Legal Considerations for Your Loved One
Elder Law is a deeply important, and also deeply complex code governing three major areas of your senior’s life. Navigating this successfully helps protect their life, liberty, and their property as well. The sections of Elder Law to be aware of are:
Power of Attorney for Finances
A power of attorney for finances is a person you choose to trust with your money, who then becomes you ‘agent’ and can act on your behalf and help you with your money, property and belongings. The agent can do things like pay your bills, take money out of your bank account, or buy and sell your property. If you make your power of attorney “durable”, the agent can keep helping you even if you become sick or injured and cannot make decisions for yourself. You can still make your own decisions about your finances and you can change or cancel your power of attorney at any time. Visit our Preferred Professionals page for information about local elder law groups that can help.
Power of Attorney for Health Care
A power of attorney for health care document is a person you choose to trust with your health care, who then becomes your ‘agent’ to act on your behalf and help you with health care decisions. The agent can do things like access your medical records and approve medical treatment. If you make your power of attorney “durable”, the agent can keep helping you even if you become sick or injured and cannot make decisions for yourself. You can still make your own decisions about your health care and you can change or cancel your power of attorney at any time. Visit our Preferred Professionals page for information about local elder law groups that can help.
Health Care Directive
A health care directive, also called a ‘living will’, you choose the end-of-life medical procedures you do not want to have should you become terminally ill or permanently unconscious. The types of treatment you can reject include feeding tubes, ventilators, IV hydration, and CPR. You can also list your general values regarding your health care in this directive. You can still make your own decisions as long as you are able and you can change or cancel the health care directive at any time. Visit our Preferred Professionals page for information about local elder law groups that can help.
Estate Planning
The last will and testament isn’t exactly a fun conversation, but it’s important to have while there’s time so your senior can make all their wishes known explicitly. It also helps reduce the stress and pain of relatives after the testator has passed away. Between wills dictated by the senior themselves, and those handled by a trust, this section of law is sensitive and absolutely vital. Visit our Preferred Professionals page for information about local real estate professionals that can help.
Long Term Care Issues
From Medicare and disability insurance to loss of coverage and security due to retirement, getting your senior what’s due to them through legal processes and protecting their health is a crucial area to have covered. Visit our Preferred Professionals page for information about local insurance professionals that can help.
Guardianship and Conservatorship
Perhaps most sensitive of all is the idea of having someone else have autonomy over you and your decisions for the remainder of your life. For many seniors, this is an absolutely frightening prospect, and for that reason many don’t dive into planning it. Planning ahead is important to prevent your senior’s guardianship defaulting to a party they don’t trust, or becoming a ward of the state where cases of abuse have been more numerous than comfortable. Visit our Preferred Professionals page for information about local elder law groups that can help.
Throughout a transition and planning for the rest of their lives, having qualified and sympathetic legal help will remove a lot of the fear and uncertainty. We here at Concierge Care Advisors are happy to help you from start-to-finish. Visit our Preferred Professionals page for information about local professionals that can help.
*Please note: this general information is not intended as a substitute for specific legal advice.
What our customers are saying
I have worked with Concierge Care Advisors many times with my clients. I personally worked with them recently when moving my Dad home from Philadelphia. They are LIFE SAVERS!!!! If you have a family member that needs help finding assisted living, CCA should be your very first call. VERY FIRST call :). There are so many things to think about and consider that I never really knew. They helped me find a great place for my Pops, helped me negotiate with the facility and helped me navigate my emotions as well! It’s a lot and I am forever grateful to Concierge Care Advisors.
Our experience was outstanding! Sally was patient, knowledgeable and quickly was able to put together zoom tours over a couple of days. We appreciated her going to rehab where my mother was so that Mom could also participate in the zoom tours. I can’t say enough about the service. Thank you.
Absolutely amazing people here who genuinely want to help you and your family. I had been struggling for the past year and a half to find my grandmother the care that she needed. I was on my own and had no help from family. I could not get anywhere with the assisted living facilities in my area and my grandmother’s caseworker kept giving me the run around. The day I was given Vannah Roberto’s contact was the day that my grandmother and I finally got the help we needed. She kept in constant contact, explained every step of the process and found my grandmother somewhere to live within 2 weeks! Its been almost a month that my grandmother has moved in to her new home and Vannah still reaches out to make sure she is happy. She really cared about us and I can’t imagine where we’d be if I hadn’t got in touch with her. If you need the help, please reach out to this organization! They are here to help you!
My brother lives in Olympia, WA state and I’m in Fl. Geographical distance made no difference to the superior service I got. My brother was having neurological issues, falling constantly, losing his grasp of reality. His marriage was falling apart as a result and his married daughter , also in Olympia, WA, contacted me in a panic as to what to do, where to turn, who might be able to help. I stumbled upon CCA’s clear and relevant statement of purpose, contacted Chelsea and never looked back. Specializing in senior transition, Chelsea performed a cursory eval on the phone with me first to get a picture of what was going on. Here is the most amazing part of Chelsea’s input: My brother had visited many facilities by himself, didn’t know what questions to ask and found none to his liking. He had to leave the facility he was currently housed in by the end of the month. I expected Chelsea to say waiting lists, financial income, medical needs, all the complicated blocks would prohibit finding a place for my brother in one month’s time. My brother was uncooperative and exhibiting fear, and mental indecisiveness. None of that deterred Chelsea. She was gentle, diplomatic, willing and confident of resources available. Never pressuring. She reached out to set up a conversation meeting with my brother, which he cancelled. His daughter and I were frustrated by my brother’s reluctance given the deadline. Chelsea was not. She teamed up with me and his daughter and provided us with a list of local facilities that would fit my brother’s needs as we described them to her.
His daughter, now more confident in the knowledge that Chelsea had her back, drove her father to a facility located near her and his grand-kids and both agreed it was the best fit…in the nick of time.
You can see how the family dynamics of this unfolded. It took Chelsea, a well seasoned CCA advisor to steer this family to happiness. We are very, VERY grateful.