The traditional portrait of older Americans is changing. According to a recent article in The New York Times, the divorce rate among baby boomers has exploded to over 50 percent. This new trend will have a resounding impact on the lives of many older Americans. The baby boomers are very different from the generations that[...]
Is a living will a medical contract or a legal contract? On this blog I've often raised the problems with having a non-lawyer do legal work - are there the same problems if lawyers are doing quasi-medical work? Assuming that input from medical professionals is warranted, is consultation with a doctor required or will a[...]
How's that for a headline? A recent study, highlighted by Forbes in this article, has concluded that if you plan to spend 30 days or less in a nursing home, you will have a median net worth of $108,000 at the end. However, if you are unfortunate enough to require 6 months of nursing home[...]
Recently the Wall Street Journal published this article on passwords, seniors and how easy they are to crack (passwords, not seniors). It reminded me of a funny movie clip (watch it but come back here): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6iW-8xPw3k As you get more comfortable with living your life on the Internet, you begin to take advantage of things[...]
Alzheimer's has become such a growing concern for the population that the federal government has created a national plan to address it. Through the National Institutes of Health, the government is investing $50 million in research this year, and $100 million in 2013. Some of the $50 million in 2012 is going towards a promising[...]
The New York Times recently published a heart-wrenching article entitled: A Rare Form of Dementia Tests a Vow of ‘for Better, for Worse’ It discusses a rare form of dementia called "frontotemporal dementia", which eats away at personality and language. The article goes over some of the science behind the disease, but what was staggering to[...]
It's no secret that resources for government-sponsored programs are dwindling. When it's a program like Medicaid, where each state is responsible for a portion of their costs, then the budget crunches are even more pronounced. This article from the Wall Street Journal discusses how the landscape for qualifying for Medicaid is changing, and getting harder. In[...]
My wife laughs politely as I refer to our local paper, The Trenton Times, as "the local fish wrapper" - even though I've made that joke hundreds of times. Occasionally, I find an article of interest and I can't help but link to it. Padding back into the house after bringing in the Sunday paper,[...]
According to this article, there will be 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day for the next 18 years. That population surge has created a whole new business sector for seniors wanting to "age in place" — which is a fancy way of saying they want to stay home and out of a nursing home. In[...]
Human behavior is often a curious thing. People tend to delay or fail to do something, even when there's every incentive and benefit to do it. Estate planning and elder law planning is like that. Focusing, for the moment, just on elder law or Medicaid planning, the earlier someone plans the more options they have[...]