what kind of lawyer to appeal financial exploitation of an adult

January 11, 2023 5:30 PM

A US state's Department for Children and Families has hamhandedly "substantiated" a report that my cousin financially exploited her mother. My cousin, who did not do so, is at the beginning of an appeals process now. (This is all through the DCF, not criminal courts, although the information we have says "law enforcement may pursue charges.") The questions they gave her to be completed before the prehearing are all in legalese that neither of us understand. Clearly, she needs a lawyer, but what kind of lawyer, and how do I find one ASAP?

(And how much is this going to cost? My cousin has very little money. I have more, but also a mortgage and looming house repairs and so on.)

I don't want to go into details, so please just take my word for it when I say that my cousin is telling the truth, my aunt is mentally unstable and swings between confused/helpless and manipulative/paranoid, and the Adult Protective Services investigator person was wildly irresponsible.

I'm in a bit of a panic, any suggestions will help. Is family law the right area to look in? It's not a divorce or a will dispute or anything like that.

P. S. I've already been using the Get A Lawyer page on the Mefi wiki. We contacted the [State] Legal Services/legal aid, which seems to be the main pro bono/reduce cost source in the state, and they said they didn't help with this kind of thing.

posted by kutsushita nyanko to Law & Government (8 answers total)

Best answer: Your state bar association may be able to recommend the category of lawyer based on your description, so that should be your first stop.

Depending on where you live (e.g. a state with more rural towns), there may be lots of generalist lawyers, but in a case like this I'm not sure that's a good choice. If there is talk of criminal charges, your relative may want to engage a criminal defense lawyer or a family lawyer used to working with government agencies (ideally, DCF or APS). It might be useful to know whether protective services has a history of falsely substantiating cases.

Note that most attorneys will give you a free half-hour consultation, so talk to a few lawyers of different kinds to get a sense of how you might appeal these conclusions, or make claims of government negligence. In the latter case, some lawyers may agree to work on contingency if they think you have a good case. That means they won't charge much or anything up front, but instead will take a third of any settlement.

Anyway, these are just initial thoughts. Your relative's options will depend in part on where they live. You might do some googling of "false accusations Department for Children and Families [name of state/city] and/or Adult Protective Services" to see what you come up with.
posted by Puppetry for Privacy at 6:50 PM on January 11, 2023

possibly an Elder Law practitioner would be experienced with APS.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:09 PM on January 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

One tack to take is to start with literally any lawyer you know, even if they’re like a real estate lawyer, and ask them for recommendations.
posted by mskyle at 7:43 PM on January 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: quick note: I don't live in or near this state. However I am poking my networks for recommendations of any kind.
posted by kutsushita nyanko at 7:53 PM on January 11, 2023

oh, re how to find one: you can call the local county bar association, which will usually have a referral service; or use martindale.com.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:31 PM on January 11, 2023 [4 favorites]

Family law is the broad specialty you want. You would of course ask if they've had experience with these kinds of proceedings, and, if not, if they can refer you to someone who does.
posted by praemunire at 9:16 PM on January 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: This might fall within the category of administrative law. You might want to try consulting with a lawyer with this specialty to find out.
posted by lookoutbelow at 10:47 AM on January 12, 2023

Best answer: We researched online and then called a bunch of lawyers who were very confused by the whole thing and gave us some pretty incorrect suggestions, until I finally hit on the search terms dcf administrative appeal [state name] lawyer, which produced someone who was incredibly helpful.

If anyone sees this later, the cost would be $3000-5000 as a retainer up front, and then any additional hours necessary after that around $450.
posted by kutsushita nyanko at 5:27 PM on January 12, 2023 [1 favorite]