Opinion 03-125

January 12, 2004

         This letter is in response to your inquiry (03-125) regarding whether you may serve as your parent’s authorized representative and appear with him/her in that capacity, and not as his/her attorney, at a hearing on his/her appeal of a Medicare determination. We refer you to our Opinion 99-114 (Vol. XVIII), a copy of which is enclosed, which indicates that a full-time judge may act as an attorney-in-fact for a family member, so long as there is no attorney-client relationship citing section 100.4(E)(1) of the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct. It is clear, therefore, that there is no ethical bar to your appearing with your parent as his/her authorized representative at the Medicare hearing.