Elder law is an emerging and growing legal specialty that roughly refers to working with people who are entering the long-term care system — usually a nursing home. An attorney specializing in issues presented by long-term illnesses and nursing home confinements may be consulted by the family at this point of crisis. The sad reality, however, is that perhaps more than 90% of the people who need such help do not find it or use it. Families, more often than not, chart the complex and dangerous waters alone and without objective assistance.
What are the issues? What are the dangers? Primarily it is the combination of technical legal issues combined with a highly charged emotional time for the family. Finding and trusting advice at a time like this is very difficult. Acting on that advice is even more difficult. It is always hard for family members to step in and start managing a parent's finances. The family may not be ready to admit that mom or dad cannot handle things alone anymore. Many times there is a lack of consensus among family members — it is hard enough finding consensus to face the problem, let alone take action in such a complex and confusing area of the law.
Questions families face — that an elder law attorney can answer:
- Who is eligible to make medical and financial decisions?
- What is the effect of signing admission papers and contracts of care?
- Who decides where our loved one will go and when?
- What is the difference between Medicare and Medicaid — and doesn't health insurance cover all of this?
- What is the effect of gifts made by a loved one prior to entering treatment?
- What happens to mom after dad gets admitted to a facility?
- What happens to our family home?
- Why does a nursing home ask for a copy of the Living Will?
- Will we lose everything? Do we have to give out all of this financial information?
- Will I be responsible for my parents' medical bills?
It is questions like these that a qualified elder law attorney can answer within the first half-hour of a consultation. Answers put the family at ease. They can begin working on the real issues. They can cast away worries about things that are not true, and focus on the task at hand.
"Elder law is not about preserving inheritance for the kids. It is about making sure the kids do not become liable for their parents' expenses — and giving parents choices and control of their own treatment options."
What should you do? First and foremost, do not take legal advice from a non-attorney, or from an attorney who is not spending at least half their practice time focusing on the needs of the elderly. A large part of elder law is knowing the system and the people and facilities within it. Working with the Department of Public Welfare daily, and visiting local nursing homes and assisted living facilities, is essential. An experienced elder law attorney knows the workers at the County Assistance Office. They are familiar with the informal customs as well as the formal requirements. They know which nursing homes are providing good care — and which are not — from their experience with hundreds of families in similar circumstances.
Elder law is about working with families to let them focus on the important things during a crisis: the medical decisions and the emotional challenges. It is about providing good and accurate information not only about the law but about how the law is being carried out. The law and its interpretations change daily — an elder law attorney will know of the changes that occurred "today," and those changes often have a dramatic impact on families.
This is a custom job for every family. Elder law is your family. It is not something that can be ignored.