Can I file my own Marchman Act?

Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of our video newsletter. In this video, I want to talk to you about the idea of filing your own Marchman Act.

So, we get a lot of calls from families all over the state, and they say, “Mark, why do I need you? I can go down to the local courthouse—if it’s even open—and I can file my own Marchman Act.”

So, this is—this is Chapter 397, all 58 pages of it. This is the Marchman Act.

So yeah, could you go to the courthouse and do it yourself? You could. But I think at the very least, you’re going to need to take a read of this.

There are some other things you need to consider. First of all, there are two parts to this: there’s assessment and treatment.

Now, assessment can be done voluntarily. It can be done involuntarily. If it’s involuntary, is it being done on an emergency basis? Is it being done on a non-emergency basis?

If it’s an emergency, who’s going to do the pickup? Is it the police? Do you have your own private investigator, like we do, that’s going to do it for you?

And if you’re going to do a pickup under the emergency section of the assessment part of the statute, where is your loved one going to be taken to? How long are they going to be kept there? All things to consider.

But let’s presume for right now that you get through the assessment stage and now you get to the treatment part—part two.

Now, the treatment part requires a hearing. The hearing is absolutely mandatory. At that hearing, your loved one, if they meet certain financial criteria, is going to be given a lawyer. The statute guarantees them an absolute right to counsel. And if they can afford their own lawyer, they can go and hire their own lawyer.

Unfortunately, if you’re the petitioner, you have no such right. You have no right to a lawyer. So in theory, you get to a treatment services hearing and your loved one has a lawyer and you don’t.

So obviously, that puts you at a significant disadvantage, because in addition to being familiar with the 58 pages of the Marchman Act, you need to be familiar with the rules of evidence, the rules of procedure. You know, how do you present testimony? How do you get exhibits admitted into evidence?

The statute requires that the clinician who did the assessment be present at the hearing. How do you get the person to be at that hearing? How do you present their testimony? I mean, these are all things to consider.

And so, what I would say to you is, if you’re going to file your own Marchman Act, be aware of the pitfalls.

Now, I also understand that some people just don’t have the resources—the financial resources—to be able to do this. And I certainly understand that, and I respect it. And Lord knows I have sort of talked about the fact that everybody needs to have, you know, access to not just the treatment, but the ability to go and file something like this.

If you’re a family who just doesn’t have the financial resources to hire private counsel, what I would suggest is you reach out to your local county bar associations.

So here in Palm Beach, we have the Palm Beach County Bar Association. We even have the South County Palm Beach County Bar Association.

If you don’t have the resources, I would certainly encourage you to reach out to your local bar association and see if there are any lawyers there who need pro bono hours, who are willing to do this on either a reduced fee basis or even for free.

So look, if you’re gonna file your own Marchman Act, I certainly respect your right to do that—but just be aware of the pitfalls of doing so.

With that said, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us.

With that said, stay safe and be well.

For more information or to schedule a consultation, call (561) 419-6095 or email.