queens elder law

Overzealous Powers of Attorney and How to Handle Them

Published on: March 28, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

When determining how you want your estate and assets administered upon your death, it is also important to consider how you want decisions made in the event that you cannot make them for yourself. Naming a power of attorney has a number of benefits that will avoid any drawn out court proceedings to name an agent in the event of your incapacitation. Power of attorney documents name an individual, also known as an agent, to perform specific tasks when you cannot. These powers can vary, as there is medical/health care power of attorney and also property or financial power of attorney powers.

Medical power of attorney gives an individual the ability to make your health care decisions, such as where you should receive care, if you should receive a specific treatment in the event your wishes are not listed, as well as dealing with your insurance and medical premiums. Financial powers of attorney allow an individual, upon a specific event, to handle a variety of your financial matters on your behalf. While many people will name someone as power of attorney in the event of incapacitation, some will name a power of attorney to take effect immediately, thus, delegating decision making power.

These situations are predisposed to undue influence, something the court is very suspect of and will closely monitor in the event they believe an individual is abusing their power of attorney role over an elderly individual. In the event that you are competent and have named someone as a power of attorney, but due to a number of circumstances, including the end to a relationship or a possibility of undue influence, you wish to revoke the power of attorney, you can do so by delivering a notice to the power of attorney, your estate attorney, as well as other interested parties notified of the document.

New Technology To Help Support Caregivers

Published on: March 9, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Caregivers are in high demand and that demand is ever increasing as the aging population continuously grows every day. However, caregiving can be a difficult and underappreciated job that has left it with little public desire to go into the field, due to the lack of benefits, support and adequate pay. As a way to motivate those seeking employment to explore the field of caretaking and to help provide for those who are currently caregivers, new technology is being established in order to help support and ease communication between caregivers and the elderly they support.

Seeing the struggle for adequate communication measures between caregivers, their elderly client, the elderly client’s family, one technology company is seeking to establish a smartphone application that will hopefully increase that transparency. When caregivers sign up through the application, they will be able to directly communicate with their client and their client’s family members, log all appropriate information in one place on the application , as well as request time off, similar to many corporate structures. Caregiver are able to leave detailed notes about events of the day as well as medication schedules.

Another issue with caregiving is the inability of the caretaker to take time off due to lack of backup support. This application is aimed at offering that back up support, along with paid time off and many other benefits, if properly certified through the company. In order to receive these benefits, the caregiver must be trained through Care Pros, the official caregiver network, which will come with a number of additional benefits. Caretakers can also opt for workers’ compensation benefits in the event that they sustain an injury on the job, which can be a real possibility when a fair amount of heavy lifting is required. Additionally, caretaker are offered stock options as well as pay that is at least 10% above the market rate in their area of employment.

Fixing a Broken Trust

Published on: February 24, 2017 | by Ettinger Law Firm

We recently posted about situations that may make it important to revise your estate plan, and about how reviewing your estate plan is an important part of ensuring it is accurate and secure. One component of an estate plan that continues to grow in popularity and functionality is a trust. However, what happens when a trust no longer serves the purpose for which it was established? Life events and other factors can significantly impact how effective your trust will be, and it is important to monitor your trust on a regular basis to ensure it still meets your needs – and to take steps to fix it if it doesn’t.

When might a trust break?

The law is always changing. Estate planning law is no exception. Some changes in laws that affect estate planning decisions can cause a trust to break. For instance, if a trust was created many years ago when the gift tax, estate tax, and generation-skipping transfer taxes had lower exemption values. Consequently, such trust may no longer be necessary to help you avoid certain tax burdens that they were designed to avoid. The changing exemptions and other factors surrounding these taxes can also make the prospect of paying taxes associated with the trust less appealing than taxes that would be due without the trust.

Financial Elder Abuse: Warning Signs and How to Stop It

Published on: October 25, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Elder abuse has been an increasing trend over the past few decades, within roughly one in ten Americans over 60 years of age experiencing elder abuse, whether it be financial, harassment, sexual, physical, or passive abuse through neglect or deprivation. Of the elders subjected to abuse, over 90% of those Americans are abused by someone they know, either a family member, friend, acquaintance, medical staff employee, or caretaker.

Predators seek out opportunities with the elderly in order to become involved in their lives and then later exploit them in their most vulnerable state. Often times, an individual will claim to be helping the elder individual, either by assisting in caretaking or house keeping, and then will later bill them for an exorbitant amount of money or get ahold of their checking account to pay themselves.

Warning Signs