BIOETHICS:

• End-Of-Life care decisions
• Decision-making by senior or disabled person
• Decision-making by family or friends 

ELDER LAW   To remain independent, a senior or disabled person may need assistance planning the proposed Care Plan and then documeenting it.

ESTATE PLANNING DOCUMENTATION:

• WILL or  TRUST and CONSERVATOR Nominations;
• AHCD/ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE

  per 1991 federal Patient Self-Determination Act

  per 1996 California Probate Code §4701

  per 1996 federal HIPAA/Health Insurance Protection & Advocacy Act

  BUT see your DOCTOR about California's P.O.L.S.T./Physician Order ~ Life Sustaining Treatment statute (eff. 1/1/09)

• DURABLE POWER OF ATTORNEY FOR ASSET MANAGEMENT;
• Other planning possibilities include    
  • Special Needs Trust for Ill Spouse
  • Personal Lifetime Right To Occupy (house issue)
  • Personal Care Agreement
  • Charitable Trust planning (for tax benefits)
  • Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (for tax benefits)
  • Guardianship planning (to 18 years of age)
  • U.T.M.A. planning (to 25 years of age)
• Trust "funding" by transfer of non-Trust assets to Trustee
• Trust administration support for Trustee 
• Medi-Cal Lien accrual issues and remedies

ESTATE SETTLEMENT for fiduciary Clients and heirs:

• PROBATE administration for Executors/Administrators;
• TRUST Administration for Trustees and Successor Trustees;
  • "Heggstad Petition" (to fund Decedent's Trust without Probate)
  • Trust Funding at death of 1st spouse (or incurrence of tax issues)
  • Trust Distribution at death of 2d spouse
  • Final Account by Trustee
• CONSERVATORSHIP wind-up & distribution
• Final Accounts for Attorneys-In-Fact (for Power of Attorney report)
• Small Estate Set-Aside
• Estate settlement without probate (Joint Tenancy, P.O.D.)
• Medi-Cal Estate Recovery claims
• Heirship Petition

ESTATE SETTLEMENT for creditors

• Creditors' Claim filing and post-denial itigation
• Estate Recovery issues (LTC Medi-Cal claim)
• Contested claims

REAL PROPERTY:

• Transactions and contract review for elders or disabled Owners
• For sale, purchase, or rental
• Occupancy Agreement 
• Disputes about title, succession, or predatory lending practices

LEGAL ETHICS and PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBIILITY:  2d opinion

© Carol A. Peters, Esq.