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
ElderCareMatters.com is where you will find more than 2,000 competent, caring elder care experts located across America, including:
-
Elder Law Attorneys
-
Estate Planning Advisors
-
Financial Planners
-
Investment Advisors
-
Geriatric Care Managers
-
Insurance Professionals
-
Life Care Planners
-
Professional Organizers
-
Reverse Mortgage Lenders
-
Senior Move Managers
-
Senior Real Estate Professionals
-
Tax Advisors
-
Aging in Place Professionals
-
Daily Money Managers
-
And other elder care experts with long and successful careers working with seniors and their families
This is also where you will find some of America's best:
-
Assisted Living Communities
-
Alzheimer's / Memory Care Communities
-
Continuing Care Retirement Communities
-
Home Care Agencies
Together, we provide families across America with:
-
Unparalleled professional expertise
-
Up-to-date elder care information & answers to your elder care questions
-
Competent, caring assistance with a wide range of elder care services
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: There are several types of guardianship available under the Illinois Probate Act. It is important that all available options be considered to determine the appropriate form of guardianship for a specific person with disabilities. In each case, consideration should be given to requesting either limited or plenary guardianship. Limited guardianship is used when the person with disabilities can make some, but not all, decisions regarding his/her personal care and/or finances.
The basic forms guardianship can take follow:
- Limited Guardianship – used when the person with disabilities can make some, but not all, decisions regarding his/her person and/or estate. "Guardianship shall be ordered only to the extent necessitated by the individual's mental, physical and adaptive limitations." A limited guardian makes only those decisions about personal care and/or finances which the ward cannot make. The powers of a limited guardian must be specifically listed in the court order. The ward retains the power to make all other decisions regarding his/her person or estate. Limited guardianship may be used to appoint a limited guardian of the person, a limited guardian of the estate, or both.
- Plenary Guardianship – used when the "individual's mental, physical and adaptive limitations" necessitate a guardian who has the power to make all important decisions regarding the individual's personal care and finances. Plenary guardianship may be used for the person, the estate, or both.
- Guardianship of the Person – used when a person, "because of his disability, lacks sufficient understanding or capacity to make or communicate responsible decisions regarding the care of his person." The guardian of the person makes decisions regarding the "support, care, comfort, health, education,…maintenance, and…professional services" (such as educational, vocational, habilitation, treatment and medical services) for the person under guardianship who is called a ward.
- Guardianship of the Estate – used when the person "because of his disability…is unable to manage his estate or financial affairs". A guardian of the estate makes decisions about management of the ward's property and finances.
- Temporary Guardianship – used in an emergency situation. Temporary guardianship can last no longer than 60 days and is a means to assure that the person who evidences need for guardianship receives immediate protection.
- Successor Guardianship – used upon the death, disability, or resignation of the initially appointed guardian, when guardianship is still needed.
- Testamentary Guardianship – used by parents of a person with disabilities and designates, by will, a person who assumes the guardianship appointment upon the death of a parent. The designated person must still be appointed by the court before he/she can serve as guardian. The court will consider the designated person but is not bound by the testamentary designation. It can appoint someone else if the proposed guardian is found to be inappropriate.
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
This week's Featured Elder Care Expert is Angela N. Manz, Attorney at Law, Member of the ElderCare Matters Alliance (a network of 1,450+ elder care experts) and Founder of the Law Office of Angela N. Manz, a law firm in Virginia Beach, Virginia, that specializes in Elder Law, Estate Planning, and closely related practice areas.
Every day this week (M-F), Ms. Manz will answer one of your questions about her areas of expertise (Elder Law & Estate Planning), and this selected question along with Ms. Manz 's answer will be posted on the Featured Elder Care Question of the Day section of ElderCareMatters.com.
So if you would like to ask Ms. Manz a question about your elder care matter, just send a short email (a few sentences only please) to: questions@ElderCareMatters. com.
And remember to bookmark ElderCareMatters.com and check back often to see if your question is our Featured Elder Care Question of the Day.
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
Steven H. Peck, Attorney at Law
Law Offices of Steven H. Peck, Ltd.
300 Saunders Road
Suite 100
Riverwoods, Illinois 60015
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, Illinois chapter
Steven H. Peck is a native of Boston, Massachusetts and is married with three daughters. Mr. Peck graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Harvard College. He received his Juris Doctor degree from Boston College Law School.
Mr. Peck is licensed to practice law in Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Florida and six federal jurisdictions, including the United States Supreme Court and the United States Tax Court.
Mr. Peck has been involved in the estate and tax planning field for over 19 years and is devoted full time to the practice of estate planning. He is a member of the Illinois Forum of Estate Planning Attorneys as well as Wealth Counsel, a nationwide group of attorneys committed to bringing their clients the finest estate planning advice and documentation possible. Additionally, he is a member of Elder Counsel, which is devoted to the practice of elder law and special needs planning. Mr. Peck is also listed in Nationwide Register’s, Who’s Who in Executives and Businesses.
Mr. Peck has presented several hundred seminars on the topic of estate planning for the public and various private organizations across the country. He was also a faculty member for National Business Institute’s professional education seminar “Handling the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax”.
Prior to estate planning law Mr. Peck practiced real estate development law and spent four years active duty as a captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Additionally, he has a substantial knowledge of the insurance field having spent several years as an insurance broker prior to practicing law.
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
Answer: A 19-year-old can be appointed guardian of younger siblings, assuming the parents are no longer living. It seems improbable, however, that a 19-year-old would be able to provide for younger siblings; in this instance, it seems safe to assume there are assets for the 19-year-old to draw upon in funding household expenses. A co-guardianship, while possible, is not ideal. In some states, it may be necessary for both co-guardians to approve all decisions, which can delay forward movement on emergency care and other time-sensitive matters. There may be situations in which the co-guardians do not agree and a stalemate develops. The decision of one must outweigh the decision of the other if agreement cannot be reached.
Preferable to a co-guardian arrangement would be a guardianship that includes the establishment of a trust. The elder sibling can act as guardian with the family friend in the role of trustee. The guardian would have to consult with the trustee in order to gain access to funds, thus providing a safety net of sorts when major decisions/expenditures are made. The family friend can also be appointed successor guardian.
Shay Jacobson, RN, MA, NMG
Lifecare Innovations, Inc.
Burr Ridge, Illinois 60527
630-953-2154
Member of the national ElderCare Matters Alliance, Illinois chapter
