Law Office of Dierdre Perez Kruse. Legal representation exclusively limited to issues involving aging and incapacity.

The population of the United States is graying. Americans are living longer and their lives are healthier and more productive.

Currently baby boomers represent almost 30% of the population. We’re soon going to hit 65—how will society accommodate what has been termed as the pig passing through the snake as we try to accommodate this large segment of society?

Health researchers estimate that the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease, currently about 4 million, will grow to 10 million by 2050 as the population ages.

You might ask what the big deal about reaching age 65 and becoming a senior citizen. As in all matters there are advantages and disadvantages including mandatory retirement, medical insurance issues, more leisure time, new hobbies and recreational activities, boredom, depression, empty nest syndrome, changes in housing, ill health or death of spouse, isolation, tax concerns, financing catastrophic illness and incompetency.

Our firm specializes in helping senior citizens and their families deal with the disadvantages. We also provide legal assistance to families and younger individuals with special needs due to mental or physical incapacity.

When times get tough the senior is often preyed upon by unscrupulous individuals. Seniors may own a home that is fully paid for and have money in the bank. If you listen to the news you may have heard re-financing schemes or about attempts to steal money from an elderly person by making emergency phone calls posing as a grandchild who needs bail money or airplane fare. This is called elder abuse and is usually defined as the physical or psychological mistreatment of a senior, and can include taking financial advantage or neglecting their care. In the U.S., estimates of abused seniors range between four and ten percent. Part of the reason why there are no reliable statistics exist on elder abuse is because it is under reported.

Elder abuse can occur in domestic or institutional settings. Some elderly may be embarrassed to reveal abuse from their relatives, or may fear being placed in an institution if they live at home. They might worry about reprisal from the abuser, who many times is a family member or close friend. Elder abuse or neglect can occur in nursing homes or hospitals. Our office assists seniors who have been victimized and we put in place legal documents to avoid abuse in the future. We work with law enforcement and the courts to make sure the abuser is held fully accountable.

As a part of the services we provide, our office believes in having documents in place which deal with events that may occur in the future affecting seniors and the incapacitated of any age. We can prepare a specific type of power of attorney over finances that continues to be in full effect even if the senior becomes physically or mentally incapacitated at some later date. We prepare revocable and irrevocable trusts to avoid the costs and lengthy time associated with a standard probate matter. We prepare the type of power of attorney which becomes effective only if you become unable to make a medical decision so that there is someone called an agent who will make these decisions for you and meet with your doctors.

If you become ill and unable to make financial or medical decisions and you have not signed documents authorizing someone to act for you, then our office will assist your family with the court supervised process called a conservatorship which allows a Judge to appoint someone to care for you, manage your money and pay your bills. A conservatorship is also used in situations when a child has been severely injured at birth or a person is hurt in an automobile accident which renders them unable to care for themselves and manage their finances.

Should a situation come up where a senior or incapacitated adult needs to go into a nursing home our office provides information and guidance in obtaining the proper services to pay for this type of care. We have 40 years of experience in the field of public benefits with such programs as Medi-Cal, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), federally subsidized housing and in home support services. Our office can provide guidance to a husband, wife or child who needs to place their loved one into a skilled nursing facility and are concerned about how the cost of care will be paid.

You might find yourself in a situation where your child or other family member is injured in an accident and receives a settlement which would disqualify them from receiving Medi-Cal or SSI. Our office can prepare a special type of trust which will allow the disabled individual to receive their settlement and continue to receive the public benefits they need to survive.

Commonly asked questions we hear at our office include many life and death concerns.

Clients often ask us to explain why they need a Will and we explain that unless you have a Will when you pass away then you lose the ability to decide who will handle your estate, to disinherit when appropriate and to provide for minor or disabled family members.

What is the difference between a Will and a Trust? A Will provides instructions on how you want your estate handled upon your death. A Trust on the other hand deals not only with your death but also with who will manage your property in the event you become incapacitated. When you execute a Trust you change the title on your home or banks accounts from your name and into the name of the Trust. In this way, if you become ill, your successor trustee is empowered to act on your behalf with respect to the items which have been placed into the trust. Perhaps the greatest advantage of a Trust is that your family avoids the costs of a court supervised probate action. There are costs associated with a Trust administration but they are significantly less than probate costs and fees.

When do you have to file a probate action? If you have an estate worth over $100,000 and you do not have a Trust in place, then your heirs must file a probate action whether you have a Will or not.

Who is responsible for the debts of the decedent? The estate of the decedent is generally the entity which is responsible for the payment of the legitimate debts of the decedent. Many times creditors will contact the children of the decedent in an attempt to force them to pay the bills of their parent.

If a spouse has to go into a skilled nursing facility, the cost can run $5,000 per month or more. How can the spouse who remains at home cover this cost without divorce or bankruptcy? Most seniors have Medicare; however Medicare does not cover long term care in a nursing home. Careful planning can insure that the spouse at home does not have to spend all their savings to pay for the cost of a nursing home. There is a state program called Medi-Cal which provides nursing home coverage for as long as medically necessary. Our office will assist the client in obtaining this benefit.