Hassani, Focas & Fifer, P.A

Nagaraja Manabotula _{on Google}

Feb 17th, 2023

Great law firm and the attorneys provide solid legal advice at a very reasonable price. I had a very favorable experience with this law firm. Appointments to talk attorneys were quickly made and it was very professional services from begin to end. Definitely one of the best Law Firms in Baltimore County.

Robert Heaton, Jr _{on Google}

Oct 23rd, 2022

The firm handled the estate issues I faced when my wife died last year. They were all professional and addressed all of the issues in a timely fashion. Their rates are fair and there were no surprises. I can highly recommend Hassani, Focas & Fifer for any estate issue.

Scott Johnson _{on Google}

Aug 22nd, 2022

Alex Hassani, a founding member of the firm, visited my for sale home as a prospective buyer and during the showing a sentimental item valued under $100 was accidentally broken. He, at the time, offered to take care of it with my realtor. Weeks later, I received a check for a quarter of the provided replacement value and a full page arrogant letter justifying the partial payment saying it was full accord and satisfaction. Think about the character of a person like that.

G _{on Google}

Aug 6th, 2021

RE Owner Response: As previously stated, this review was updated. There were no "fake" reviews, as owner claims.
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Be cautious if you are thinking of engaging this firm, or Eric Fifer, to address the needs of your loved ones when you are no longer present to speak.
TAKE NOTE: other reviews of this firm dont speak to your estate after your passing, and the plan you created with this firm comes into effect. IN STEPS, TAKEN AS TIME ALLOWS, this review does.
TLDR: If you have already used this firm to create an estate plan, have another firm review it ASAP. If it happened to be "suggested" you sign an attorney from this firm as a trustee, and you did - find someone else IMMEDIATELY. Upon your passing, your trust merely becomes an income stream for the attorney and firm; your wishes, in writing or not, along with the Maryland Laws mentioned below, are not followed. The partners at this firm are aware the steps needing to be taken for a change to happen after your passing are unlikely to occur. They will not inform your beneficiaries of the role or steps they have taken, until deadlines have passed - if at all, regardless of Maryland law - they will find an out for not doing so- even if that "out" is dependent upon beneficiary lack of funds (despite your wishes they will block access to a trust, if you have set one up through them, or assigned one of their attorneys as trustee), lack of legal savvy (beneficiary not becoming informed prior to deadlines passing), or the firm/specific attorney's lack of disclosure.
Eric Fifer, a partner at this firm, who my mother unwittingly met - many years into dementia (well beyond the point to have met all five of the Maryland requirements to be a party to a contract (i.e., changing a will, instituting a trustee - or a trust, etc.), after her death, refused to discuss changes he made under my mother's name with w/ her beneficiaries - and does not take calls from, or otherwise respond to beneficiaries trying access to trust funds.
In the beginning, Eric Fifer presents a professional demeanor - and when he was speaking courteously with me - it was an extended year plus manipulation. Once I figured it out, his demeanor immediately changed, and the trust was blocked. It was not until I hired an attorney after too many things were not adding up - that I found out the vast changes Eric Fifer made to her will, including, the insertion of himself - as lifelong trustee for millions of dollars in trust funds. To be clear, if you are not familiar with the five requirements to be party to a Maryland contract, the main element in question here, and I suspect for many others, is competence. My mother would not have known to even request the changes that were made. While she was a very smart woman, at that point in her life, she lacked the capacity to know what to request to have made the vast changes Eric Fifer made. While it is against MD law, Will and Estate laws are enforced by complaint only, within limited time constraints. Basically, the two items upon which Hassani, Focas and Fifer rely, are: 1) they need only to keep their mouths shut for 6 months, to allow the timeframe to contest a will to pass - and, 2) dead people don't speak, and can't complain when their wishes are not followed.
Still uncovering various unethical and unlawful actions per MD code, standards and law.. This firm, knowing these "missteps" likely will not be discovered until the manipulated, vulnerable victim is deceased, and options of recourse become limited, costly and nearly impossible to reverse, effectively gives themselves carte blanche to your trust funds. Then, as beneficiaries struggle to access those funds, Hassani, Focas & Fifer continue to pay themselves as "trustees", skirt the law and create second generation victims.
It is a sickening shock to learn your parent or child was taken advantage of in such an extreme way, to have been coerced or manipulated (after-the-fact manipulation and coercion are difficult to parse) to ends they never desired for themselves, or for their loved ones.