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Alive and Kicking: New Book Offers Legal Advice to Boomers

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APRIL 16, 2007  VOLUME 14, NUMBER 42

Ironies abound as the leading edge of the “Baby Boom” generation heads into its 60s (and retirement). The generation that vowed never to trust anyone over 30 will shortly have to figure out minimum distribution rules from Individual Retirement Accounts, Medicare’s Part D coverage and its limitations, and how to deal with the physical declines and personal losses that accompany aging. A new book released this month may help them navigate some of the currents and shoals.

Authors Kenney Hegland (professor of law at the University of Arizona) and Robert Fleming (elder law attorney with the Tucson firm of Fleming & Curti, PLC, editor of Elder Law Issues and webmaster for elder-law.com) have announced the release of Alive and Kicking: Legal Advice for Boomers. The new book is available online at Amazon.comBarnes & Noble and by special order from bookstores everywhere.

“We were going to call the book Geezer’s Law, but cooler heads prevailed,” write the authors. The book is infused with humor, filled with sly cultural references, and fun to read. Dr. Andrew Weil, author of Healthy Aging, calls it “an engaging, even uplifting, book about a subject most of us who are getting on in life often avoid: arranging our affairs for our latter years to avoid medical, financial, and legal troubles. I will use it myself and recommend it to patients, friends, and loved ones.”

Topics covered include advice on health care, estate planning, divorce, remarriage, starting a business, living wills, nursing homes and more. You can read about how to protect yourself from scams, age discrimination and elder abuse. You can gain insight into the important questions that accompany the condition of aging: What can you do to make your own children treat you better than you did your parents? Will you have to give up both driving and sex?

“If you are getting older (or hope to),” write the authors, “you’ve picked up the right book.” Hegland and Fleming believe that the condition of geezerhood should not be accompanied by a loss of intellectual interest. Instead, “we’ll come and go, talking of Michelangelo, telling bad jokes, and reciting wonderful poetry: spoonfuls of spice with your maturity medicine.”

“Studies tell us that learning new things is good exercise and Alive and Kicking is one heck of a workout,” writes Joy Loverde, author of The Complete Eldercare PlannerBaird Brown, pioneering elder law attorney, describes Alive and Kicking as “a must read for anyone who wants to understand many of life’s imponderable questions,” and Professor Rebecca Morgan, former President of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, calls it “a truly valuable resource for everyone needing to learn more about the issues that they, or their parents, will face”

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Robert B. Fleming

Attorney

Robert Fleming is a Fellow of both the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He has been certified as a Specialist in Estate and Trust Law by the State Bar of Arizona‘s Board of Legal Specialization, and he is also a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation. Robert has a long history of involvement in local, state and national organizations. He is most proud of his instrumental involvement in the Special Needs Alliance, the premier national organization for lawyers dealing with special needs trusts and planning.

Robert has two adult children, two young grandchildren and a wife of over fifty years. He is devoted to all of them. He is also very fond of Rosalind Franklin (his office companion corgi), and his homebound cat Muninn. He just likes people, their pets and their stories.

Elizabeth N.R. Friman

Attorney

Elizabeth Noble Rollings Friman is a principal and licensed fiduciary at Fleming & Curti, PLC. Elizabeth enjoys estate planning and helping families navigate trust and probate administrations. She is passionate about the fiduciary work that she performs as a trustee, personal representative, guardian, and conservator. Elizabeth works with CPAs, financial professionals, case managers, and medical providers to tailor solutions to complex family challenges. Elizabeth is often called upon to serve as a neutral party so that families can avoid protracted legal conflict. Elizabeth relies on the expertise of her team at Fleming & Curti, and as the Firm approaches its third decade, she is proud of the culture of care and consideration that the Firm embodies. Finding workable solutions to sensitive and complex family challenges is something that Elizabeth and the Fleming & Curti team do well.

Amy F. Matheson

Attorney

Amy Farrell Matheson has worked as an attorney at Fleming & Curti since 2006. A member of the Southern Arizona Estate Planning Council, she is primarily responsible for estate planning and probate matters.

Amy graduated from Wellesley College with a double major in political science and English. She is an honors graduate of Suffolk University Law School and has been admitted to practice in Arizona, Massachusetts, New York, and the District of Columbia.

Prior to joining Fleming & Curti, Amy worked for American Public Television in Boston, and with the international trade group at White & Case, LLP, in Washington, D.C.

Amy’s husband, Tom, is an astronomer at NOIRLab and the Head of Time Domain Services, whose main project is ANTARES. Sadly, this does not involve actual time travel. Amy’s twin daughters are high school students; Finn, her Irish Red and White Setter, remains a puppy at heart.

Famous people's wills

Matthew M. Mansour

Attorney

Matthew is a law clerk who recently earned his law degree from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. His undergraduate degree is in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Matthew has had a passion for advocacy in the Tucson community since his time as a law student representative in the Workers’ Rights Clinic. He also has worked in both the Pima County Attorney’s Office and the Pima County Public Defender’s Office. He enjoys playing basketball, caring for his cat, and listening to audiobooks narrated by the authors.