Wave Listens Live4 Family Law Fridays August 5 2022

JOHN RAMSEY: Family law Friday with Mr. John Schmidt. Attorney John Schmidt, he joins us now. And nothing like an attorney drinking on the job. So —

JOHN SCHMIDT: Hey, this Oldham —

JOHN RAMSEY: — what — what have you got there, John?

JOHN SCHMIDT: This Oldham Brewing Company American blonde? American blonde. Guys are still right over here. So

JOHN RAMSEY: Highly recommend?

JOHN SCHMIDT: Oh, it’s fantastic.

JOHN RAMSEY: It is fantastic.

JOHN SCHMIDT: It is a must-have.

JOHN RAMSEY: It is delish.

JOHN SCHMIDT: So as far as I’m concerned, you know, that’s the place to go tonight.

JOHN RAMSEY: There you go.

JOHN SCHMIDT: So yeah. Yeah.

JOHN RAMSEY: Oldham Brewing Company.

JOHN SCHMIDT: We should — we’ll get together and go out there.

JOHN RAMSEY: Glen Oaks. Let’s do it.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Yeah. Let’s do it.

JOHN RAMSEY: All right. Today’s topic. First of all, before we get into today’s focus, a little overview. I always like to do this with you because when we say family law Friday, this includes a lot of things. Detail that if you would, John.

JOHN SCHMIDT: It does. So yeah. So divorce,contested/uncontested; adoptions, the same thing,contested/uncontested custody; CPS cases; dependency neglect and abuse. We deal with child support issues. And then today we’re talking about disability guardianship cases.

JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah. They —

JOHN SCHMIDT: Yeah.

JOHN RAMSEY: Because when we think family law a lot of times you think okay about the wives and kids and that kind of thing, custody, but mom and dad are part of the family too.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Mom and dad are part of the family too.

JOHN RAMSEY: You got that right.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Families have moms and dads.

JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah. And — and — and —

JOHN SCHMIDT: Yeah.

JOHN RAMSEY: And an important part.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Yeah.

JOHN RAMSEY: But you were saying to me, you say but what happens if Mom or Dad gets some type of mental challenge, whether dementia, Parkinson’s —

JOHN SCHMIDT: Yeah.

JOHN RAMSEY: — whatever the case may be, and you want to protect them? So talk about how this works.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Right. So people get kind of confused. You know, they’ll ask about a power of attorney. They’ll ask about wills. So the will doesn’t work until you die. So wills don’t have anything to do with this. Power of attorney is an alternative. If it’s granted when Mom or Dad, or whoever the adult is that has the issue, is — has capacity, but it can be revoked, and that’s – that’s the problem. So when someone you love loses their mental capacity in — in some fashion or another and you want to have a durable or — or lasting power to deal with it that can’t be easily revoked, well, then you need to go to disability court and — and take out a petition. It’s a – it’s a confidential case, and it involves a medical doctor to make sure that the dementia or the mental issue isn’t caused by meds, which is a reasonable thing to look into —

JOHN RAMSEY: Sure.

JOHN SCHMIDT: — and confirm, right? You have environmental concerns, so there’s a social worker that’s — that’s involved to go out and make sure nothing in the environment’s causing the issue and to protect the adult. And — and then you have a psychologist that gets appointed, and they administer a test to make sure that, cognitively —

JOHN RAMSEY: So —

JOHN SCHMIDT: — they’re actually disabled.

JOHN RAMSEY: — my question to you John is let’s say you seen Mom or Dad, maybe it’s over a holiday, and you notice they’re telling the same stories over and over, you see them slipping a little bit mentally.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Uh-huh.

JOHN RAMSEY: Is there a way to be proactive here? Is there something they can do as far as – is power of attorney the first thing you should seek? How — how does — what would you say?

JOHN SCHMIDT: That’s — that’s — that’s risky territory for an attorney. Because if somebody is on the decline, they have to have the requisite capacity. So it’s really shaky territory. I’ve actually asked — I’ve actually declined to do it for some people because they couldn’t name their kids, for example, or they couldn’t name their grandkids. And I don’t want to — I don’t want to — I don’t want to get close to the line. So at that point, I think it’s probably appropriate to — to seek a disability guardianship petition.

JOHN RAMSEY: Got you. Got you.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Yeah.

JOHN RAMSEY: Okay. So for someone who may need your help exactly how — how long does this process take we’re talking about here?

JOHN SCHMIDT: Well, you go in, you put your petition in, and you — in Jefferson County, you go district court, go to the disability guardianship office, and the people inside there are fantastic. They’ll walk you right through it. And that’s – the clerks are fantastic in all the counties I deal in. So you just go to the courthouse, and — and they’ll give you the packet to fill out. And it’s fairly straightforward, and it’s fairly inexpensive. And you don’t need to hire a lawyer. You can, if you want to have your lawyer. But Mom or Dad or whoever’s alleged to be disabled will be appointed a lawyer, and then the county attorney will carry the case forward in terms of holding the hearing and stuff. So it really is cost effective,and it’s — it’s fairly straightforward to do. But the professionals, the team, will visit and — and review the records and that kind of stuff. So Mom or Dad or whoever has the disability, you know,will be engaged in the process, which is good. But it – it — it takes a minute.

JOHN RAMSEY: I — I think the — the emphasis here should be what is — exactly what you have told me, is it’s to protect Mom and Dad. This is — this is one of those things — this is not a legal combative battle.

JOHN SCHMIDT: No.

JOHN RAMSEY: This is because you want to take care of Mom and Dad.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Yeah. This is the kind of thing where you walk in and your mom is on the phone and she’s talking to somebody who has told her that her, you know, virus protection has run out, and boy, could you give us the credentials to your computer and –

JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah.

JOHN SCHMIDT: — you know, give us your information —

JOHN RAMSEY: Your credit card number and – yeah.

JOHN SCHMIDT: — and credit card number. And they’re not — they’re — they’re just not as aware as they used to be, not as capable. They’re forgetting things, they’re — they’re going into decline. People are taking — might be taking advantage of them. It happens a lot where, you know, their money is being appropriated to another person that is caring for them or around them. And you just want to protect them. So — and — and there’s a — two components. There’s the financial component, which is a conservator. And then there’s the personal component, where Mom lives,where Dad lives, whether they can contract, whether they can vote, where they can drive, that kind of stuff. Those decisions are for the guardian.

JOHN RAMSEY: Your — your legal expertise is beyond question. There’s no — you know, you definitely have the credentials. What I like most about you, John Schmidt, and I found this to be true with all of your clients that we’ve talked to on the show, is that — your compassionate side, your empathetic side, and that’s important with an attorney, I think, because all of these matters, when you’re talking family law here or any kind of family issues, it’s personal. It means something to you. You don’t marry someone because you think you’re going to have a divorce. You — you know, Mom and Dad are always going to be very important to you. These kind of custody issues, this kind of thing. So for folks who want to reach out to them,call your office.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Yeah.

JOHN RAMSEY: Yeah. Just —

JOHN SCHMIDT: Just call . Talk to Patty. She’ll set up a consultation. We charge for the consultation. And — and then we’ll – we’ll see if we’re a fit.

JOHN RAMSEY: All right.

JOHN SCHMIDT: And if we’re fit, then we’ll do business, and if we’re not a fit, I can make a referral to you, or

JOHN RAMSEY: All right. The law offices of John Schmidt. There is the information. Folks, as I said, as far as legal, yes indeed, he has the credentials. But you know, sometimes tough times hit really good people, and he’s willing to help you out and expedite the process. John, thank you so much, man.Appreciate it.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Yeah, John. Thanks.

JOHN RAMSEY: Let’s get out — let’s get out to Oldham Brewing Company.

JOHN SCHMIDT: Let’s do it. Yeah. They’re good guys.

JOHN RAMSEY: They are. They’re really good guys.

JOHN SCHMIDT: They are. Yeah.

JOHN RAMSEY: All right. So coming up here, it — it is also food truck Friday. We’re going to talk about losing a little –-