Here is an increasingly common scenario we see in our practice. One family member usually a child, begins assisting, then taking care of and possibly even living with, an elderly parent as the parent’s abilities decline with age. The other children in the family eye the arrangement with suspicion: Is our sister just sponging off of mom or, worse yet,…
We know lots of people don’t like to think or talk about dying. We can see how our own clients often put off doing their estate planning until something happens that they see as a wake-up call: a friend dies suddenly without a will, leaving a mess for the family; or our client has to serve as their parents’ estate…
Julia was worried. “I’m telling you, Mom had a big bruise on her leg when I visited her yesterday at the nursing home,” she told her sister, June. “She says she doesn’t remember how it happened. When I asked a nurse, all she said was, ‘Oh, your mother is always falling. She doesn’t always use her walker.’ Mom doesn’t have…
All attorneys will agree with me that if there’s one thing we wish our clients would do it would be to talk to us before they act. It’s much better for the client, and less expensive in the long run, to have your attorney review that lease or contract before you sign it than to be surprised later. We find…
Linda and her friend, Mary, walked through the apartment at the retirement village. It was the perfect space for a single adult who didn’t want to deal with the responsibility of home ownership. “There are a number of different units available, with a wide variety of amenities,” the real estate agent said. “Because this is a continuing care retirement community,…
Laura was worried about her 80-year-old mother. “She gets around well enough, but sometimes she needs help with household tasks, such as cleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry,” she told her friend, Debra. “And she claims she can’t afford to hire someone to help. But neither can I. And if she doesn’t get the help she needs, she may have to…
