NOVEMBER 8, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 19 Elisabeth Frudenfeld lives in California. In 1987, she established a revocable living trust. Nine years later, the California courts appointed a professional fiduciary as conservator to handle her affairs. Ms. Frudenfeld’s trust was primarily designed to avoid the probate process, and so she retained the power to revoke…
NOVEMBER 1, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 18 Two programs—Medicare and Medicaid—provide the majority of acute medical and long-term nursing care for America’s senior citizens. In fact, those two programs provide over one third of all medical care for Americans of all ages. With the total cost of those two programs approaching $400 billion per year,…
OCTOBER 25, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 17 In 1980, a non-profit group in Cleveland, Ohio, applied for federal funds to renovate a former Franciscan Monastery. Our Lady of Angels Apartments, Inc., used the money to turn the former monastery into housing for the elderly and disabled. A decade later, Our Lady of Angels was sued…
OCTOBER 18, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 16 In the absence of a detailed employment agreement spelling out the grounds for discharge, most employees can be fired for any reason at all. Sometimes, however, notions of public policy override the ability of an employer to discharge an employee. Jane Hausman worked for the St. Croix Care…
OCTOBER 11, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 15 Before undertaking any medical procedure, physicians are required to obtain the consent of the patient (except in some limited circumstances, such as medical emergencies). Under American law, it is not enough to simply get the patient’s consent, however. The consent must be “informed”—in other words, the patient must…
OCTOBER 4, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 14 Adequate control of pain, especially at the end of life, is a key issue in modern medical care. Increasingly doctors, nurses, patients, family members and advocates realize that death need not be physically painful. The most recent demonstration of that consensus among medical care providers comes from the…
SEPTEMBER 27, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 13 Non-lawyers are sometimes surprised when lawyers acknowledge that the legal system is not well-suited to some kinds of problems. That surprise will probably turn to astonishment at the suggestion of two elder law practitioners in a new book published this week: We begin, however, with this short cautionary…
SEPTEMBER 20, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 12 Six days before he died, Arizonan Ralph Shumway signed a new will. Rather than consult a lawyer to prepare the will, Mr. Shumway had relied on his bookkeeper, Adelida Vega Rodriguez, to prepare the document for him. Because the will she prepared left one fourth of Mr. Shumway’s…
SEPTEMBER 13, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 11 Last week Elder Law Issues reported on the Tennessee case of Cleon Cooke, in which bank customer service representatives apparently did not know how to properly witness and notarize a will according to state law (“Bank Not Liable For Mistakes Made By Witnesses, Notary”). Sometimes the problem is the…
SEPTEMBER 6, 1999 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 10 Witnesses are required for a number of legal documents, including wills (in most cases), powers of attorney and health care directives. Most lawyers recommend not having family members witness legal documents, since questions may later be raised about the signer’s competence, or the possibility of undue influence. It…
