As a caregiver, you should get involved early prior to any true financial damage occurring, but when that does not happen, often more dramatic steps are required to resolve issues that have developed.
You should consult an attorney in your state or city to learn your exact rights in relation to your caregiving responsibilities. This article will focus on some of the general concepts of federal law related to a caregiver’s legal rights in relation to the workplace.
Acting as a caregiver to an elderly loved one is an awesome responsibility. Along with being responsible for obvious things such as assisting your loved one, you may also have other responsibilities, such as your regular job, other family members, and your own mental, emotional, physical, and financial health.
This often requires a keen understanding of the legalities that go into becoming a caregiver, key information that can lead you to a monthly salary, tax breaks, and more. This knowledge also includes plenty in the way of documentation and legal pathways.
Tips on Legal Planning for Caregivers. Plan ahead before your loved one gets sick. “Making legal plans in advance is important for several reasons: Early planning allows the person with dementia to be involved and express his or her wishes for future care and decisions.
A guardian has the legal authority to make decisions about the lifestyle and well-being of another person. The decisions a guardian may make include where a person may live, what care and medical treatment will be provided, and what religious and educational activities will be made available.
In fact, 15 states offer a Cash & Counseling program that gives an allowance to care recipients that can be used to pay family caregivers. For caregivers who don’t live in one of the 15 Cash & Counseling states, other programs are available for low-income seniors who may not qualify for Medicaid.
While those with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are considered the most vulnerable, cognitively sound individuals are also prone to being defrauded and scammed.”. – Marlo Sollitto, 5 Common Legal Issues That Caregivers Face, AgingCare; Twitter: @AgingCare.
5. Will. Your older adult’s will names an executor and beneficiaries. The executor is the person who will manage your older adult’s estate at the time of death. Beneficiaries will receive the estate at the time of death. What happens if you don’t plan ahead.
A conservatorship can be difficult for families because almost every action or decision on behalf of your older adult must be court supervised and approved. How to get started with legal documents. For legal matters, hiring a elder law attorney is always recommended.
One day, your older adult won’t be able to manage their own legal matters and will rely on you to act in their best interests. Planning ahead and getting the legal stuff squared away before a crisis allows your older adult and your family to stay in control of critical decisions. The downside to not having proper legal paperwork in place is being ...
Understand Which Kind of Problems are Most Likely to Get You a New Lawyer#N#Three areas of concern: 1) significant breakdown in communication, 2) failure to investigate, 3) failure to file meritorious motions to exclude damaging evidence. COMMUNICATION: If there is an "irrevocable breakdown" (cannot be fixed) in atty/client relationship, you would be entitled to a new lawyer, so long as you did not cause it. Examples: persistent refusal to take your calls or to let you explain facts critical to your defense, won't explain strategic decisions or seek input, relationship has deteriorated so that the two of you cannot effectively communicate. INVESTIGATION: Lawyer has a responsibility to investigate your case, including interviewing witnesses, examining/testing physical evidence, consulting with appropriate experts, investigating credibility of state's witnesses, finding evidence to support your defense. SUPPRESSION MOTIONS: Lawyer must protect your rights and seek exclusion of damaging evidence unless there is a good strategic reason to fore go the motion.
If All Else Fails, Contact the State Bar Association#N#If the court denies your request for a new lawyer and there is no improvement in your lawyer's performance, you should consider filing a bar complaint before you are forced to go to trial with an ineffective and unprepared lawyer. IMPORTANT: You should only do this if you have a serious concern about your lawyer's representation. Filing a bar complaint will create a conflict of interest between you and your lawyer, requiring the court to provide new counsel. If you file a bogus complaint just to delay the trial, the judge is likely to get very annoyed.
If your complaint has to do with your lawyer's failure to file a motion to suppress evidence seized during an unlawful search, you want to avoid talking about any facts relating to your knowledge or possession of the items.
IMPORTANT: You should only do this if you have a serious concern about your lawyer's representation. Filing a bar complaint will create a conflict of interest between you and your lawyer, requiring the court to provide new counsel.
Try to Work Things Out with Your Current Lawyer First#N#Talk to your current lawyer and express your concerns candidly. Give your lawyer a chance to explain their views and the reason for their strategic choices. It is not uncommon for lawyers and clients to think differently about the case. You may be relieved to find out that your lawyer actually is working hard on your behalf. Your lawyer may be able to show you why your proposed approach would actually hurt your chances. If, after discussing the problem with your lawyer, you still have concerns or your lawyer refuses to discuss the issue with you, then take it to the next step.
The reason for that is simple: the court deems your lawyer to be the expert about how best to protect your interest. The court will not treat you as if you are co-counsel with an equal voice on strategic calls. Your lawyer is responsible for making the strategic decision in the case.
INVESTIGATION: Lawyer has a responsibility to investigate your case , including interviewing witnesses, examining/testing physical evidence, consulting with appropriate experts, investigating credibility of state's witnesses, finding evidence to support your defense.
The Legal Rights and Responsibilities of a Caregiver. Acting as a caregiver to an elderly loved one is an awesome responsibility. Along with being responsible for obvious things such as assisting your loved one, you may also have other responsibilities, such as your regular job, other family members, and your own mental, emotional, physical, ...
Employees may now sue employers if the employees are discriminated against or otherwise not accommodated or given leave when they need to give care to a person covered by the law, including their own parents, grandparents, or other relatives, spouses, and others.
Acting as the caregiver for an elderly loved one can be very demanding and require significant time off of work. Fortunately, there are a number of laws that may protect you and prevent your employer from terminating your when you are required to miss work due to your duties as a caregiver. The laws are complicated and–at least at the state level–vary from state to state, so be sure that you consult the appropriate attorney in order to be fully informed about your rights and responsibilities.
Employees may now sue employers if the employees are discriminated against or otherwise not accommodated ...
If you have a disability, or if you are a caregiver for someone who has a qualified disability, the ADA may offer you some protections at work. In some situations employers are prohibited by the ADA from discriminating against or retaliating against people who are acting as caregivers for certain disabled persons.
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.
Your estate, on the other hand, is what you leave to your loved ones when you die and how you leave it to minimize probate complications and potential estate tax liabilities. Numerous options are available to adjust as economically and efficiently as possible to plan for all eventualities.
Many elder law attorneys charge by the hour so you'd only have to pay for their time to deal with the specific issues that are of concern to you. Others offer "package deals.". They'll provide various services under the umbrella of one fee.
Elder law isn't the same thing as estate law , although they cover some of the same issues. Elder law addresses your finances and property in such a way as to best provide for you and your family while you're still alive.
These laws control who can and cannot serve as a personal representative, trustee, health care surrogate, or attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney.
For example, a revocable living trust can be set up for someone else to take over management of your assets if a time comes when you can no longer do so yourself. An elder law attorney can explain these options to you so you can have a plan in place for such an eventuality.
If you are dissatisfied with your lawyer, your first step should be to raise your concerns in a conversation. If the problem persists and your lawyer is a public defender, you may contact the lawyer’s supervisor. In rare cases, the supervisor may assign a different public defender. This would be done without court intervention.
At a hearing in which you ask for a new lawyer, the courtroom is typically closed to all but the judge, the defendant, and the appointed lawyer, and the record of the proceeding will be sealed. This means that neither the prosecutor nor the public will have access to a transcript of the proceeding.
The defendant presents his grievance, the defendant’s lawyer responds, and the judge normally asks questions to clarify the dispute. The judge will attempt to resolve the disagreement without having to appoint a new lawyer. If you seek a hearing, you must be prepared with organized and specific reasons.
If you are unable to solve the problem without judicial intervention, you may ask the court for a hearing to request new counsel. You can normally make this hearing request directly to the court, but if you tell your current counsel of your wish to have this hearing, your lawyer would have an obligation to notify the court.
If you seek a hearing, you must be prepared with organized and specific reasons. Successful arguments for new counsel generally involve a significant lack of communication, failure to investigate key evidence, and failure to make valid legal arguments. Remember that your “opponent” in this hearing will be your lawyer.
Updated: Dec 15th, 2020. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to the assistance of legal counsel in all felony cases. If a person does not have the financial means to hire an attorney, courts will appoint a lawyer free of charge in all cases, including misdemeanors, that have the possibility of incarceration.
When claiming a lack of investigation, focus on the evidence that you want your lawyer to track down and how it might be helpful to your defense. To the extent possible, avoid giving your own version of events and your interpretation of the alleged criminal conduct.
Health Care: A health care power of attorney authorizes the agent to make medical decisions on behalf of the principal in the event that the principal is unconscious, or not mentally competent to make their own medical decisions.
If you become incapacited and do not have a durable power of attorney document executed, then any interested party can petition the court for guardianship. A guardianship can give someone control over the incapacitated person, over the incapacitated person’s property, or both. After being appointed as guardian by the courts, ...
An example would be if someone develops dementia as they age or is unconscious after having been in a car accident. If a valid power of attorney exists prior to the principal’s incapacitation, then the agent has full authority to make decisions on the principal’s behalf, to the extent they were granted in the power of attorney document.
If the document does not contain language saying the power of attorney is durable, then the power of attorney is considered non-durable and it becomes invalid as soon as the principal becomes incapacitated.
As with any document, the person that is signing and granting power of attorney must have the mental capacity to do so and must know what they are signing, or the document will not be valid.
The agent does not have to be a lawyer, and is oftentimes a close friend or family member. Executing a power of attorney means that the principal is willing to trust that the agent will make decisions based on what is in the principal’s best interest, so the agent must be chosen very carefully.
Important to note is that in order for a power of attorney to remain valid after a principal’s incapacitation, it must be a durable power of attorney. To create a durable power of attorney, specific language confirming that to be the principal’s intent must be included in the document.
This might be a foster parent, an attorney, a relative or other adult who is given the responsibility of caring and supervising the child until a long-term guardian can be appointed. This type of guardian is typically called in when the child’s immediate welfare is at stake, such as when parental abuse is suspected.
The Guardian of the Estate is responsible for making sure that the child’s money and/or property is properly managed. This is commonly found in the case of child celebrities where the child makes considerably more than the parents and/or the parents’ management of the assets have come into question.
Plenary Guardianship is perhaps the closest legal definition for the rights and responsibilities that are naturally assumed with parenthood. A Plenary Guardian oversees both the “person” as well as the “estate” meaning that they make just about all the decisions on the child’s behalf.
In its broadest interpretation, the term “guardian” is used to refer to parents, whether biological or adoptive or other legal custodians of children. However, there are actually several different types of guardianship, some of which can be awarded while the parental rights remain in tact.
The guardian can choose to have a libereal vistation with the parents, an agreed upon visitation schedule, or at a miniumum follow a standard vistation; like the ones for divorced parents in your state. The guardian can also terminate a visit if they feel the child is in danger, a parent is high on drugs, drunk, etc.