An ELDERLAW ATTORNEY is a counselor at law (confidential legal advice) and/or a representative of a senior or a disabled person (zealous advocate).

Multiple issues arise from concerns about health, money and aging.  Each person needs to have their End-Of-Life care needs met.  Planning in advance of need can be challenging.

Sometimes people wait until it is too late - until after they are UNABLE to make their own decisions.  Delay is a legal right, but may cause great sadness, due to the cost of litigation, its stress and damage to relationships. 

HEALTH ISSUES are best handled in advance.  As shown by Terry Schiavo's situation in Florida, having a WRITTEN Advance Health Care Directive may be critical. 

Since 1985, attorney Carol Peters has often spoken about the Advance Health Care Directive: first as a member of the Informed Medical Consent Taskforce of Huntington Memorial Hospital (1985-1993), by which time the Calif. Durable Power Of Attorney For Health Care (old Civil Code §2433) was fairly well established and nicknamed "DPA-H/C" ("Dee-pack") or "POA-Health Care".  Then, after the 1991 federal Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) used the term "Advance Health Care Directive", California passed California's AB 891, eff. 07/01/2000, moving the DPA-H/C to Probate Code 4650 et seq., changed the name to "Advance Health Care Directive" (AHCD) and created the statutory "AHCD" form at Probate Code §4701. 

FINANCIAL issues are best handled in advance too.  An elder law attorney can review existing documents, which may still be valid and so quite workable.  Or, if there have been changes in family or fortune, create new documents, to update the nominations of fiduciaries and to support the ongoing care plan.