Handling a Wide Range of Elder Law Issues

Issues are wide ranging. Elder law attorneys might be called upon to help with estate or tax planning, housing, or elder custody issues; handle elder abuse issues or nursing home patients’ rights; or do conflict resolution or offer mediation services. Some lawyers know Medicaid and Medicare law or are more familiar with contested guardianships better than others. The list of specialties is long.

Silverberg likened elder law to an extensive Venn diagram, with its points of intersection and divergence. “There’s no elder law attorney who covers all those items. I’ll refer out contested guardianship,” he said, as an example. “It’s so multidimensional—a multidisciplinary practice.”

Because the field is so vast, it helps to have other lawyers to turn to for advice. NAELA offers its members not only educational programs but also camaraderie. Among the 4,400 members are around 40 attorneys designated honorary “fellows” and another 60 or so who are part of a council of advanced practitioners—“like a think-tank within NAELA”—all of whom help other members, Silverberg said.

“I can call some of the biggest elder law attorneys in the country and talk about issues,” he said. “I’ve never seen a group as collegial as this. We help each other a lot. We support each other legally and emotionally.”

Making heavy decisions involves weighing a multitude of circumstances. “It’s not just housing, it’s quality of life,” he said. Some people would rather stay at home, but depending on the nature of their issues, being at home with a 24-hour aide can make a person “a prisoner in their own house,” he said. The same is true for someone who lives in a third-story walkup or a home with an upstairs bedroom. Family interactions also play a role in a decision. “Sometimes, the (adult) kids might come (to visit) five times a day, and other times the kids just send a postcard,” he said. Being around other people in an assisted living setting might be a better option.

Silverberg points to one of his current cases that involves a woman with dementia who went from the hospital to a nursing home and wants to go home—but she has a history of firing home health aides. So he has to help find the best housing situation for her.

Visit the NAELA Web site to read "Home Ownership Options for Seniors," which presents general home ownership options. It looks at joint ownership, revocable and irrevocable living trusts, and transfers to beneficiaries, as well as estate planning, tax, and Medicaid issues to consider. They’re things that healthy boomers have to start thinking about. Elder lawyers know this.

After 32 years of being involved in elder law—before the days when it was even called that—Silverberg says, “I know in the long run what we’re doing is for the good.”