I just finished looking at a county bar association listing of attorneys who identify themselves as elder law attorneys.  Frankly, I was a little surprised to see that some individuals who are general practitioners also consider themselves to be elder law attorneys.  I was disturbed when I saw this, because drafting simple wills and trusts does not qualify an attorney to be an elder law attorney.  Wills and trusts may be part of the elder law process at times—but there is so much more involved than that!  Furthermore, litigating cases that have nothing to do with probate or other issues that touch the elderly does not qualify an attorney to be an elder law attorney.

Will the real elder law attorney please stand up?

When trying to find an “elder law”-focused attorney, it’s important to understand how elder law differs from traditional estate planning.  Estate planning, at its simplest, is death planning.  A traditional estate plan is typically designed to do three things:

1. Minimize estate taxes; and
2. Avoid probate court; and
3. Distribute assets from the deceased to the deceased’s heirs.

Elder law, on the other hand, is death planning plus long-term disability and care planning.  The elder law attorney is not only dealing with your estate plan, but must also deal with life care issues in the event that you or your spouse has long term health care needs during the course of your lifetime.  When there is no long term care asset preservation planning, it is quite common to see families spend a $2,000,000 net worth estate when both a husband and wife have long term care needs.  This is a key focus of an elder law attorney.

No one wants to be out of money and out of options before they are out of breath.  While it’s not possible to guarantee specific results, the elder law attorney works with clients and families to guide them through the minefield of public benefits, VA benefits, Medicare, Social Security, special needs trusts, powers of attorney, and Medicaid. Our job is to increase the quality of life for our clients, not just plan for a happy post-death asset distribution.

So if you are trying to figure out who is the real elder law attorney, please ask these questions: “How many Medicaid applications do you/your firm do in a year?” and/or “How many veterans do you/your firm assist with the VA aid and attendance benefits per year?” and/or “How many self-settled Pooled Trust plans have you/your firm done this year?”   If you are looking for an elder law attorney to do any of these things, please use an attorney who can demonstrate that he or she is working in that area every day.  The issues are complex, and you deserve to work with someone who is fluent in elder law.

Greasy Temptation

“It creeps up on you.  One day you can’t seem to fasten your skirt, your pants feel snug, you notice a bulge over your seat belt.  You’re not alone; the average adult American gains about one pound per year.  And fat around your middle is the worst for your health, because it raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and possible dementia.”  (From the Nutrition Action Health Letter from the Center for Science and the Public Interest, December 2008.)

Like most North Americans, I’ve just finished a holiday eating binge.  It began when the first shot was fired on Thanksgiving morning to begin a marathon of eating that went on almost nonstop until I awoke on January 1st and got on the scale.  I feel a bit bipolar.  First it seemed like I could never get enough of those goodies laden with gooey fats, sweets, and calories—but now I want to remove all evidence of brownies, cookies, and eggnog from my gut.  That’s it!  I’ve looked in the mirror…  I’ve gotten on the scale…  I’m feeling fluffy.  Here we go again.  The January diet is a true national pastime, and one we seem to repeat over and over.  “But this year is going to be different,” we say to ourselves.  “This year I’m going to be a ‘smarter cookie’ when making food choices.”

Take a look at the Eat This, Not That! book series  recently published by David Zinczenko, Editor in Chief of Men’s Health Magazine.  Almost every page is a head slapper. The book has shown me how save over 500 calories when ordering a turkey sub sandwich.  I love to order those “healthy” Sierra turkey sandwiches at Panera Bread . What I did not realize is that this sandwich has 510 calories more than its equivalent turkey sub sandwich with cheese at Subway!  Who knew? 

With Eat This, Not That! you will find restaurant choices ranging from Auntie Anne’s Pretzels to Wendy’s.  You’ll be given good eating options for each restaurant so that you can save hundreds—probably thousands—of calories by avoiding foods that are filled with hidden fat and sugars.  It’s amazing to read how often foods that are labeled as having healthy ingredients such as turkey, salmon, chicken, and fruit juice are actually filled with high fructose corn syrup and trans fats.  This is a book you just can’t put down.

Zinczenko has given us a powerful tool to be able to enjoy the foods we love, but avoid the “waist inflators.”  I especially enjoyed the lists of the “worst foods in America.” The worst fast-food chicken meal is the McDonald’s five piece premium breast strips with creamy ranch sauce, which provides a whopping 830 calories; the worst [healthy] burger is a Ruby Tuesday’s Bella Turkey burger at 1,145 calories; and the worst coffee is the Starbucks venti strawberries and cream frappucino blended cream, which contains 750 calories.  

Mmm…  I’m beginning to crave a snack.  I think I’ll have Breyer’s all natural mint chocolate chip ice cream at only 150 calories per half cup, instead of the 330-calorie Haagen Dazs brand. Ahhh, the quest continues….
 
Happy healthy eating in 2009!

Veronique finished signing her estate plan documents and looked up at me and sighed, “That is such a relief!  Every time we drive in bad weather, I worry about dying before we have provided for our granddaughters.”  She has a lovely French accent, so those words were definitely music to this attorney’s ears. But then with a note of concern, she looked directly at my face and asked, “How old are you?”  Her worry had just changed from completing her estate plan to worrying about whether or not I would outlive her. She wanted to feel confident that I would be around to help provide guidance for her granddaughter’s trust.  “ I am 58,” I responded, “and the good news is that Law ElderLaw has a second generation built-in. I am the oldest at our firm, but we have many young, capable people here to hold your hand if something happens to me.”

But Veronique was right to be concerned. I was born in 1950 and my life expectancy is about 21 more years.  Just last month when I was on vacation, one of my attorney acquaintances died suddenly of a heart attack. He was 61 and a sole practitioner.  I have no idea what is happening with his client files.  Your attorney should take no offense if you ask, “How old are you?”; “How will you keep track of my file in the future?”; and “What is your succession plan if something happens to you?”  Every client deserves to know the answers to those questions.

It is completely reasonable for you as a prospective client to enquire as to the succession plan of your attorney.  Here at Law ElderLaw one of our goals is to run our law practice with modern, business-style systems designed to care for our clients every step of the way.  Our systems begin with sending our message to prospective clients and ends with our final information and electronic file storage.  We even have our own information technology and media manager, Angenette Moreland. But most importantly, at Law ElderLaw we provide services to our clients as a team.  Running a law practice today requires management of much more than just the legal work, and we take that seriously—for ourselves and for our clients.