Elder Law is the legal practice of counseling and representing older persons and their representatives about the legal aspects of health and long-term care planning, public benefits, surrogate decision-making, older persons' legal capacity, the conservation, disposition and administration of older persons' estates and the implementation of their decisions concerning such matters, giving due consideration to the pplicable tax consequences of the action, or the need for more sophisticated tax expertise.  

In addition, attorneys certified in elder law must be capable of recognizing issues of concern that arise during counseling and representation of older persons, or their representatives, with respect to abuse, neglect, or exploitation of the older person, insurance, housing, long-term care, employment, and retirement. The certified elder law attorney must also be familiar with professional and    non-legal resources and services publicly and privately available to meet the needs of the older persons, and be capable of recognizing the professional conduct and ethical issues that arise during representation.

 Short Story: A neighbor got a call one Sunday morning night to come to the police station and claim her friend.  It seems she had been stopped by a police officer at 1:30 am while driving her car erratically in the Loehman's Plaza parking lot.  The officer said the lady was confused and disoriented, and upon running her tag, found her license was suspended. What ultimately followed were visits from Adult Protective Services and
pending competency hearings in court.

 As it turned out, she had given her son a power of attorney, and she was ultimately moved to an assisted living facility.  Her home was sold and all her assets marshaled to pay for her assisted living.  The woman had stage 5 Alzheimer's and subsequently died from the disease.

 Now for the rest of the story!  That woman was my mother.  She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's several years before and had began to close off the outside world and still had enough capacity to veto any attempts to get her to move from her home.  She refused all assistance and cut off all friends and family from her life; but she did do one thing right.  She recognized she could not keep up with her bills and gave me a power of
attorney.  Without that, she would have been at the mercy of the courts. With it I was able to marshal her assets, sell her house and holdings and move her to an assisted living facility where she was well taken care of.

 So what is the lesson?  We all are getting older.  We all face the possibility of a disabling accident or disease.  Are you prepared?  Do you have a close family member or friend who is in that condition?  Do you want to trust your children, family or friends with your assets if you become disabled?  This is where I can help you. I have a very personal reason to help you make the decisions that can protect your assets, but also allow you
to qualify for government assistance if it is needed or provide advice on other ways to prepare for the aging process.

1. Health and Personal Care Planning, including giving advice regarding, and preparing, advance medical directives (medical powers of attorney, living wills, and health care declarations) and counseling older persons, attorneys-in-fact, and families about medical and life-sustaining choices, and related personal life choices.

2. Pre-Mortem Legal Planning, including giving advice and preparing documents regarding wills, trusts, durable general or financial powers of attorney, real estate, gifting, and the financial and tax implications of any proposed action.

3. Fiduciary Representation, including: seeking the appointment of, giving advice to, representing, or serving as executor, personal representative, attorney-in-fact, trustee, guardian, conservator, representative payee, or other formal or informal fiduciary.

4. Legal Capacity Counseling, including advising how capacity is determined and the level of capacity required for various legal activities, and representing those who are or may be the subject of guardianship/conservatorship proceedings or other protective arrangements.

5. Public Benefits Advice, including planning for and assisting in obtaining Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Veterans benefits, and food stamps.

6. Advice on Insurance Matters, including analyzing and explaining the types of insurance available, such as health, life, long-term care, home care, COBRA, Medigap, long-term disability, dread disease, and burial/funeral policies.

7. Resident Rights Advocacy, including advising patients and residents of hospitals, nursing facilities, continuing care retirement communities, assisted living facilities, adult care facilities, and those cared for in their homes of their rights and appropriate remedies in matters such as admission, transfer and discharge policies, quality of care, and related issues.

8. Housing Counseling, including reviewing the options available and the financing of those options such as: mortgage alternatives, renovation loan programs, life care contracts, and home equity conversion.

9. Employment and Retirement Advice, including pensions, retiree health benefits, unemployment benefits, and other benefits.

10. Income, Estate, and Gift Tax Advice, including consequences of plans made and advice offered.  

11. Counseling about tort claims against nursing homes.

12. Counseling with regard to age and/or disability discrimination in employment and housing.

13. Litigation and Administrative Advocacy in connection with any of the above matters, including will contests, contested capacity issues, elder abuse (including financial or consumer fraud), fiduciary administration, public benefits, nursing home torts, and discrimination.