Taxation & Estate Planning

More on Caregiving from a Distance

Posted on February 09, 2007
Has your mom taken her medication today? Did the nurse show up at your dad's on time? Did your aunt fall?  If you live next door or down the street, you can easily find this information. But if you are at the other end of the state or across the country it's more difficult to know without making 37 phone calls a day...

Free Teleseminar on Communicating Across Generations

Posted on February 07, 2007
Age Wise Living, a generational coaching company has two recorded seminars on their website called "You're Not Hearing What I'm Saying" which deal with communicating across the generational divide and communicating through the emotion.  This coaching can be useful when trying to figure out how to broach difficult subjects with your aging parents - from helping them keep track of their finances and medical records, to suggesting they move into an assisted living facility...

Trying to Help from 1500 Miles Away

Posted on February 05, 2007
Many of my readers, and some of my client's children, are in the unfortunate position of trying to locate services and provide support for their loved ones who live very far away. While it can be easy locate home care providers, day centers, and assisted living facilities on the internet, it can be very difficult to determine whether these are the appropriate fit for your loved one...

Guardianship - Authority and Responsibility of the Guardian

Posted on January 31, 2007
In general, the guardian has complete control over the financial, medical and personal decisions of the ward. This includes where the ward will live, how the ward's money is spent, and making routine medical decisions for the ward. A ward has no more authority to make these decisions for themselves...

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Guardianship of An Aging Parent - the Process

Posted on January 29, 2007
Having to consider a guardianship over an aging parent is difficult, although sometimes necessary.  In most cases, if someone has a comprehensive durable power of attorney drafted and a health care proxy in place, that should do away with the need to pursue a guardianship...

Choosing Guardians for Your Child with Special Needs

Posted on January 26, 2007
Choosing a potential guardian for a child is no easy task for any parent, but it may be even more difficult for a parent of child with special needs.  In addition to things like "will my kids be comfortable in their home?" you also have to consider do the guardians live near my child's medical providers? do they live near better (or less stellar) medical providers? would the guardians be willing to learn the procedures necessary to care for my child's feeding tube, catheter, or other medical devices? could the guardians handle my child's hyperactivity or bi-polar disorder? are they willing to learn? have I left enough resources either through life insurance policies or other means so that the guardians could renovate their house to accommodate my child's wheelchair, pay for a nurse or other home help to come in and assist them in learning how to perform any special procedures, or even stop working to care for my child full time? have I spoken to the proposed guardian to make sure they are comfortable with taking on these additional responsibilities in the event of my death? The proposed guardian does not have to be able to do all those things now, but they do need to love your child and be willing to learn to raise a child with special needs - whether they are medical, neurological, or a combination...

Free Booklet on Caring for An Aging Loved One

Posted on January 10, 2007
The Federal Consumer Information Center has a free booklet on Caring For an Aging Loved One. It has advice on changes to lookout for, how to develop a care plan, organizing documents and managing your loved one's affairs, as well as community and other housing options...

Organizing Your Financial Life - Month by Month

Posted on January 04, 2007
January is a great time to get organized and make plans for the year.  Attorney Joel Schoenmeyer, who writes the Death and Taxes Blog in Chicago, has a recent post called Organize Your Financial Life in 2007.  He lays out, month by month which tasks you should tackle such as making an appointment with a financial planner, meeting with your accountant, getting your taxes in order, opening a safe deposit box, reviewing your insurance policies, and more...

Why Am I In the Waiting Room?

Posted on January 02, 2007
If you bring your parent to an appointment with an elder law attorney, you might want to bring a good book or your knitting.  This is because you may be sitting in the waiting room for most of the meeting. The American Bar Association explains why in their pamphlet Why Am I Left in the Waiting Room?, which outlines the "Four C's" of elder law ethics that lawyers are required to follow: Client Identification:  The most important thing for an attorney to convey in the initial meeting is "who is my client...

New Year's Resolutions

Posted on December 29, 2006
People make New Year's Resolutions about a lot of things - getting in shape, stopping smoking, getting organized, drawing up their Will and other planning documents.  And just as your personal trainer can give you information about the best way to get in shape and guide you on your way, your doctor can offer assistance in stopping smoking and your local organizing whiz can help you find the best way to manage your paper - your attorney can help you figure out the best way to form your estate plan...

When Someone Dies

Posted on December 14, 2006
"I don't know exactly what it is you do when someone dies" - Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree. Like the narrator in Edna's sonnet, people know that there are things that need to be done when someone dies ,but they don't know what those things are, or they feel overwhelmed and don't know what to do first...

Managing Your Parent's Finances

Posted on December 01, 2006
If you find yourself in the position of having to take over the management of your parent's finances, this recent article by Bankrate is a good place to start.  It lists the 8 steps you should take:1. Find All of Your Parent's Financial Accounts and Documents2...

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