Elder Law · A Real Case
There's really no such thing as a "typical" case — each client and each family has unique goals and challenges. Jerry and Louise's story is a composite of the problems we've seen and the solutions that help families live with dignity.
Jerry and Louise are 82 and 80 years old, respectively. They love their home of fifty years. Louise was hospitalized last week due to a stroke. Their daughter, Susan, called us. She said that her mother had become increasingly confused over the last year and her father had been wearing himself out caring for her. Susan is worried that if Jerry doesn't get help, she'll have two sick parents to look after on top of the needs of her own children and her job. Susan was frightened that there might not be enough money to pay for her mother's care — or even sure what kind of care she really needed.
We started by sending out a questionnaire and list of documents and scheduled a meeting with Jerry and Susan. We made certain to be clear that we represented Jerry, not Susan, and got Jerry's permission to include Susan in our meeting.
We then reviewed the couple's legal documents and finances. The couple's Wills had not been updated in eighteen years. Jerry's power of attorney named only his wife as his attorney-in-fact — a job which she could no longer carry out. Louise's power of attorney lacked language which would allow her family to help plan for the cost of long-term care.
We also discovered that Jerry had invested $200,000 — nearly half of their life savings — two years ago in a deferred variable interest annuity, which had high surrender charges if Jerry needed the money back within seven years. When we asked Jerry why he made that choice, he said that "the financial planner at the bank told me it would protect my money." We asked Jerry if he was told about the surrender charges he'd face if he needed to get to that money quickly, or about other options he might have had for savings and investment. Jerry said that the financial planner never told him about any such thing.
We wanted to be sure that Jerry and Susan got the information they needed to make a well-informed decision about how to best care for Louise. So, we asked one of the outstanding geriatric care managers we work with to consult with the family and Louise's physicians and develop a plan for Louise's care once she was released from the hospital. Jerry made the difficult decision to place his wife in the memory care unit of a local assisted living facility. Before the move occurred, we reviewed the assisted living contract with Jerry to make sure it complied with Massachusetts law, flagged language that concerned us, and helped him understand its terms. With Jerry's permission, we also filed a complaint against the unethical financial advisor and referred Jerry to an attorney for further legal action.