A man's age is something impressive, it sums up his life:  maturity reached slowly and against many obstacles, illnesses cured, griefs and despairs overcome, and unconscious risks taken; maturity formed through so many desires, hopes, regrets, forgotten things, loves.  A man's age represents a fine cargo of experiences and memories. 

- A. de Saint-Exupéry

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Guardianship & Elder Law

As an individual grows older they face new legal issues as they make arrangements for long term care and deal with health care challenges and possible long term disability.  

These challenges are always best addressed with good disability planning that includes Durable Powers of Attorney for Health, Advanced Health Care Directives, and Durable Powers of Attorney for Finances.  But even with the best planning, issues can arise where clients benefit from legal advice.  Examples include:

• Understanding authority granted by Durable Powers of Attorney and record keeping obligation,
• Negotiating care plans and documenting Care Contracts,
  
• Understanding the impact of spending and gifting on future eligibility for public benefits, and
  
• Properly administering special needs trusts.

These issues are usually best resolved by proactively seeking legal advice and working cooperatively with all parties with a great deal of transparency, honesty, and thoughtfulness.  Where conflict does arise, we recommend that clients attempt to resolve these issues through informal conflict coaching and negotiation, mediation or collaborative law before considering court intervention. 

In cases where planning hasn't been done before the disability or where the plan is not sufficient to care for the individual, the only option may be guardianship.  In a guardianship, the courts are asked to intervene, find the individual to be incapacitated, and to appoint a Guardian. The Guardian accepts responsibility for the financial and personal needs of the individual. As a result, he or she must report regularly to the court on the status of the individual's personal and financial status.  Phinney Estate Law attorneys serve in a number of different capacities in these cases including representing Petitioners, serving as court appointed Guardian ad Litem, or representing Alleged Incapacitated Individuals, and assisting Guardians with ongoing reporting.  Guardianship is an extreme remedy and the process is complicated and is best approached with good, experienced legal representation.