Mark Oakley

Mark W. Oakley is an established litigation attorney concentrating on civil litigation, personal injury, construction law, and criminal and traffic defense. He also advises business clients, negotiates and drafts contracts, and handles a variety of litigation matters at all levels of the state and federal court systems. Mr. Oakley is trained and certified in the collaborative practice of law. Mr. Oakley is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law (J.D. 1987), and the University of Maryland, College Park (B.A. 1984). He is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar, and the Bar Association of Montgomery County. He is admitted to practice before the Court of Appeals of Maryland, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Authored the winning brief in the case of 1986 Mercedes v. State of Maryland, a precedent-setting decision limiting the State’s power to forfeit private property.

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• Contingent Fees
  I handle personal injury claims on a contingent fee basis, meaning if there is no recovery, you do not owe me a legal fee.

District of Columbia

District of Columbia Bar

Since 1989

Maryland

Since 1988

University of Maryland - Baltimore

J.D. (1987) | Law

1984 - 1987

University of Maryland - College Park

B.A. (1984) | English

1980 - 1984

District of Columbia Bar

Member

1989 - Current

Maryland State Bar Association

Member

1988 - Current

Bar Association of Montgomery County

Member

1988 - Current

Q. Are children required to be informed of a will going to probate in Maryland if not named as beneficiaries?

May 20, 2025

A: Yes, if an estate was opened, all “heirs at law” (meaning any person who would inherit if there were no will) must be notified so they can decide whether or not to challenge the will. As a child of the deceased, you are an heir at law.

However, if your father’s assets were all either jointly owned with others, or had “transfer on death” beneficiaries named (such as financial accounts), or if all his assets were part of a trust, then there may have been no assets remaining in his name to probate under a will. In that situation, a one page “will of no estate” is all that gets filed, together with the will, or in some cases, the family does not even file that document or the will. The law still requires the will to be filed in this manner, but it is not generally enforced.

If an estate was opened or a will of no estate was filed, then it would have been opened in the county (or City of Baltimore) where your father resided at the time of his death, and you can search the Register of Wills online estate index for the estate number and view the date and description of anything filed in the estate, plus order copies for download.

If no estate was opened, then you will need to contact the family members who would have been in control of the will, or his assets, to inquire about the circumstances. ... Read More

Q. How can I protect my assets for my son when marrying at 67 in Maryland?

May 19, 2025

A: The ONLY way to achieve what you want is by a pre-nuptial (or post-nuptial) agreement. In the event of your death, a surviving spouse has a statutory elective share against their deceased spouse's estate in the amount of not less than 1/3 of the probate and non-probate assets of the estate if there are surviving children, and 50% if no surviving children. The elective share overrides whatever the spouse is to receive under the will, regardless of what the will says. It is up to the survivig spouse whather to make that election or accept what they receive in terms of the will and any other non-probate assets they receive by way of title or as a beneficiary. Probate assets are those assets the decedent owned in their name that passes in accordance with their will. Non-probate assets include those assets that pass immediately upon death to a joint owner or beneficiary outside of the estate, and include jointly title property (e.g., jointly held real property and bank accounts), and assets with "transfer on death" (TOD) beneficiaries (e.g., retirement accounts, life insurance, or any financial account with named beneficiaries). The only way to prevent your spouse from exercising their elective share is by a written pre- or post-nuptial agreement. To ensure that the written pre- or post-nuptial agreement is upheld in court and not be set aside, both parties should be represened by an attorney, and all assets be disclosed in a schedule attached to the agreement naming who owns what and its dollar value.

As for strategies to preserve pre-marital property separate from being included in the definition of "marital property" in the event of divorce, keeping all titled assets you own prior to marriage in your sole name is a must, but then you must not commingle marital assets, including earnings received during the marriage, with those solely titled assets (e.g., don't deposit your paycheck after the date of marriage into you solely titled bank accunt that you wish to keep as your separate pre-marital property). Also, if you pay the mortgage or costs of remodeling and repair (new kitchen, roof replacement, new HVAC) on your home using your post-marital income or joint bank account funds of you and your husband, then your pre-marital home starts to become joint marital property, at least to the extent of the funds expended on those improvements and the increase in value of the home caused by those improvements. You will need to maintain and preserve documentation of the value of all pre-marital property as of the date of marriage (financial account statements, real property appraisals, etc.). There's more, but you'd need to pay a family law attorney to spend the time going over that with you. ... Read More

Q. What was the MD statute code in 2007 for "Use of a Handgun/Firearm in Commission of a Crime of Violence"?

May 16, 2025

A: MD Code, Article 27, Section 36B(d), which was replaced and re-enacted and is now codified as Criminal Law Article, § 4-204.

You can review the text at this link from the Maryland archives:

https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000770/html/am770--3226.html

Being found guilty of this offense adds a mandatory 5 year sentence to the underlying crime of violence for a first offense, and between 5 and 20 years for a second or subsequent offense.