On March 9, 2020, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed an Executive Order which allows Attorneys and their supervised staff to remotely witness and notarize estate planning documents, including trust, wills, and powers of attorney.  In order to conduct remote signing, the following requirements must be met:  

• ​The notary public must use real-time audio visual conference or any electronic video conferencing that allows communication via sight and sound;
• The notary public is a licensed Georgia attorney or is acting under the supervision of a Georgia attorney;
• The signer must show the Notary Public satisfactory evidence of identity, e.g. Georgia Driver's License, while connected on the real-time audio-visual meeting; and,
• The notary public must be located in the State of Georgia when witnessing the signing; and,
• The part(ies) signing the estate planning documents must send the documents to the notary public on the date the documents were executed.  

Walters Law is equipped to conduct remote estate planning during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Please contact us for your estate planning needs.   

We are very proud to announce that after filing an appeal, the VA has reversed its original decision to rate a U.S. Army Veteran's disability rating at 0% and increased it to 50% with benefits back to April 1, 2015.  

Adam Walters will be presenting on how health care entities can prepare for Department of Labor Audits at the 2020 GMGMA Annual Meeting in Savannah, Georgia on May 3, 2020.  For more information, please click here.  

Adam Walters authored the feature article, CMS 2020 Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program Offers Some Benefits to Rural Health Care Providers, in the December 13, 2019 American Health Lawyers Association Weekly.  

On December 19, 2019, Adam Walters will be the presenting speaker at 2 sessions of the National Business Institute"s Seminar "The Probate Process: From Start to Finish."  He will speak on "Final Accounting and Closing the Estate" and "Probate Disputes and Litigation."  NBI is one of the nation's most sought after source for continuing education for attorneys, CPAs, and financial planners.  
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On October 24, 2019, the American Health Lawyers Association's Physician Organization Practice Group published a bulletin titled "CMS and OIG Publish Proposed Rule Modifying Anti-KIckback Safe Harbors and Stark Law Exceptions Related to Shift Away from Fee-For-Service Reimbursement" which was authored by the firm's principal Adam Walters.  The bulletin provided an overview of the proposed rule issued on October 9, 2019 

The firm is proud to announce Adam Walters will be speaking on the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act ("EKRA") and its impact on laboratory marketing at G2 Intelligence's 2019 Lab Institute.  

Gateway Cmty. Serv. Bd. v. Bonati, A18A0589 (Ga. App., 2018) - Walters Law congratulates Attorney Adam Walters, and client Dr. Frank Bonati, regarding their victory in an employment matter argued before the Georgia Court of Appeals.  Following Dr. Bonati’s amicable completion of all of his employment commitments, along with the expiration of his contract as the executive director of Gateway Community Service Board (“Gateway”), Gateway attempted to invalidate Bonati’s employment contract and the payments still due and owing to him.  On October 2, 2013, Gateway brought a declaratory judgment suit to achieve those ends, and Bonati counterclaimed for breach of contract and other claims.  Following a bench trial, the trial court ruled in favor of Bonati and awarded him over $320,000 in contractual damages, plus over $100,000 in attorney's fees.  Gateway appealed that decision arguing that the contract was not enforceable because it contained terms exceeding Gateway’s authority, violated public policy and the Georgia Constitution’s Gratuities Clause, and that the extent of attorney’s fees awarded at trial exceeded the purview of the contract.  The Court of Appeals rejected all of the above arguments, and issued a decision, dated June 27, 2018, affirming the judgment in Bonati’s favor.  A copy of the decision can be found here.

On June 1, 2018, the American Health Lawyers Association Dispute Resolution Service is moving to an exclusive invitation only mediation roster.  The firm is proud to announce that Adam Walters will be joining the panel.  

The AHLA Dispute Resolution Service is one of the nation's leading arbitration and mediation service providers for health law disputes.  If you or a client needs an experienced mediator, please contact Adam Walters to schedule a session.  

On May 3rd, 2018, Governor Nathan Deal signed into law SB 370.  Under SB 370, which was passed by both chambers of the legislature, the first $25,000 of any Medicaid recipient’s estate is exempted from collection as part of the State’s Medicaid recovery process.  Under the current recovery scheme, only those estates valued at less than $25,000 qualified for an unreasonable/substantial hardship exemption and were not subject to collection by the state Department of Community Health.  However, all recipient’s estates valued over $25,000 were automatically subject to recovery, and could be completely wiped out by the recipient’s outstanding Medicaid bills.   Pursuant to SB 370, the State is now attempting to correct this inequity, and allow all estates to be treated equally.  The bill is still subject to final approval by the U.S. Dept. Of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and requires the Dept. of Community Health to submit a request for such approval no later than July 1, 2018.