Carolyn L. Rosenblatt is a registered nurse and an attorney with 40 years' combined experience in her professions, a consultant to individuals and families struggling with aging-related issues, and a mediator for families in conflict. Carolyn is also the author of The Boomer's Guide to Aging Parents: The Complete Guide, a nine-part series offering practical solutions to common legal and health care problems caregivers and adult children of aging loved ones face every day.

Many families quarrel over what to do for an aging loved one. Some fight about who is doing the most work. Some argue and criticize the choices and work one sibling is doing for an aging parent. Others disagree over where their elder should live or who's in charge of care.

If your family hasn't been able to resolve internal conflict, it may be time to consider elder mediation, a process in which Carolyn will help everyone air differences and make a guided effort toward agreement. She won't tell you what to do or decide the solutions; instead, she'll help each person see things from another point of view so that your family can reach its own negotiated agreement.

The following brief video examines a typical family conflict over the care of an aging parent and shows how mediation can help bring disputing siblings together to work out their problems. A vulnerable senior's choices and quality of life are at stake in this volatile battle for control between his adult children:

Independent Living Topics:

• Senior Transportation and Mobility
• Senior Safety and Security
• Spirituality and Life
• In-Home Care
• Housing Issues
• Financial Help
• Health
• Caregiving
• Tax Planning for Seniors
• Elder Mediation