Guardianship
Protecting Those Who Can No Longer Make Decisions Alone
Guardianship becomes necessary when an individual is no longer able to make informed, safe decisions about their personal well-being or finances, or is vulnerable to exploitation. It is a legal process that grants a trusted person the authority to act on their behalf. Because it can significantly impact personal rights, guardianship should be considered only after all less restrictive alternatives have been explored and found ineffective or unavailable. At Haiman Law, we help families navigate this complex process with compassion and clarity.
Smart Planning: Legal Tools for Protecting Vulnerable Loved Ones
What Should I Know about Guardianship?
One of the key functions of the family law system is to ensure that children are looked after appropriately. This is the basis for the doctrine of legal guardianship.
Retirement Planning and Declining Abilities
When a loved one is experiencing cognitive decline, emotional and medical considerations often overshadow the financial planning that needs to happen. This is a potentially costly mistake.
What’s the Difference Between an Inter Vivos Trust and a Testamentary Trust?
Estate planning offers tools to establish and maintain effective control over cash, investments and real estate assets during a person’s lifetime and upon death. While wills and beneficiary designations work well to ensure that an estate plan meets the unique needs of the individual establishing the plan, each has its limits.
What I Need to Know about Caring for a Loved One with Dementia
There are few challenges more emotional and difficult than caring for an aging loved one who has dementia. In addition to the normal challenges of aging, elders who suffer from dementia can experience dramatic temperament changes and require more attentive care. As the condition progresses, wandering becomes a risk and around-the-clock care may be needed.
New Blood Test May Make Alzheimer’s Diagnosis Easier
A simple blood test may soon be able to diagnose patients with two common forms of dementia – Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) – and tell the two apart.
How is a Guardianship Determined?
Although various degrees of control may accompany a limited guardianship, our discussion here applies to a general guardianship, which includes full control of an individual’s person and property.
Why Would I Need a Power of Attorney?
A power of attorney is a document that lets you appoint a person or an organization to handle the financial and medical decisions on your behalf, when you are not able to because of sickness or death. The person or the organization is called the attorney-in-fact or the agent. POA is given to someone whom you can trust with your life.
How Can Siblings Work Together to Care for Dad?
Old resentments and rivalries often die hard, especially with sibling relationships, and caregiving situations can resurrect these issues.
Special Needs Planning is a Lifelong Event
Linda Smyth has spent more than 20 years fighting her way through a complicated maze of paperwork, assessments and denials in the attempt to secure services for her son, who is on the autism spectrum.
When Do I Need an Elder Law Attorney?
Elder law issues can be complex. One wrong word or move can mean the difference between a good result and disaster should you become incapacitated or if other unexpected issues should occur in your senior years. An elder law attorney can help you plan for what will happen, if you should become mentally or physically incapable of taking care of yourself and your own personal business matters.
See Why Clients Trust Haiman Law
Feedback from those who’ve trusted us with life’s most important decisions.