Gainesville Florida Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

We hear this story often. Your lifelong partner passed away, and you have found someone else with whom to share your life. But in many cases, this new-found love will never result in marriage.

For some, the reason may be financial. In other cases, a decision to forego marriage may be a result of keeping children and grandchildren happy.
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The news reports came quickly last week after the passing of Aretha Franklin. Her attorney announced she left behind no will or trust.

As a result, within a few days of her passing four sons filed a document in Michigan listing themselves as interested parties in her estate, and a niece asked the court to name her as personal representative of the estate.

Reports have surfaced that Franklin’s estate is worth $80 million. At this point there’s little way of knowing how all of this will turn out.
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The number of people suffering from Alzheimer’s and other related dementias continues to grow at a staggering rate, creating an ever-escalating catastrophic situation for our seniors and those who care for them.

While many of us focus on care for our loved ones, scientists continue to look for breakthroughs that might stem the tide of this disease. And a recent announcement may be good news in that regard.

Presented recently at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Chicago, the results of a large clinical trial showed a drug being used was able to both reduce the plaques in the brains of patients and slow the progression of dementia.

People who received the highest dosage of the drug during an 18-month test showed an 81 percent reduction in the plaque buildup found on the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, as well as a 30 percent reduction in the indicators of early Alzheimer’s.
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If you have spent any time as a caregiver, or if you know someone in that role, one thing is certain: the biggest challenges facing caregivers is finding time to take care of themselves.

It’s almost always true that a person is never ready to assume the caregiver role but circumstances thrust it upon them.

In many cases, the caregiver of an older person is a son or daughter. That’s challenging enough. It’s often the case that the younger caregiver has a spouse and children already.
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 Note: This article comes from the CPA Journal

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) projects that by 2030, approximately 16% of women will be between 80 and 84 years old and childless (Donald Redfoot, Lynn Feinberg, and Ari Houser, “The Aging of the Baby Boom and the Growing Care Gap: A Look at Future Declines in the Availability of Family Caregivers,” Insight on the Issues, AARP Public Policy Institute, August 2013, http://bit.ly/2rZDYS8). What are elderly persons who are without children or other family to serve as caregivers supposed to do? This article outlines some practical issues to consider, along with legal and financial matters for those who are fortunate enough to reach their 80s and beyond.

What are elderly persons who are without children or other family to serve as caregivers supposed to do? This article outlines some practical issues to consider, along with legal and financial matters for those who are fortunate enough to reach their 80s and beyond.

We have written here many times about scammers and their largest target area – our seniors. Often the warnings we hear about scammers deal with phony IRS issues. Now, just a week ago, the Social Security administration issued its own warning about scamming.

Like many of the IRS scams, this one deals with phone callers trying to get your personal information, including Social Security and bank account numbers, according to Gale Stallworth Stone, Acting Inspector General of Social Security.

The caller might say they are from Social Security headquarters  and will ask you to confirm personal information – Social Security number, new Medicare number, address and date of birth.
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One of the most significant problems for our senior population is the ongoing effort by scammers to steal their savings. And, it always seems that as soon as the public becomes aware of the latest schemes to defraud seniors, a new one is developed.

The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging recently issued a report of the latest top 10 scams targeting our seniors.
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If you feel like your Social Security check is not going as far as it has in the past, you’re not alone.

A new report indicates that the buying power of your monthly Social Security benefit has dropped by more than a third since 2000. The annual report from the Senior Citizens League, an Alexandria, Va. Advocacy group indicates the exact reduction in buying power since the turn of the century is 34 percent.

So while you’re seeing a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in your social Security benefits, it is not keeping up with the real increase in the costs of goods and services.
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VA nursing homes fall behind their private competitors when it comes to neglect and medical mismanagement issues, according to a recent USA Today article.

Analyzing internal VA documents to reach those results, the article suggested that residents in more than two-thirds of Department of Veterans Affairs nursing homes were likelier to suffer from serious bedsores and other pain.

Further, the analysis of a 2017 survey indicated that a significant number of veterans in VA nursing homes suffer potential neglect or mismanagement of medication.

The results showed that more than 100 VA nursing homes showed poorer results than private nursing homes on most key quality indicators, including rates of infection and decline in daily living skills. Overall the VA scored worse on average than homes in the private sector using nine of 11 key indicators.
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Social Security is the financial foundation for many of our seniors, so when there is troubling news about the program, it is alarming for many people.

Some of that news came recently when forecasted projections showed that in 2022, for the first time in history, benefits paid will be greater than revenue collected. That reversal of benefits versus revenue is expected to continue and grow in future years.

There are a number of reasons for this. The most significant is the growing number of baby boomers starting to retire.
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We recently wrote about troubling news when it comes to accessibility for the disabled in our nation’s schools and a request by several members of Congress for a review of accessibility.

On the other end of the spectrum, here’s some good news about special education.

There are an increasing number of students receiving special education in the nation’s public schools, based on a recent report from the U.S. Department of Education.
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