Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

You have elderly parents and the very mention of entering a nursing home makes them very nervous. They wish to stay in their own home for as long as possible and understandably so. It seems that as people age and everyday tasks become more difficult, that entering a nursing home or assisted living facility is the only viable solution. Fortunately there are other options available that allow people to be able to live in their homes for longer than they used to.

The reversal of roles in the parent-child relationship, from the parent being the provider to the parent being dependent on his or her child, is a change that can be difficult for both. This is made even more difficult when it becomes apparent that the parent(s) can no longer live on their own, and now need around the clock care.

You may have heard the term 'Power of Attorney' being used before, perhaps by your doctor or a close family member. That person likely emphasized how important having one is. You also may be asking yourself, do I really need one? The answer is yes.

It is true that as we all age, our minds are not as sharp as they once were. We tend to forget minor things like where we put our keys or what level of a parking garage that we parked our car on. There is however a major difference in having small memory lapses, which even the most keen minds will have from time to time, and having a brain disease such as Dementia or Alzheimer’s.

Your parents may reach a point where they can no longer live on their own. Not only that, but as we age, the costs of living increase as we seek more and more complicated medical care.

Michigan roads are notorious for being rough, unsteady and full of potholes. Sooner or later, your car may hit one that you didn’t see coming, costing you precious time and money. However, potholes are avoidable if you know where they are. The same is true with estate planning.

No family is perfect. Families will fight, not speak to each other for extended periods, or in some extreme cases, face each other in court. 

This is especially true as parents advance in age and as they become more dependent on their children for assistance, old conflicts can come back to the forefront, leading to quarrels among siblings as well as between parents and their children.

Often these disputes begin not out of greed but for a variety of other reasons:

• Internal difficulty in coping with a parent in decline
• Conflicts, power struggles and rivalries that are dug up from the past
• Disparities and inequities in the burden of care
• Disagreements in both medical decisions and in living arrangements
• Financial concerns over the care of a parent

I’m sure you’ve spent a wonderful vacation at a unique and dreamy location and thought to yourself, “I wonder what it would be like to live here?” If you answered that question by investigating the details of purchasing a vacation home in that perfect spot, it would be wise to consult with an attorney early in the process to avoid getting into hot water later on.

Elder clients often approach attorneys with questions about Medicaid and often are not even sure what it is. 

10,000 Americans turn 65 every day. With an aging population, come a variety of new issues for society to address. One of those issues is elder financial abuse, which has been a growing problem over the past decade. According to a study in the American Journal of Public Health, 1 in 18 older “cognitively intact” adults falls prey to financial fraud or abuse in a given year.