Alzheimer’s disease is an unlikely topic for Oscar buzz, but it nevertheless dominated red-carpet chatter this year, as Julianne Moore was an early favorite to win the Best Actress award for Still Alice. Alice is a devastatingly affecting film about a woman diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Moore was universally praised for her unshakeable performance[...]
Life as a caregiver is tough — especially if you aren’t being paid for it. View image | gettyimages.com Studies show that the majority of America’s healthcare providers are gratuitous. That means they are uncompensated volunteers, usually family members, who assume the tremendous burden of elder care on their own. Caring for any senior is[...]
If it can happen to Mickey Rooney, it can happen to anyone. Elder financial abuse is a real and growing epidemic in the United States, hard as that is to imagine. Unfortunately, we live in a society that too often looks at the elderly as “less than.” Unscrupulous adults who are hard pressed for cash[...]
Even for professional caregivers, helping the elderly take care of themselves isn’t always easy. But more than half of the caregiving in this country is rendered by unpaid family members (at least in part). View image | gettyimages.com In fact, more than 22 million people in the U.S. currently provide informal care for an elderly[...]
Swim meets are best summed up as sitting on a hard concrete bench for 4.5 hours for a total of two-ish minutes of excitement watching your child. The only other time to reap any rewards as a parent at a swim meet is during "warmups" - which last a lot longer than any of the[...]
The year’s first snowfall is always an exciting thing, but a little goes a long way. Here in New Jersey, of course, we get more than just a little. https://gty.im/459242996 For our state’s senior population, substantial snowfall can be a serious concern, and not just because of the cold weather. When blizzards become emergencies, issues[...]
We all know the holidays are the right time for sleigh riding, bell ringing, and tree trimming… but what about estate planning? https://gty.im/88749768 The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently suggested something I like to remind my clients of as well: the holidays truly are the perfect time to update an estate plan. Why? Two reasons, really: togetherness[...]
“You can’t sit with us.” https://gty.im/484149795 The classic line from 2004’s Mean Girls movie perfectly embodied just how cliquey and cruel high school life can be in the modern age. The film’s characters carped at each other over everything from boyfriends and girlfriends to fashion and cafeteria seating choices. But is nursing home life much[...]
It’s no secret that lawyers have a reputation for being “sharky.” In fact, a lot of us came up through law school at a time when the legal field tried very hard to fight back against that stereotype — an effort that continues even now. As a result, many of today’s attorneys are actually determined[...]
Some parents consider transferring ownership of their homes to their children. Why? Many believe that it is a classic win-win situation. They can continue to live in the house, while at the same time reduce the value of their estate for tax purposes and provide a valuable asset to their kids down the road. If[...]