King County Collaborative Law has just released the results of their annual election for their board of directors and Phinney Estate Law's Jamie Clausen will be joining the board for the 2012-2013 year. 

She is looking forward to having the chance to share with the larger collaborative community the work that has been done by civil practitioners working to expand the collaborative model to probate and elder law cases and learning from the very experience family law collaborative attorneys who will be working with her on the board.  She wants to thank all those who voted for her.  She was up against some very impressive talent!

In our practice we encounter a lot of families struggling to take care of both either own children and aging parents.  One challenge that we hear about a lot and struggled with in our own family is how to explain dementia to a small child.  The silver planet newsletter this week has a good article for care givers on this very topic.

Jamie's grandmother has Alzheimer's and our daughter visits her once a week.  For now the visits are positives for both of them but as she gets older she is starting to have more questions about why her GeeGee forgets things or why other people at her memory care facility act in ways that might seem strange.  Our policy has been to be honest and low key and so far she has followed suit but we have also decided that if we ever arrive on a bad day that it is fine to cut a visit short.   We have also noticed that a visit plan - like bringing an art project gift or sharing a new song - can provide a nice in the moment focus that makes things less stressful for everyone. 

Care giving for a loved one with dementia is full of these challenges.  As attorneys, our job is to make sure the legal logistics of this situation are handled in a way that provides the maximum independence and respect for the individual and the minimum in hassles and conflict for care providers.  That said, we also understand that the legal issues surrounding care are just part of a much bigger and more complex issue.  We view it as part of our job to really understand the whole picture of what our clients are facing.  That allows us to provide referrals to assistance and make sure that he legal solutions we offer are truly a match to the families needs.  If you would like a free half hour consultation with one of our attorneys to talk about your needs as a caregiver, please contact us at (206) 459-1908 or [email protected].