Elder Law Issues, Answers, and Opportunities
Scope and Purpose
As the number of older individuals in our country continues to grow, so has the demand for specialized legal advice regarding the particular issues that aging persons face. This comprehensive course of study, comprising more than 13 hours of instruction, is designed for both the new and experienced practitioner. It examines the rapidly-expanding field of elder law by looking at all the major topics and planning issues that confront a lawyer who represents older clients (or their adult children) and analyzes the latest changes in the federal laws and regulations directly affecting them.
Topics include:
Government benefit programs: Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Medicare
Medicaid and the effects of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005
New asset and income protection strategies after the DRA
Long-term care insurance
Special needs trusts
Retirement income planning, with consideration for long-term care costs
Marketing the lawyer's practice
Clients with diminished mental capacity
Drafting powers of attorney, advance health care directives, and trusts
Ethics of elder law (one hour)
Over breakfast on Friday morning, drafting workshops provide registrants and faculty the opportunity to discuss more sophisticated topics in greater detail: health care directives, property management and durable powers of attorney, and housing options and contracts. On Friday afternoon, a panel pulls all the pieces together as it examines hypothetical, but very real, case studies.The program also devotes a full hour to the special ethical and professional responsibilities facing elder law attorneys. Time is reserved throughout the program for questions.
Planning Chairs
Walter T. Burke, Burke & Casserly, P.C., Albany, New York
FACULTY /profiles/frolikl.php')">Lawrence A. Frolik, Professor,University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Pittsburgh
Faculty
Thomas D. Begley, Jr., Begley & Bookbinder, P.C., Moorestown, New Jersey
Keith Bradoc (Brad) Gallant, Day Pitney LLP, New Haven, Connecticut
Marielle F. Hazen, Law Office of Marielle F. Hazen, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Andrew H. Hook, Oast & Hook, P.C., Virginia Beach, Virginia
Richard L. Kaplan, Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor, University of Illinois College of Law, Champaign, Illinois
Howard S. Krooks, Elder Law Associates, P.A., Boca Raton, Florida
Mary T. Schmitt-Smith, Theresa Law Center, P.C., Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
ALI-ABA Staff: Amy S. Weinberg, Assistant Director, Office of Courses of Study
Program Schedule
Thursday, April 26, 2007
- 7:45 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast
- Video Webcast Segment A
- 8:45 a.m. Introductory Remarks and Course Overview
- 9:00 a.m. What Is Elder Law? Federal Benefit Programs: Social Security and Medicare - Mr. Burke and Professor Frolik
- Elder law refers to later legal planning, including issues arising from retirement, housing, loss of mental capacity, guardianship, long-term care planning, Medicaid eligibility, assisted living, nursing homes, and end-of-life decision making. This segment addresses how the scope of services differs from traditional estate planning, client demographics, training needed to practice elder law, and establishing a practice. It also provides an overview of Social Security, SSI, and Medicare.
- 10:00 a.m. Networking Break
- 10:15 a.m. Basic Medicaid: Paying for Nursing Home Care - Professor Kaplan
- Medicaid (Medical Assistance or MediCal) pays for more than one-half of all nursing home care for the elderly. Medicaid long-term care benefits and the eligibility requirements are explained.
- 11:15 a.m. Medicaid Application and Financial Planning for Long-Term Care - Mr. Burke and Ms. Hazen
- Treatment upon retirement of defined contribution plans, 401(k) plans, and IRAs; investment strategies used to pay for long-term care, including asset allocation, diversification, and annuities; consideration of lump-sum versus annuity payouts
- 12:15 p.m. Lunch Break
- Video Webcast Segment B
- 1:45 p.m. Long-Term Care Insurance and Medicaid Planning - Messrs. Burke and Gallant
- What is it? Who needs it? What policy options are available? How much does it cost? Should your client purchase it? What are the psychological and planning benefits? How does it affect irrevocable retirement plan options? How does it relate to planning for paying for long-term care?
- 2:45 p.m. Networking Break
- 3:00 p.m. Decline in Mental Capacity: Guardianship and Conservatorship - Mss. Hazen and Schmitt-Smith
- An examination of when and why the elderly lose mental capacity and the legal response of guardianship and conservatorship; when are guardianship and conservatorship appropriate; establishing the requisite legal grounds; procedural issues; defending a client against guardianship or conservatorship; selection and monitoring of the guardian or conservator
- 4:00 p.m. Special Needs Trusts - Mr. Gallant and Ms. Schmitt-Smith
- The "what, why, and when" of Special Needs Trusts, including drafting tips
- 5:00 p.m. Adjournment for the Day
Friday, April 27, 2007
- 8:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast and Drafting Workshops
- * Health Care Directives - Ms. Hazen and Mr. Krooks
- * Property Management and Durable Powers of Attorney - Messrs. Burke and Gallant
- * Housing Options for the Older Client (Including Contracts with Assisted Living Facilities, Nursing Homes, and Continuing-Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs)) - Professor Frolik and Mr. Hook
- Video Webcast Segment C
- 9:00 a.m. Basic and Advanced Documents - Mr. Hook and Ms. Schmitt-Smith
- A review of the special concerns for older clients when drawing up powers of attorney, health care directives, living wills, testamentary wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, and supplemental needs trusts
- 10:00 a.m. Advanced Medicaid Planning, Part I Messrs. Begley and Krooks
- Why, when, and how to qualify your client for eligibility for Medicaid payments of long-term costs resulting from the need for care in a nursing home or for home care
- 11:00 a.m. Networking Break
- 11:15 a.m. Advanced Medicaid Planning, Part II Messrs. Begley and Krooks
- Analysis of the changes made by the Deficit Reduction Act and planning strategies available to clients
- 12:15 p.m. Lunch Break
- Video Webcast Segment D
- 1:45 p.m. Attracting and Dealing with Older Clients and Their Families - Messrs. Begley and Burke
- Marketing to the older client; marketing to the adult child; special issues that can arise when planning with old and very old clients
- 2:45 p.m. Ethics and Professional Responsibility - Messrs. Burke and Gallant, Professor Frolik, and Ms. Hazen
- Special ethical issues that may arise with older clients, including identification of the client; conflicts of interest for couples; family issues; confidentiality; dealing with a client with diminished capacity; representing either the client or a guardian when the client has lost mental capacity
- 3:45 p.m. Networking Break
- 4:00 p.m. Case Studies: Bringing It All Together - Messrs. Begley, Hook, and Krooks and Ms. Schmitt-Smith
- Hypothetical, but very real, elder law case studies, including discussion of planning under the DRA
- 5:00 p.m. Adjournment
Total 60-minute hours of instruction: 13.25, including one hour of ethics
Here's what registrants have said about this course:
This was the most comprehensive, useful and enjoyable CLE course I have ever attended. The instructors were extremely knowledgeable, helpful, clear and well organized. The written materials are far and away the best I have seen.
This course was very comprehensive; the speakers were knowledgeable; and the written material was excellent.
Professor Frolik was superb; very easily understood, concise and clear. He brings a degree of simplicity to a very complicated subject. I wish I had had him in my first year of law school!
On target for the elder law practitioner!
This course is what ALI-ABA does best - building on knowledge obtained by practitioners on his/her own or from local resources.
