Elder Law

Clients often ask how elder law is different from traditional estate planning. Elder law is a shift from focusing on the estate to focusing on the person, the elder, and the life he or she wants. Whereas the estate planner and accountant help the client "plan his or her estate," by focusing on the assets, the elder law practitioner counsels the client on how to live his or her remaining years in dignity.

After the elder law attorney and client complete their work, assets are spent to achieve client goals, not simply invested to benefit the heirs or to maximize the financial manager's annual fees.

Elder law is intended to broadly assist "extended living." More specifically, it is the practice of law aimed at providing the legal information necessary for persons whose lives will extend or have already extended beyond the time when all children have usually left the home and when regular employment (and earned income) ceases.

Our legal services include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Health and Personal Care Planning

• Pre-Mortem Legal Planning

• Fiduciary Representation

• Legal Capacity Counseling

• Individual Representative

• Public Benefits Advice

• Insurance Analysis

• Facility Resident Right Advocacy

• Housing Counseling

• Employment and Retirement Advice

• Income, Estate and Gift Tax Advice

• Counseling

• Litigation and Administration Advocacy