Bay Ridge Lawyers Association meeting focused on updates in Elder Law

November 6, 2019 Rob Abruzzese

Anthony Lamberti is presented with a certificate of appreciation by Bay Ridge Lawyers Association President Mary Ann Stathopoulos after he gave a presentation on elder law during the group's monthly meeting. Eagle photos by Mario Belluomo

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The Bay Ridge Lawyers Association hosted its monthly meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at Mama Rao’s Restaurant in Dyker Heights where one of its past presidents gave a continuing legal education update on the latest in elder law.

Anthony Lamberti, president-elect of the Brooklyn Bar Association, said that it is difficult giving a CLE on elder law to a group of attorneys who don’t normally practice in the field. The key is, he said, to give them what they need to avoid major issues if they do take on an occasional case.

“The presentation was presented to be heard by an audience of attorneys that may not practice in elder law,” said Lamberti, of the firm Armstrong & Lamberti.

“I reported on cases that affect whether a ‘person in need of a guardian’ can withdraw their consent after two years of having a guardian,” Lamberti said. “We also discussed tolling the statute of limitations in a personal injury action where the plaintiff has an Article 81 guardian and on a new Social Security operations manual directive, which may require attorneys to make a formal fee request to a Social Security Administration administrative tribunal.”

Many members of the Bay Ridge Lawyers work in smaller firms or are solo practitioners. A few do handle elder law cases and Lamberti did have some updates on laws the state government passed within the last year that will affect them.

“There is new legislation that is pending in Albany regarding a new ‘power of attorney statute’ and legislation which would make it easier to secure an order of protection for the benefit of an incapacitated person in an Article 81 guardianship proceeding,” Lamberti said.

Lamberti said that the most important thing he shared with attorneys at the meeting is that while elder law can seem simple from the outside, there are many complex issues and pitfalls they can get into if they represent elderly clients.