program or seek other inpatient mental health services.

I have been involved with getting an inpatient admission for a person who was not consenting to an admission and you must be advised that this is a challenging process.

The assistance of an attorney is advised. Feel free to contact me at (410) 799-9002.

G. Joseph Holthaus III

Re: Mental incompantence

It's not clear to me what you are trying to accomplish in having your wife declared incompetent. It sounds like you want to be appointed her guardian so you can get treatment for her or otherwise manage her affairs. If so, you can file a petition in the circuit court where you live. You should support this with letters from 2 doctors who have recently examined her and attest to her incompetence.

There are a number of procedural requirements in this proceedings and you are well advised to seek legal assistance. I would be happy to schedule an appointment for you for further discussion.

Robert Sher

(301) 986-4555