Elder Law
Once a judge has deemed a ward to be incompetent and has agreed that a guardianship should be in place, the judge has to appoint an appropriate guardian. There are some restrictions on who can be appointed as a guardian in Georgia. Only individuals (not organizations) can be guardians (unless the Guardian is the Georgia…
Read MoreWe often hear from healthcare professionals and long-term care providers who are concerned about incapacitated individuals needing a guardian and having no family or friends available to help them. What happens when an adult can no longer make his/her own decisions but there is no one to step in and help them? This situation is…
Read MoreIn most situations, Georgia requires that two people file for guardianship. This can be any two persons who will swear to the facts in the petition, or any one person along with a physician’s, licensed clinical social worker’s, or psychologist’s affidavit stating that he or she had examined the Proposed Ward within 15 days prior…
Read MoreThe Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act has been signed into law on January 22, 2018. The RAISE Family Caregivers Act will address the needs of our nation’s family caregivers through the development and implementation of a coordinated national strategy. The new law directs the Department of Health and Human Services…
Read MoreOnly a person deemed to be incompetent by a judge can have a guardian or conservator named over him/her. The Georgia code states, “The court may appoint a guardian for an adult only if the court finds the adult lacks sufficient capacity to make or communicate significant responsible decisions concerning his or her health or…
Read MoreThere are many legal terms for the roles we can play in an older adults life. Have you ever been asked if you are the guardian or the power of attorney for someone? What does it mean when you hear that someone is the executor or trustee for someone else? How about conservator—what is that?…
Read MoreWe often hear from concerned family members who are convinced they need to get guardianship over their loved one. Take this situation for example: a daughter calls our office after visiting an assisted living community. She is considering assisted living communities for her mom who has dementia, and one representative at a community told her…
Read MoreThere is a new push to change Georgia’s laws so that Medicaid dollars could also be used to pay for assisted living facilities. The Coalition of Advocates for Georgia’s Elderly (CO-AGE) has finalized their 2018 advocacy priorities, and this topic was selected as one of their 3 legislative issues for 2018. We all know…
Read MoreMoney, Death, and Medicaid—topics very few want to discuss. When it comes to planning ahead for retirement, long-term care needs or death, I have come to learn that few families ever approach these topics. Most of our families come to us in crisis – they have insufficient funds for retirement, no plan for their long-term…
Read MoreThe Money Follows the Person Program is at risk of disappearing unless congress takes action.
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