Lawyer Accused of Embezzling $500K From Her Own Grandmother Gets Probation

A Texas lawyer who took a plea earlier this year after being accused of embezzling $500,000 from her own grandmother has avoided a prison sentence. However, Judge George Godwin told Michelle Lorenz Valicek, 54, that he doubts she will comply with the terms of her deferred adjudication probation, the San…

Nov 21, 2012 4:35 PM CST

NJ Lawmakers to Consider ‘Right to Die’ Legislation

New legislation introduced in New Jersey this week would grant doctors the right to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients who request the life-ending medications. The Death with Dignity Act is modeled after similar laws in Oregon and Washington state. The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that the…

Sep 27, 2012 5:10 PM CDT

Ahead By $1.4M After Working for Retiree a Little Over a Year, Lawyer Is Sued and Counterclaims

Attorney Lee Levenson Jr. was making a base salary of $100,000 when he left a Florida law firm and went to work for Billy and Barbara DuBois in 2007, at an annual salary of $350,000. By the time Levenson stopped working as a private attorney for the wealthy retired farm…

Sep 17, 2012 6:34 PM CDT

Behind Bars: Elderly Prison Population Expected to Triple by 2030

Sep 1, 2012 9:10 AM CDT

Elon Law School to Open Elder Law Clinic

Elon University School of Law announced this week that it plans to open a student-staffed Elder Law Clinic this fall and will begin reviewing cases Wednesday. The clinic will provide free legal counsel to low and moderate-income area residents aged 60 and over, according to a post on the North…

Aug 15, 2012 3:55 PM CDT

ABA’s Law and Aging Commission Gets an Award for Clear Writing

The ABA’s Commission on Law and Aging has explained how to give someone a health-care power of attorney, and it’s done so in plain language. Its brochure on the process is so clear, in fact, that the commission won a national award. The Center for Plain Language gave the commission…

May 25, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

Staff of Reclusive Heiress Coerced Her Out of $44M in Gifts, Executor Says

Nurses, doctors, a hospital, a lawyer and an accountant for reclusive heiress Huguette Clark coerced or influenced her out of more than $44 million in gifts, the executor of her estate said in a court filing Tuesday. The executor, who doesn’t deny that Clark authorized nearly all of those gifts,…

May 23, 2012 9:37 PM CDT

The Forgotten Demographic: ABA Wants an International Convention on Elder Rights

May 1, 2012 6:20 AM CDT

Disbarment Urged for Estate Planning Lawyer Who Married Elderly Client and Kept His Money

Linda Nell Lowney was 54 in 2005 when she became romantically involved with an estate planning client, at least several years after she had begun representing him. She married Thor Tollefsen, who was thirty years older, suffering from emphysema and terminal cancer and using a walker, early in 2006, under…

Apr 10, 2012 7:56 PM CDT

Some States Seek to Tighten Medicaid for Nursing Home Care

Some states facing tight budgets are proposing cuts in Medicaid reimbursements for nursing home care, while others are trying new ways to get reimbursement from the estates of people who used the program for their long-term care. Some states are considering cuts to Medicaid payments for routine dental care in…

Apr 3, 2012 6:41 PM CDT

Daughter Asks Court to Appoint Conservator for Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor

A daughter of Zsa Zsa Gabor has asked a Los Angeles judge to appoint a conservator to be sure that the best interests of her elderly mother are being looked after. In a petition filed today, Francesca Hilton questions how her mother’s ninth husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, is handling…

Mar 20, 2012 10:07 PM CDT

Insurance Agent Gets Jail Time for Selling Annuity to Elderly Woman; He Denies Recognizing Dementia

Updated: A California insurance agent has been convicted of felony theft and sentenced to jail for selling an annuity with an early withdrawal penalty to an elderly woman, despite, prosecutors say, her apparent dementia. The agent, Glenn Neasham, was sentenced to 90 days in jail last month in a case…

Mar 20, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Aging Lawyers Often Lack the Business and Estate Planning They Urge on Clients

Lawyers routinely advise clients to develop an estate plan. Yet they themselves often call to mind the “shoemaker’s children go barefoot” proverb, Pennsylvania Bar Association law practice management coordinator Ellen Freedman tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She recalls a situation in which an older attorney who ran his own law office…

Mar 19, 2012 4:23 PM CDT

Man v. Mom: Son Seeks to Evict His Mother, 98, From Her Home of Nearly 60 Years

Peter Kantorowski says he’s just trying to do the right thing for his elderly mother, who surely would be better off living with him or in a nursing home. But a Connecticut court is going to decide the issue at a trial next month, after he served her with eviction…

Feb 21, 2012 9:37 PM CST

Retired Cops and Firefighters in RI Town Accept Pension Cuts in Bankruptcy Deal

A lawyer representing retired police and firefighters in Central Falls, R.I., says his clients have agreed to steep pension cuts in a groundbreaking bankruptcy deal. The agreement is subject to approval of the bankruptcy court, report the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). Lawyer Matthew McGowan,…

Dec 20, 2011 5:46 PM CST