Monday, September 12, 2011
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Learn, Share and Contribute: Three Care Giving Resources
One of the most debilitating illnesses that challenge family members as much as the person afflicted is Alzheimer’s. The Alzheimers Association http://www.alz.org has created a plethora of resources for both the person afflicted with the illness and the person’s family, social group and caregivers. Here’s two resources that have proved helpful to individuals I know personally, who are involved with the consuming task of care giving.
Another resource that’s devoted to alerting readers to development in Alzheimer’s research and tips is "The Retiree's News Basket" http://retirees-newsbasket.blogspot.com .The writers take you through the basics of care, stories of folks in the Alzheimer’s community and up to date notes about breaking research.
Finally, a similarly great resource for caregivers in general is www.caregiver.org This association, called the Caregiver Media Group, produces several publications all geared towards serving the caregiver. Check out their website for general and specific tips on caregiving. They also sponsor conferences and online discussion groups (which are great for getting opinions from other caregivers when you are faced with a specific problem you’re trying to resolve for the person for whom you are caregiving). Their publication is called Today’s Caregiver and is available through their website.
We all benefit when we can learn, share and contribute to and from one another.
These comments and opinions do not constitute legal advice and in no way establish an attorney client relationship between the author and the reader of this blog.
Labels: alzheimers, caregiver, elder law, retiree
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Helpful Link: National Eldercare Locator
This is a government service that provides individuals with the initial information required to find resources for older adults. Its goal is to help older individuals continue to live independently in their communities. This service is useful for both people seeking assistance and caregivers of older individuals.
http://www.eldercare.gov/Eldercare.NET/Public/Home.aspx
Celluloid Empathy: Aging at the Movies
About one year ago, in her blog “The New Old Age” Jane Gross posted a list of movies that in her words, “thoughtfully depicted old age”. See http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com She got her inspiration from Dr. Dennis McCullough’s book, “My Mother, Your Mother: Embracing “Slow Medicine”, the Compassionate Approach to Caring for Your Aging Loved Ones”. In his book, Dr. McCullough provided his readers with his own original list of favorites films related to aging. For more about Dr. McCullough and the “Slow Medicine” movement, check out his website, www.mymotheryourmother.com
Here’s the combined list, from Ms. Gross and Dr. McCullough. Many of these titles are now available on DVD. Enjoy!
Umberto D. (1952, Dir. Vittorio De Sica)
Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Bergman)
On Golden Pond (1981, Mark Rydell)
The Trip to Bountiful (1985, Peter Masterson)
Foxfire (1987, Jud Taylor)
The Whales of August (1987, Lindsay Anderson)
Everybody’s Fine (1990, Giuseppe Tornatore)
The Company of Strangers (1991, Cynthia Scott)
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993, Randa Haines)
To Dance With the White Dog (1994, Glenn Jordan)
Buena Vista Social Club (1998, Wim Wenders)
The Straight Story (1999, David Lynch)
Innocence (2000, Paul Cox)
Iris (2001, Richard Eyre)
About Schmidt (2002, Alexander Payne)
Secondhand Lions (2003, Tim McCanlies)
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005, Dan Ireland)
Aurora Borealis (2004, James Burke)
The Savages (2007, Tamara Jenkins)
Away From Her (2006, Sarah Polley)
I Never Sang for My Father (1970, Gilbert Cates)
Antonia’s Line (1995, Marleen Gorris)
Make Way For Tomorrow (1937, Leo McCarey)
Madadayo (1993, Akira Kurosawa)
Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu)
Saraband (2003, Ingmar Bergman)
The Notebook (2004, Nick Cassavetes)
Calendar Girls (2003, Nigel Cole)
Driving Miss Daisy (1989, Bruce Beresford)
Elsa and Fred (2005, Marcos Carnevale)
Harry and Tonto (1974, Paul Mazursky)
Safe House (1998, Eric Steven Stahl)
Tatie Danielle (1991, Etienne Chatiliez)
The Shameless Old Lady (1965, Rene Allio)
Love in the Time of Cholera (2007, Mike Newell)
The Memory of a Killer (2003, Erik Van Looy)
Evening (2007, Lajos Koltai)
Boynton Beach Club (2005, Susan Seidelman)
Cocoon (1985, Ron Howard)
Venus (2006, Roger Michell)
Nobody’s Fool (1994, Robert Benton)
The Battle of Narayama (1983, Shohei Imamura)
The Gin Game (2003, Aaron Brown)
Harold and Maude (1971, Hal Ashby)
The Bucket List (2007, Rob Reiner)
Starting Out in the Evening (2007, Andrew Wagner)
Kotch (1971, Jack Lemmon)
The Lion in Winter (1968, Anthony Harvey)
A Thousand Acres (1997, Jocelyn Moorhouse)
The Sunshine Boys (1975, Herbert Ross)
Dad (1989, Gary David Goldberg)
Tell Me A Riddle (1980, Lee Grant)
Grumpy Old Men (1993, Donald Petri)
Being There (1979, Hal Ashby)
Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975, Sam O’Steen)
Key words: Movies, Films, Old Age, New York Times, The New Old Age, Jane Gross, Dr. Dennis McCullough
You Got the Power --- Or Do You?
But it’s hard to discern the law from a sample formbook. It turns out my friend had a misperception about what a power of attorney can accomplish. She mistakenly thought that this document would allow her, as her brother’s designated power of attorney, to close out his bank accounts after his death. She had planned on presenting this “power of attorney” document to his bank as soon as possible. She fully expected that the financial institution would either add her as a signatory to her brother’s account or allow her to withdraw the funds in that account. It was a difficult task to tell her she was mistaken.
What’s the real situation here? Unfortunately, a power of attorney is a power that stops working once the person for whom you hold that power, passes on. In other words, when her brother stopped living, the power of attorney also died at that same moment.
Similarly, a durable power of attorney for medical decisions does not survive the death of the person granting the power of attorney to another individual. (I have no idea if they had even executed that type of document.)
Now, my friend has even more to handle that she had anticipated. In addition to grieving the loss of a dear loved one, she has some unexpectedly complicated issues to resolve regarding the belongings and property her brother left behind after his death. We’ll check back in with her periodically to see how she is handling these issues.
Conclusion? I strongly recommend you DO NOT execute a power of attorney without a lawyer. There’s no substitute for an attorney’s independent judgment, drafting and research in this area of law.
As always, please note that this Blog doesn’t constitute legal advice in any way, shape or form and is not intended to create a client attorney relationship between any individual or company or not-for-profit and this law office.
Key words: “power of attorney”, death, dying, estate planning