Elder Law

Roberta A. Schreiber has provided Elder Law services for clients for more than twenty years. She works with Seniors and their families before a medical crisis, planning to protect the family's assets and to provide funds for in-home care and nursing home costs, as well as being available during a medical crisis when difficult decisions must be made very quickly. Roberta works with a network of accountants, financial advisors, social workers, geriatric case managers, and administrators of Nursing Homes and Senior Centers, so that she can help you and your family deal with the practical problems of growing older, as well as the legal issues involved, including:

• Wills, Powers of Attorney, Health Care Proxies, and Living Wills
• Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts
• Asset Protection
• Long Term Care Insurance
• Retirement and Senior Communities
• Guardianship and Conservatorships
• Reverse Mortgages
• In-home medical care and assisted living facilities
• Nursing Home admissions and grievances
• Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid eligibility
• Medicaid appeals

It is important for all seniors to have the documents in place that will give trusted family members and friends the ability to care for you either temporarily, during a medical emergency, or permanently, in the case of a condition such as Alzheimer's Disease. These documents include a Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy, and Living Will. In these documents, you name the person who will be responsible for managing your finances and making health care decisions on your behalf in the future, if you are unable to do so. Your instructions can range from simple banking arrangements, to alternate living arrangements in the event of disability, and to the ultimate decision of dying with dignity. With these documents in place, family members will be able to care for you, according to your wishes, if you become incapacitated.  It is also important to plan in advance, so that you will not have to spend your life savings and sell the family home to pay for nursing home costs. Planning options include Long Term Care policies, gifting to younger family members, and establishing a Trust to protect your assets.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to plan in advance. In a medical crisis, family members must make difficult decisions under stressful conditions. It may be necessary for a family member to be appointed as a legal guardian of a spouse or parent through Probate Court proceedings. You may have to find a suitable nursing home or assisted living facility for a spouse, parent, or sibling, within a few days after a hospital admission and figure out how to pay for it. Or you may have to convince a doctor to carry out a loved one's wishes to die in dignity after a debilitating illness or accident. Roberta has the experience to help you and your family plan in advance, as well as deal with the unexpected medical crisis. If you would like to schedule an appointment for an initial consultation, please contact us.