Meek v. Linton

• Decision Date: 29 April 2020
• Docket Number: No. 682, Sept. Term, 2019,682, Sept. Term, 2019
• Citation: 227 A.3d 730,245 Md.App. 689
• Parties: Marybeth Davis MEEK v. Thomas Warren LINTON, et al.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

245 Md.App. 689

227 A.3d 730

Marybeth Davis MEEK

v.Thomas Warren LINTON, et al.

No. 682, Sept. Term, 2019

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

April 29, 2020

Argued by: Demetrios G. Kaouris (McAllister, DeTar, Showalter & Walker, LLC, on the brief) Cambridge, MD, for Appellant

Argued by: Sharon Marie Donahue (Law Office of Christopher R. Robinson, on the brief) Cambridge, MD, for Appellee

Panel: Berger, Friedman, Patrick L. Woodward (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.

Woodward, J.

This appeal involves a petition for guardianship of the person and property of Lois A. Hansen, appellee, that was filed by her son, Thomas W. Linton, appellee, in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County on January 23, 2019. In an order dated June 3, 2019, the circuit court decided, among other things, that (1) Mrs. Hansen was in need of a guardian of the person and property; (2) no less restrictive form of intervention was available that was consistent with Mrs. Hansen's welfare and safety; and (3) notwithstanding the higher priority of Mrs. Hansen's daughter, Marybeth Meek, appellant, under Maryland Code, Estates and Trusts ("E.T.") §§ 13-707(a) & 13-207(a), there was "good cause" to pass over Meek and appoint persons with lower priority as guardians of Mrs. Hansen's person and property. As a result, in the same order, the court appointed Linton as guardian of Mrs. Hansen's person and a neutral third-party attorney, Barrett R. King, Esq., as guardian of Mrs. Hansen's property.

On appeal, Meek presents two questions for our review,¹ which we have expanded and rephrased as:

1. Did the trial court err in finding that there was no less restrictive form of intervention available that was consistent with Mrs. Hansen's welfare and safety?

2. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in determining that "good cause" existed to pass over Meek's higher priority under E.T. § 13-707 and appoint Linton as guardian of Mrs. Hansen's person?

3. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in determining that "good cause" existed to pass over Meek's higher priority under E.T. § 13-207 and appoint a neutral third party as guardian of Mrs. Hansen's property?

For the reasons set forth below, we shall affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

BACKGROUND

I. Family Background

Lois Hansen is an 82-year-old resident of Cambridge, Maryland. Mrs. Hansen met Adrien Hansen when they were young and were "high school sweethearts," but they "parted ways after their high school days, separated by fate, circumstances[,] and time." In her early adulthood, Mrs. Hansen moved from Cambridge, Maryland, to Virginia, and then to San Diego, California. Mr. Hansen joined the Air Force in his early adulthood, and then started two seafood businesses, one in Southern Maryland and the other on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hansen had several other marriages, and Mrs. Hansen is the mother of three adult children from two relationships: Linton, Patrick Ferguson, and Meek. Meek and Ferguson are siblings; Linton is their half-brother.

In 2008, Mr. and Mrs. Hansen reconnected. On June 12, 2008, while Mrs. Hansen was still living in California, she executed a Durable Power of Attorney ("Durable POA") and an Advance Health Care Directive ("the 2008 documents"). Mrs. Hansen named Meek as her attorney-in-fact ("AIF") in the Durable POA and as Health Care Agent in the Advance Health Care Directive. Additionally, Mrs. Hansen appointed Meek to serve as trustee of a trust titled in Mrs. Hansen's name. Mrs. Hansen designated her close friend, Margaret Calder, to serve as the back-up in both the Durable POA and in the Health Care Directive, in the case that "Meek was not willing, able[,] or reasonably available to serve in the capacity contemplated." At some point in 2008, Mrs. Hansen moved back to Cambridge, Maryland to be with Mr. Hansen.

On June 4, 2010, Mr. and Mrs. Hansen were married. Mr. and Mrs. Hansen "lived together as husband and wife happily and without interruption" in their home on Cassons Neck Road in Cambridge, Maryland. The couple's relationship was described as "close," and they were seen "cuddling in their home and out and around Dorchester County[.]"

A. Thomas Warren Linton

Linton is Mrs. Hansen's eldest child. Mrs. Hansen gave birth to Linton when she was seventeen years old, and Mrs. Hansen and Linton's father divorced when Linton was two years old. Linton was raised by his father in Cambridge, Maryland, and lived there until he left home when he was eighteen years old to serve in the Marines. During Linton's adult life, "circumstances allowed for a closer relationship" between Linton and Mrs. Hansen. Specifically, Linton "came to understand that his mother was young and overwhelmed at [seventeen] years old when [Linton] was born." While he was living in California in his thirties, Linton would have Sunday brunch with Mrs. Hansen, and while in his forties, Linton visited his mother frequently on the weekends. After Mrs. Hansen returned to Cambridge in 2008, Linton attended a family reunion at the Cassons Neck property that same year. Linton would speak to Mrs. Hansen on the phone once every three to four weeks. In 2010, Linton attended Mr. and Mrs. Hansen's wedding, where he "stood up or vouched for the legitimacy of [Mr. and Mrs. Hansen's] relationship during the marriage ceremony." Linton currently resides in New Bern, North Carolina.

B. Marybeth Meek

Meek is Mrs. Hansen's youngest child. Meek and Mrs. Hansen resided together from Meek's birth until Meek turned eighteen years old and went to college. Even after leaving home, Meek "continued to remain close with her mother and father." Meek stated that she and Mrs. Hansen shared "many life experiences," such as caring together for Mrs. Hansen's former husband (Meek's father) and for Ferguson's daughter. Meek describes her relationship with Mrs. Hansen as "close and loving." Meek visited Mrs. Hansen in Cambridge in 2009 and again in 2017, and Mrs. Hansen visited Meek "at least once each year from 2008 through 2013." Meek resides in San Diego, California.

C. Patrick Ferguson

Ferguson is Mrs. Hansen's middle child. Ferguson resided in a trailer on the Cassons Neck property with Mr. and Mrs. Hansen from early 2018 until March 15, 2019. Although Mr. Hansen was not Ferguson's father, Ferguson referred to Mr. Hansen as "dad." Ferguson checked on Mr. and Mrs. Hansen regularly and "would often have dinner or go out to dinner with them." Ferguson and Meek have a history of acrimony between them, including Ferguson threatening to use physical violence against Meek.

II. Mrs. Hansen's Dementia

Mrs. Hansen began seeing Dr. Jeevan Errabulo,² a local primary care physician, in 2010, and Dr. Errabulo first noted Mrs. Hansen's dementia in August 2012. Medical records written by Dr. Errabulo repeatedly refer to Mrs. Hansen's dementia. Specifically, on April 3, 2013, Dr. "Errab[u]l[o] noted that his patient's chief complaint was that she was disoriented .... [H]istory [from patient] has been unreliable due to dementia issues." Again in medical records dated December 28, 2017, Dr. Errabulo wrote that Mrs. Hansen "remained confused due to her dementia." Dr. Errabulo later opined that "Mrs. Hansen's mental state declined considerably during the years 2017 through 2018."

III. 2017–2018

In March 2017, Linton and Meek visited the Hansens’ home after they were alerted that their mother was having increased cognitive difficulty. When he arrived, Linton found the house to be in "terrible condition." The home smelled of "ammonia from dog urine along with urine stains on the furniture and carpets." Mrs. Hansen had apparently scorched the microwave from cooking aluminum foil inside of it. "[M]old [was] growing on the ceiling from an improper roof repair." Papers, bills, syringes, and medicine bottles littered the dining room table and kitchen counters. A large sum of money was found in the clothes dryer and at least $1800 "was falling out of" Mrs. Hansen's purse. Mrs. Hansen began to cry when asked why she had so much money, because "she could not tell them about this money."

In October 2017, Phoebe Westsinger, Mrs. Hansen's niece and goddaughter, visited Mrs. Hansen. During this visit, Mrs. Hansen "appeared disheveled where once [Mrs. Hansen] was meticulous about her appearance in public." Additionally, Mrs. Hansen repeated herself throughout their conversations. Westsinger returned to Cambridge in January 2018 and observed that the Cassons Neck home was "appalling" and in "disarray." During this visit, "Mrs. Hansen had a hard time following her questions and ... asked the same questions of Wes[t]singer repeatedly."

On or about April 10, 2018, Mr. Hansen called his long-time attorney and friend, Ray Simmons, and asked him "to draw up a Power of Attorney and Health Care Directive" for Mrs. Hansen and told him "that he [Mr. Hansen] was to be Mrs. Hansen's primary AIF and Patrick Ferguson was to be the back-up."³ Mr. Hansen explained that Mrs. Hansen "required a new Power of Attorney and revocations that related to prior documents because of some sort of financial/family issues she was having with [Meek]." Mr. Hansen did not "mention that his wife had any sort of cognitive issue, disability, or dementia." Then on April 11, 2018, Simmons came to the Hansens’ house in order for Mrs. Hansen to execute a new Power of Attorney and Health Care Directive and revoke the 2008 documents. According to Mr. Hansen, Mrs. Hansen "had the capacity to execute the new POA and revocations." Again, he failed to mention "that his wife was diagnosed with dementia or that she had any cognitive impairment at all." Simmons reviewed the new Power of Attorney and Health Care Directive with Mrs. Hansen for forty minutes, and Simmons found Mrs. Hansen to be "in contact with reality in [his] opinion." Mrs. Hansen then executed the new Power of Attorney and Health Care Directive ("the 2018 documents") and revoked the 2008 documents.

Later in July or August 2018, Linton visited the...