Question: If you have the Power of Attorney for a person what sort of paperwork do you need to keep, and are you authorized to make decisions re: the care of that person in an assisted living facility or nursing home if the person is still in his/her right mind?
Answer: Once the durable Power of Attorney for health care or finance is in place, the designated person who holds the Power of Attorney should keep as much documentation about the person as possible, including a list of their medications, physician's report including diagnosis, allergies, etc., advanced healthcare directive, POLST (physician's orders for life sustaining treatment), DNR (do not resuscitate) , family history, medical history, copy of the Will, bank information, mortuary information, etc. The Power of Attorney is authorized to make decisions re: the care of that person in an assisted living facility or nursing home even if the person is still in his/her right mind.
My answer to your question is based on my many years of being a long term care Administrator. If you need more specific information about these legal documents, I would suggest you contact an Elder Care Attorney in California, which can be found on ElderCareMatters.com.
Daniela Berindei, Administrator
Elite Elder Care
El Dorado Hills, California
916-267-1346
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, California chapter
Answer: If you are a professional who helps families plan for or deal with ANY of their elder care matters, then you owe it to yourself to be listed on America's #1 online source for "Elder Care Experts"….
ElderCareMatters.com
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So if you are a competent, caring elder care professional who helps families with ANY of their elder care matters, then request today an Application for Membership in the national ElderCare Matters Alliance and get listed on ElderCareMatters.com - America's #1 source for "Elder Care Experts" plus information and answers about a wide range of elder care matters.
Phillip G. Sanders, MBA, MSHA, CPA
Founder & CEO
ElderCare Matters, LLC
ElderCareMatters.com
Answer: In Massachusetts and probably other states, if married couples do not have a health care proxy (HCP) in place and one of them needs hospital care the other will have no rights with respect to his or her spouse's health care needs.
In circumstances where the hospitalized spouse loses competency to decide an emergency, guardianship will be required. The cost will then become large because court action will be required. If these people are hesitant they can name each other as health care agent followed by a trusted child as an alternate. Also they should think about a durable financial power of attorney because a health care proxy only addresses health issues, and if one of them becomes incompetent the other can take over with the financials. Without that document financial institutions would require a Conservatorship– again an expensive proposition. Every person needs to have these 2 documents in place. The fiscal and emotional costs to the family would be far greater than the actual legal costs to retain an attorney to draft them.
Susana Lannik, Attorney at Law
Law Office of Susana Lannik, LLC
Newton, Massachusetts 02458
617-658-2980
www.LannikLaw.com
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, Massachusetts chapter
Answer: A power of attorney is a legal document signed by you that grants another individual power to act and make decisions on your behalf. It may be general or limited to specific matters, such as finances or healthcare.
A guardianship, on the other hand, is a power granted by a court at the request of a third party to take control over your person, with or without your prior or current consent.
Generally speaking, a guardian has the same powers over his ward as a parent has over a minor child, unless those powers are specifically curbed by the court that granted them.
A power of attorney is generally preferable to a guardianship. Powers of attorney can be setup quickly and inexpensively and allow you to choose who will have powers over you, while guardianships can be long and expensive to put in place and leave the choice of a guardian in the hands of the court.
To find competent elder care professionals who are located near You and can help you with this type of elder care matter, go to: www.ElderCareMatters.com - A FREE online resource to find elder care experts plus elder care information & answers to your elder care questions.
Janna Dutton, Attorney at Law
Founding Partner
Dutton & Casey, P.C.
Chicago, Illinois 60603
312-899-0950
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, Illinois chapter
Answer: A health care power of attorney would be important if you became mentally incompetent–authorizing an agent to make health care decisions for you.
To locate competent elder care professionals who are located near You and can help you with this type of elder care matter, go to: www.ElderCareMatters.com - A FREE online source to find elder care experts plus information & answers about a wide range of elder care matters.
John E. Settle, Jr., Esq.
John E. Settle, Jr., Attorney at Law
Bossier City, Louisiana 71111
318-742-5513
Member of the ElderCare Matters Alliance, Louisiana chapter
Answer: It is a great idea to have a relationship with an elder law attorney so that your family and friends know who to turn to if something were to happen. The attorney can help them with decisions if you have a serious illness or require extended care. The attorney can also help them through the estate administration process after you pass away. Creating a relationship with a good elder law attorney does not have to be expensive. Many attorneys either charge a fixed fee for their help or charge hourly only for the work they do for you. When you meet with an attorney, he or she can talk about how they charge and help work with you to make sure that you are comfortable with how things would be handled.
To locate competent elder care professionals who are located near You and can help you with this type of elder care matter, go to: www.ElderCareMatters.com - A FREE online source to find elder care experts plus information & answers about a wide range of elder care matters.
Angela N. Manz, Attorney at Law
The Law Firm of Angela N. Manz
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
757-271-6275
Member of the ElderCare Matters Alliance, Virginia chapter
Heather R. Chubb, Life Transitions Lawyer
The Chubb Law Firm
Gold River, California 95670
916-635-6800
Ms. Chubb is this week's Featured Elder Care Expert on www.ElderCareMatters.com, and will be answering your questions about Elder Care Matters.
Heather R. Chubb is a Life Transitions Lawyer in the Sacramento area dedicated to helping individuals and families make the best possible legal decisions for themselves and those they love. She uses her passion to educate her clients and make navigating the legal world easy, understandable and comfortable.
While each of her clients has different needs and objectives; they all have the common goal of protecting those they love, keeping control for as long as possible, making the most of assets they worked hard to acquire, and making things as easy as possible for their loved ones. She is particularly attuned to the needs of the “sandwich generation” balancing the demands of children, home, work and caring for elderly parents.
Whether developing a foundational estate plan, special needs plan, long-term care plan (including Medi-Cal and VA benefits), or advanced plan, or administering a plan upon death or incapacity, the focus is the individual client and their needs and goals.
Heather is a member of the State Bar of California Trusts and Estates section, WealthCounsel, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), and the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, California chapter.
Answer: A last will and testament becomes effective only upon death and does not contain provisions for planning at incapacity. However, a properly drafted trust appoints a successor trustee to make distributions to or for the benefit of the Settlor at his incapacity (and this can be expanded to provide for others as well upon the incapacity of the Settlor (such as the Settlor's spouse and children). Also, a power of attorney for healthcare and property can be used which names an agent to make healthcare and property decisions for a person should they become incapacitated. These can be drafted with very broad powers, or the powers of the agent can be as limited as desired. Also, the power of attorney for property can include provisions which allow the agent to make gifts and other estate planning decisions on behalf of a person who has become incapacitated, if that is desired.
NOTE: The information provided above is not intended to be nor should be relied upon as legal advice. Peck Bloom, LLC is located in the State of Illinois and the attorneys are only licensed to practice law in Illinois and Florida.
To locate experts in your state who can help you with this elder care matter, go to: www.ElderCareMatters.com/statechapters.htm
Kerry R. Peck, Managing Partner
Peck Bloom, LLC
Chicago, Illinois 60603
1-877-845-1743
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, Illinois chapter
Answer: You should keep the most recent version of your legal documents (wills, trusts, powers of attorney) forever (or until any administration on your estate after you die is complete). If you get a new document done, you can destroy the old one. You can definitely keep the documents in your safety deposit box; however, make sure someone other than yourself has access to the box. That way, if something happens to you, someone can get into the box to obtain your documents.
Ben A. Neiburger, JD, CPA
Neiburger Law, Ltd.
Elmhurst, Illinois 60126
630-782-1766
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, Illinois chapter
Answer: Legal problems that affect the elderly are growing in number. Our laws and regulations are becoming more complex. Actions taken by older people with regard to a single matter may have unintended legal effects. It is important for attorneys dealing with the elderly to have a broad understanding of the laws that may have an impact on a given situation, to avoid future problems.
Unfortunately, this job is not made easy by the fact that Elder Law encompasses many different fields of law. Some of these include:
- Preservation/transfer of assets seeking to avoid spousal impoverishment when a spouse enters a nursing home
- Medicaid
- Medicare claims and appeals
- Social security and disability claims and appeals
- Supplemental and long term health insurance issues.
- Disability planning, including use of durable powers of attorney, living trusts, “living wills,” for financial management and health care decisions, and other means of delegating management and decision-making to another in case of incompetence or incapacity.
- Conservatorships and guardianships
- Estate planning, including planning for the management of one's estate during life and its disposition on death through the use of trusts, wills and other planning documents
- Probate
- Administration and management of trusts and estates
- Long-term care placements in nursing home and life care communities
- Nursing home issues including questions of patients’ rights and nursing home quality
- Elder abuse and fraud recovery cases
- Housing issues, including discrimination and home equity conversions
- Age discrimination in employment
- Retirement, including public and private retirement benefits, survivor benefits and pension benefits
- Health law
- Mental health law
Most Elder Law Attorneys do not specialize in every one of these areas. So when an attorney says he/she practices Elder Law, find out which of these matters he/she handles. You will want to hire the attorney who regularly handles matters in the area of concern in your particular case and who will know enough about the other fields to question whether the action being taken might be affected by laws in any of the other areas of law on the list. For example, if you are going to prepare a new will and your spouse is ill, the estate planner needs to know enough about Medicaid to know whether it is an issue with regard to your spouse’s medical care planning.
David F. Anderson, Esq.
David F. Anderson, P.A.
Miami Lakes, Florida 33016
305-825-4052
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, Florida chapter
Answer: If you are an elder care professional and you would like to "get the word out to thousands of families across America in a cost effective way about how you can help them plan for and deal with their issues of aging", then you should join our 1,250 elder care experts as a lifetime member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance. And, now, if you are one of the next 250 members, you will receive a 25% discount off the regular lifetime membership price.
This 25% discount is available only to the next 250 elder care professionals who join the national ElderCare Matters Alliance.
So if you are a competent, caring elder care professional – take advantage of this special 25% discount offer and pay only $337.50 for a "lifetime membership" (and there are no annual membership dues, ever!) to the national ElderCare Matters Alliance.
To request an Application for Lifetime Membership, send an email directly to: psanders@eldercarematters.com
Phillip G. Sanders, MBA, MSHA, CPA
Founder & CEO
ElderCare Matters, LLC
1-877-379-4500
www.ElderCareMatters.com
If you are an elder care professional and you would like to "get the word out to thousands of families across America in a cost effective way about how you can help them plan for and deal with their issues of aging", then you should join our 1,250 elder care experts as a lifetime member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance. And, now, if you are one of the next 250 members, you will receive a 25% discount off the regular lifetime membership price.
This 25% discount is available only to the next 250 elder care professionals who join the national ElderCare Matters Alliance.
So if you are a competent, caring elder care professional – take advantage of this special 25% discount offer and pay only $337.50 for a "lifetime membership" (and there are no annual membership dues, ever!) to the national ElderCare Matters Alliance.
To request an Application for Lifetime Membership, send an email directly to: psanders@eldercarematters.com
Phillip G. Sanders, MBA, MSHA, CPA
Founder & CEO
ElderCare Matters, LLC
1-877-379-4500
www.ElderCareMatters.com
Answer: The experts of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance.
ElderCareMatters.com is now offering a NEW Ask an Elder Care Expert service.
Each week one of our 1,200 experts will answer your family's important questions about elder care matters – from legal, financial, housing, health care, etc.
If you would like to ask one of our Elder Care Experts a question about his/her areas of expertise, just send a short email (a few sentences only please) to: Questions@ElderCareMatters.com
Every day we will post one of your questions along with an answer provided by our Featured Elder Care Expert of the Week to the homepage of www.ElderCareMatters.com (which is currently visited by thousands of families each week). Yours may be one of the questions posted.
So bookmark www.ElderCareMatters.com and visit us daily as questions about a wide range of elder care matters are answered by some of America's top elder care professionals with years of experience helping families plan for and deal with their issues of aging.
Phillip G. Sanders, MBA, MSHA, CPA
Founder & CEO
ElderCare Matters
1-877-379-4500
www.ElderCareMatters.com
Answer: Unfortunately, if they have capacity, you cannot force them to sign a healthcare power of attorney or take over their decision making authority. Maybe the issue is simply not wanting to discuss it with you.
Is there a third person you can enlist to talk with them about this important elder care matter, i.e., member of the clergy or maybe a social worker or care manager?
To locate an elder care expert in your area, I would suggest that you go to www.ElderCareMatters.com/statechapters.htm
Sonya Mittelman, Attorney at Law
Bronx, NY 10461
718-863-4647
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, New York chapter
The ElderCare Matters Alliance is a national organization of 1,200 elder care experts who help families across America plan for and deal with their issues of aging, including providing families with a host of elder care resources that can be found on www.ElderCareMatters.com
If you are a competent, caring elder care professional – you need to belong to the national ElderCare Matters Alliance.
To request a Lifetime Membership Application to the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, send an email to psanders@ElderCareMatters.com
www.ElderCareMatters.com – America's online source for elder care experts who help families plan for and deal with their issues of aging.
Phillip G. Sanders, MBA, MSHA, CPA
Founder & CEO
ElderCare Matters
www.ElderCareMatters.com
Answer: Your best move is to contact a Georgia attorney ASAP. For a listing of Georgia Elder Care attorneys, you can take a look at http://www.eldercarematters.com/georgia/.
Generally, documents that are valid in the State where they are signed will be deemed valid in other States, even if the other States impose different or additional signing requirements (such as whether they must be notarized or whether they need to be witnessed, and if so, by how many witnesses).
Thus, the Missouri documents may be just fine for Georgia purposes, but only a Georgia-licensed attorney can answer that question with authority.
The fact that your father has Alzheimer's may or may not impact his ability to sign documents. Obviously, mild Alzheimer's would not be an insurmountable problem, and even more advanced stages of the disease may not preclude a person's ability to sign documents that set out his or her simple choice of who will be the person's surrogate decision-maker. What level of capacity is required to be able to sign different kinds of documents is a question of State law, so again, you are best advised to talk with a Georgia attorney at first opportunity.
If your father's Missouri documents turn out to be invalid or unhelpful in Georgia, there may be a variety of things that can be done under Georgia law to protect his choices as previously set out in his Missouri documents. For example, if your Georgia counsel reaches the conclusion that the Missouri documents don't work in Georgia, you may be able to go before a Georgia court to have a guardian appointed for your father. Your father's expression of his choice as to who would make decisions on his behalf if he became unable to make them himself would, at the very least, be grounds for the Georgia court to appoint the very people your father had hand-picked while he was competent.
Scott A. Makuakane, Esq., CFP
Est8Planning Counsel LLLC
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
808-587-8227
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, Hawaii chapter
Answer: Your agent should be given access based on his/his status as agent. It is, however, advisable to sign a release granting your agent the right to any information that may be protected under HIPPA, or include some language in your Health Care Proxy.
Sonya Mittelman, Attorney at Law
Law Office of Sonya Mittelman
Bronx, New York 10461
718-863-4647
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, New York chapter
