Part A Managing the Elder Law Practice
Common Client Questions
A:1 Overview
A:2 Office Forms: Practicality and Consistency
A:3 Office Receptionist
A:4 New Client Information
A:5 Initial Client Contact
A:6 Capacity: The Threshold Question
A:7 Second Marriages
A:8 Estate Planning Questionnaire
A:9 Special Family Considerations
A:10 Representing Husband and Wife: Ethical and Practical Constraints
A:11 Representing Parent and Child: Special Issues
A:12 Fees and Retainer Agreement
A:13 Client Confidentiality and Consultation Follow-Up
A:14 Referral Checklist
A:15 The Required Calendaring System
A:16 Client Complaint and Satisfaction Form

Part B Building Your Practice
B:1 Begin With a Vision
B:2 Creating the Elder Law Office
B:3 Use of the Internet and Harnessing Technology
B:4 Establishing a Presence--The Art of Marketing
B:5 Retaining Clients and Building Client Relationships

Part C Social Security Benefits
Common Client Questions
C:1 Overview
C:2 The Groundwork for Handling a Social Security Case
C:3 Establishing Eligibility and Applying for Benefits
C:4 Amount of Benefits
C:5 Problems in Payment Procedures
C:6 Administrative Review
C:7 Judicial Review
C:8 Attorney's Fees

Part D Veterans' Benefits
Common Client Questions
D:1 Overview
D:2 Resources for Representing Veterans
D:3 General Requirements for Veterans' Benefits
D:4 Cash Benefits for Veterans
D:5 Benefits for Survivors
D:6 Health Care Benefits
D:7 Applying for Benefits
D:8 Appeals Process

Part E Private Pensions and IRAs
Common Client Questions
E:1 Overview
E:2 The Resources for Handling the Client's Case
E:3 Planning for Retirement
E:4 The Pension Rights of Spouses
E:5 Taxation of Pensions and Annuities
E:6 Losing Pension Benefits
E:7 Enforcing the Rights of a Plan Participant
E:8 Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs)

Part F Income Tax Planning
Common Client Questions
F:1 Overview
F:2 Filing the Return and Paying the Tax
F:3 Exemptions
F:4 Income
F:5 Sale of a Residence: Rollover and Exclusion of Gain
F:6 Social Security Benefits
F:7 Deductions
F:8 Vacation Homes
F:9 Medical and Dental Expenses
F:10 Long-Term Care
F:11 Charitable Contributions
F:12 Qualified Residence Interest
F:13 Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled
F:14 Credit for Child and Dependent Care Expenses

Part G Medicare
Common Client Questions
G:1 Overview
G:2 The Resources for Handling a Medicare Case
G:3 Establishing Eligibility for Medicare
G:4 Financing Medicare Benefits
G:5 Covered Benefits
G:6 Claims and Payment Procedures
G:7 Appeals
G:8 COBRA Continuation Coverage in Employer's Health Insurance Plan
G:9 Medicare Supplemental Policies
G:10 Comparing Medicare Plans
G:11 Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)

Part H SSI Benefits
Common Client Questions with text references
H:1 Overview
H:2 The Resources for Handling an SSI Benefits Case
H:3 Establishing Entitlement to Benefits
H:4 Applying for Benefits
H:5 Amount of Benefits
H:6 Strategies for Establishing Financial Eligibility
H:7 Procedures After Payments Begin
H:8 The State Supplementary Payment
H:9 The Appeals Process

Part I Medicaid
Common Client Questions
I:1 Overview
I:2 Basics for Handling Medicaid Planning
I:3 Client Care Needs and Perceptions
I:4 Gathering the Necessary Information
I:5 Planning for Medicaid Eligibility
I:6 Asset Preservation Planning Strategies
I:7 Convert Nonexempt Resources to Exempt
I:8 Community Spouse's Refusal to Spend Down Resources
I:9 Transfer of Assets
I:10 Pensions and Annuities
I:11 Increase Minimum Resource or Income Level: Court Order or Fair Hearing
I:12 Creation of Miller Trusts and Other Income Cap State Strategies
I:13 Divorce
I:14 Establish Intent to Return Home
I:15 Inheritance by an Institutionalized Spouse
I:16 Long-Term Care Insurance
I:17 Strategies for Single Persons
I:18 Asset Preservation: Living Trust
I:19 Asset Preservation: Special Needs Trust
I:20 Trusts and Medicaid Planning
I:21 Court Proceedings to Transfer Assets
I:22 Voluntary Guardianship or Conservatorship
I:23 How to Represent a Client in a Medicaid Application
I:24 The Fair Hearing
I:25 Liens and Recovery From Estate

APPENDIX 1 State Medicaid Manual, HCFA Transmittal No. 63 September 1994
State Medicaid Manual, HCFA Transmittal No. 63 September 1994
3810 Medicaid Estate Recoveries

APPENDIX 2 State Medicaid Manual, HCFA Transmittal No. 64
State Medicaid Manual, HCFA Transmittal No. 64
3257 Transfers Of Assets And Treatment Of Trusts
3258 Transfers Of Assets For Less Than Fair Market Value
3258.1 General--
3258.2 Effective Date.--
3258.3 Individuals To Whom Transfer of Assets Provisions Apply.--
3258.4 Look-back Date and Look-Back Period.--
3258.5 Penalty Periods.--
3258.6 Treatment Of Income As Asset.--
3258.7 Treatment Of Jointly Owned Assets.--
3258.8 Penalties for Transfers of Assets for Less Than Fair Market Value.--
3258.9 Treatment of Certain Kinds of Transfers for Less Than Fair Market Value.--
3258.10 Exceptions to Application of Transfer of Of Assets Penalties.--
3258.11 Transfers of Assets and Spousal Impoverishment Provisions.--
3259 Treatment Of Trusts
3259.1 General.--
3259.2 Effective Date.--
3259.3 Individuals to Whom Trust Provisions Apply.--
3259.4 Individual's Assets Form Only Part of Trust.--
3259.5 Application of Trust Provisions.--
3259.6 Treatment of Trusts.--
3259.7 Exceptions to Treatment of Trusts Under Trust Provisions.--
3259.8 Application of Trust Provisions Would Work Undue Hardship.--

Part J Planning for Disability and Incapacity
Common Client Questions
J:1 Overview
J:2 Capacity to Execute Specific Documents
J:3 Durable Power of Attorney
J:4 Durable Power of Attorney: Effective Immediately or Upon Incapacity
J:5 Durable Power of Attorney: General Powers Conferred
J:6 Selected Powers for Durable Power of Attorney
J:7 Powers Not Granted by Durable Power of Attorney
J:8 Durable Power of Attorney: Third Party Reliance
J:9 Revocation and Amendment of Durable Power of Attorney
J:10 General Administrative Provisions in Durable Power of Attorney
J:11 Durable Power of Attorney: Nomination of Conservator/Guardian and Successor Attorney-in-Fact
J:12 Provisions Relating to the Effectiveness of the Durable Power of Attorney
J:13 Choice of Attorney-in-Fact
J:14 Durable Power of Attorney: Effectiveness Problems
J:15 Abuse of Durable Power of Attorney
J:16 Duties and Responsibilities of Attorney-in-Fact
J:17 Internal Revenue Service Durable Power of Attorney
J:18 Durable Power of Attorney and Guardianship/Conservatorship Proceedings
J:19 Termination
J:20 Durable Power of Attorney Needed Even If Revocable Living Trust
J:21 Joint Tenancy

Part K Health Care Decisions
Common Client Questions
K:1 Overview
K:2 Client Concerns
K:3 Responsibility of the Practitioner
K:4 Key Participants in Health Care Decision-Making
K:5 The Right to Refuse Treatment
K:6 Preventive Planning: Drafting Health Care Documents
K:7 Sample Clauses
K:8 Selected Problems in Enforcing Written Health Care Documents
K:9 Decision-Making for the Incompetent Patient Where No Documents Exist
K:10 Special Issues in Health Care Decision-Making
K:11 Organ and Tissue Donation
K:12 A Right to "Futile" Medical Treatment?

Part L Guardianship and Conservatorship
Common Client Questions
L:1 Overview: The Concept and the Need
L:2 Obtaining Appropriate, Practical Information
L:3 When Guardianship or Conservatorship May Be Needed
L:4 When Guardianship or Conservatorship May Not Be Appropriate
L:5 Central Role and Effective Use of Medical Testimony
L:6 Facts and Circumstances of Greatest Relevance to Petition
L:7 Alternatives to Guardianship/Conservatorship
L:8 Choice of Guardian/Conservator
L:9 Ethical Issues and Conflicts of Interest
L:10 Attorney Responsibility to Non-Client Ward
L:11 Attorney Fees
L:12 Powers of the Guardian/Conservator
L:13 Powers Not Granted to the Guardian/Conservator: Powers Retained by the Ward
L:14 Initiating the Guardianship/Conservatorship Process
L:15 Emergency Guardianships/Conservatorships
L:16 Special Order or Proceedings to Allow Psychotropic Drugs, Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT), and Placement in ...
L:17 Uncontested Court Hearings
L:18 Contested Court Hearings
L:18A Contested Court Hearings: Representing the Petitioner Seeking to Establish a Guardianship or Conservatorship
L:19 Opposing Guardianship/Conservatorship Petition; Representation of Alleged Incapacitated Person
L:20 Management and Other Responsibilities of the Guardian/Conservator
L:21 Court Monitoring
L:22 Termination of Guardianship/Conservatorship

Part M Securing Services
Common Client Questions
M:1 Overview
M:2 Securing In-Home and Other Personal Support Services
M:3 Professional Resources and Referrals
M:4 Other Key National and Regional Resources--Checklists
M:5 Health Care Oversight at the Local Level
M:6 Case Study--A Referral Model for the Practitioner

Part N Housing Choices
Common Client Questions
N:1 Overview
N:2 Option #1: Staying at Home for Client's Lifetime
N:3 Option #2: Sale of Current Home and Purchase of Another
N:4 Option #3: Purchase of a Home
N:5 Option #4: Month to Month Rental
N:6 Option #5: Long-Term Care in Nursing Facility
N:7 Lifetime, Life-Care, or Continuing Care Contracts

Part O Estate Planning and Living Trusts
Common Client Questions
O:1 Overview
O:2 Uses of Living Trusts
O:3 Benefits of a Living Trust: Management in the Event of Incapacity
O:4 Benefits of a Living Trust: Avoidance of Probate
O:5 Disadvantages of a Living Trust
O:6 Choice of Trustee
O:7 Living Trust Agreement
O:8 Funding a Living Trust
O:9 Community Property
O:10 Drafting the Will
O:11 Use of Disclaimers
O:12 Large Estate Planning

Part P Elder Abuse
Common Client Questions
P:1 Overview
P:2 What Is Elder Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation?
P:3 The Victim and the Abuser
P:4 Signs of Elder Abuse
P:5 Considerations for the Attorney
P:6 Elder Abuse Statutes
P:7 Adult Protective Services
P:8 Social Services and Other Agencies

Part Q Nursing Homes
Common Client Questions
Q:1 Overview
Q:2 Medicare and Medicaid Covered Services
Q:3 Resident Assessment and Care Plans
Q:4 Choosing a Nursing Home
Q:5 Prohibited Practices
Q:6 Residents' Rights
Q:7 Duties of Facility
Q:8 Transfers and Discharges
Q:9 Americans with Disabilities Act
Q:10 Litigation
Q:11 Where to Get Help

Part R Ethical Issues in an Elder Law Practice
Common Client Questions
R:1 Overview
R:2 Who is the Client?
R:3 Conflicts of Interest
R:4 Confidentiality
R:5 Multiple Clients
R:6 Clients Who Have Diminished Capacity
R:7 Training Employees
R:8 Suggestions for Handling Ethical Issues in an Elder Law Practice

 

Gilfix, Michael

Michael Gilfix is a principal of the law firm of Gilfix & LaPoll Associates in Palo Alto, California. A Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, he lectures frequently on elder law issues and has written extensively on the subject. He is a co-author of Matthew Bender's Tax Estate & Financial Planning for the Elderly: Forms & Practice. Mr. Gilfix is Certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization as a Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, is a faculty member of the American Institute for Philanthropic Studies and also serves on the Legal Advisors Committee of Choice in Dying. He received both his A.B. (Phi Beta Kappa) and his J.D. from Stanford University, and is admitted to practice before the courts in the state of California.

David M. English

David M. English is the William Franklin Fratcher Missouri Endowed Professor of Law at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Professor English, an expert in the fields of both estate planning and elder law, is a member of the Executive Committee of the ABA Section of Real Property, Probate & Trust Law, an Academic Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and an elected member of the American Law Institute. He is a co-author of the LexisNexis companion volumes, Tax, Estate & Financial Planning for the Elderly and Tax, Estate & Financial Planning for the Elderly: Forms & Practice.

Professor English has written on a wide range of issues within his areas of expertise, including numerous articles on trust law, guardianship, health-care decision making and long-term care. He served as the Reporter for the Uniform Trust Code and Uniform Health-Care Decision Act, and is currently the Reporter for the Uniform Guardianship Jurisdiction Act and Executive Director of the Joint Editorial Board for Uniform Trusts & Estates Acts. He received his B.A. from Duke University and his J.D. from Northwestern University.

Rebecca C. Morgan

Professor Morgan is the Boston Asset Management Faculty Chair in Elder Law and Director of the Center for Excellence in Elder Law at Stetson University College of Law. Professor Morgan teaches a variety of elder law and skills courses, and oversees the Elder Law concentration program for JD students. She is a co-author of Tax, Estate & Financial Planning for the Elderly and its companion forms set, Tax, Estate & Financial Planning for the Elderly: Forms & Practice, and a co-author of Planning for the Elderly in Florida.

She is a Past President of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and Past President of the Board of Directors of the National Senior Citizens Law Center. Professor Morgan is a member of the academic advisory board for the Borchard Foundation Center for Law and Aging, an academic fellow of the American College of Trusts & Estates Counsel, and a past chair of the American Association of Law Schools Section on Aging and the Law and of the Florida Bar Elder Law Section. She served as a special advisor to the ABA Commission on Law and Aging, was the reporter for the Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act, and was on the Faculty of the National Judicial College. She served on the Florida Attorney General's Task Force on Elder Abuse and the Legislative Guardianship Study Commission.

Professor Morgan was the recipient of the 2003 Faculty Award on Professionalism from the Florida Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism. She received the NAELA Unaward in November 2004 for her accomplishments in the field of elder law. Professor Morgan, along with Professor Roberta Flowers, received the 2005 Project Award on Professionalism from the Florida Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism for their video series on ethics in an elder law practice. She has authored a number of articles on a variety of elder law issues and has spoken a number of times on various subjects of elder law.