The legal needs of many elder Americans go beyond basic advance directives and last wills. In addition to understanding the legal issues and complications that older Americans face, Elder Law Attorneys must also understand the surrounding personal concerns of their clients, such as health, financial and family issues, and how those affect their clients’ legal issues.
Recently Heard’s article entitled “What You Need to Know About Elder Law” explains that other specific areas of expertise include the following:
- End of life planning could extend to planning your health care support system as you age, signing a power of attorney, establishing a living will and other issues surrounding end of life care.
- Financial issues frequently entails questions about retirement and financial planning, housing financing, income and estate tax planning and gift tax issues.
- Long term care can include planning for asset protection, insurance for in-home care or assistance with activities of daily living, Medicaid planning, insurance, veterans’ benefits and other issues.
- Guardianship issues might include guardianship avoidance, planning wills and trusts, planning for the future of a special needs child, probate court and other issues surrounding minor or adult children.
- Abuse, neglect, and fraud. These elder law attorneys specialize in cases where an older client is being victimized.
Most Certified Elder Law Attorneys either focus on litigation issues such as resident’s rights, workplace discrimination, contested guardianship and elder abuse or they focus on planning issues. At McNair Dallas Law, we focus on Medicaid Planning, VA Pension Planning, Wills, Trusts, Probate, Advance Directives and other planning issues. To ensure that you are working with an attorney who is knowledgeable and experienced with these complicated planning issues, you will want to find someone who has earned the Certified Elder Law Attorney designation. You can find a Certified Elder Law Attorney near you at: https://nelf.org/.
Reference: Recently Heard (June 23, 2022) “What You Need to Know About Elder Law”
