JULY 24, 2000 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 4 The general public is frequently misinformed about wills and estate planning. One pervasive notion is that a will must leave some token amount to every child (or other relative) in order to disinherit that individual. While the most frequent formula is to leave $1.00 to each individual, one…
JULY 17, 2000 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 3 When a loved one is institutionalized, family members usually do not have the skills and information necessary to closely monitor the quality of care. They usually rely heavily on the advice of the patient’s physician to direct the course of treatment. In those cases where the physician becomes…
JULY 10, 2000 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2 The federal-state Medicaid program was designed to make sure poor Americans would receive necessary medical care. It now pays for about half of all nursing home costs. Tragically, the program is so complicated that it often requires expert legal assistance to ensure that benefits are received in accordance…
JULY 3, 2000 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1 At age 61 Sonny Lee is living at the College View Nursing Home in Frederick, Maryland. A little over two years ago Mr. Lee, a lifelong alcoholic, passed out in a public park, was hospitalized and ultimately placed in the nursing home. In recent months his condition has…
JUNE 26, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 52 When Robert L. Johnson died in Mississippi in 1938, he was largely unknown. The 27-year-old had a musical gift, and he left a number of blues recordings. There did not appear to be any valuable property in his estate at the time, though, so no probate was initiated.…
JUNE 19, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 51 Carol Creasy worked as a certified nursing assistant at Brethren Healthcare Center in Flora, Indiana. She had worked at the facility for almost two years. Among the residents she helped care for was Lloyd Rusk, an Alzheimer’s patient with a tendency to be combative. Mr. Rusk was first…
JUNE 12, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 50 The big news in the elder law and estate planning field this week was the Friday passage (by the House of Representatives) of a bill to repeal the federal estate tax. The vote to repeal was lopsided, with a 279-136, with 65 Democrats joining the Republican majority. Does…
JUNE 5, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 49 Living wills and health care powers of attorney may take care of most of the end-of-life medical decisions you (or a loved one) will face. But for many patients the final medical decisions must be made outside of the hospital setting. Rather than doctors and nurses, the treatment…
MAY 29, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 48 People often try to solve their legal problems without the help of lawyers. Frequently they accomplish exactly what they want. Sometimes they complicate their own lives unnecessarily and expensively, when a little sound legal advice would have resolved the difficulty easily. Take, for example, the situation Montanan Boyd…
MAY 22, 2000 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 47 Lucille Lucareli had three sons: Les Lee, Leigh and Robert. She owned her home in Racine, Wisconsin, and not much else. In 1996 she gave her son Les Lee a durable financial power of attorney, and she also took some steps to plan for the possibility that she…