Elder Law

ABA-sponsored app helps families access advance directives and medical information

Mind Your Loved Ones, a mobile app sponsored by the American Bar Association, allows users to create customized profiles for each member of their family, including their pets. Each profile contains not only their advance care directives, but also other important medical information.

Jul 1, 2019 1:15 AM CDT

Have you adapted your law practice for an aging population? If so, how?

It stands to reason that elder law will provide new opportunities for lawyers. Yet elder law covers a wide range of practice specialties, which makes this emerging discipline hard to pin down. In a recent ABA Journal story, Marc Davis notes how the legal practice has followed the demographic shift…

Mar 27, 2019 3:20 PM CDT

As America’s population ages, demand for elder law attorneys grows

Updated: As the U.S. population continues to get older, more attorneys are entering the field of elder law or expanding their practice to provide elder law services.

Mar 27, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

More than 260 people targeted in elder fraud sweeps, including alleged $30M attorney scammer

More than 260 people have been targeted across the globe in the largest coordinated sweep of elder fraud cases in history, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday. The scammers victimized more than 2 million Americans, many of them elderly, causing millions of dollars in losses, according to a press…

Mar 7, 2019 2:33 PM CST

Supreme Court considers whether prisoner with dementia and no memory of his crime should be executed

The Supreme Court granted full review of Alabama death row prisoner Vernon Madison’s case. The issue is whether the Eighth Amendment and relevant court precedents permit a state to execute someone who whose mental disability leaves him without memory of his commission of the capital offense, and whether evolving standards of decency bar the execution of a prisoner whose competency has been compromised by vascular dementia and multiple strokes.

Oct 1, 2018 1:35 AM CDT

7th Circuit reinstates suit claiming senior center failed to protect lesbian tenant from harassment

A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit claiming a senior living center violated the Fair Housing Act when it failed to protect a lesbian from violence and harassment by other tenants. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law creates liability not only for intentional discrimination…

Aug 28, 2018 10:05 AM CDT

Lawyer who hosted elder law radio show is accused of stealing $1.9M from clients

A prominent New Jersey lawyer who hosted a radio show and seminars on elder law has been charged with stealing about $1.9 million from six elderly clients. Robert Novy, 66, of Brick, New Jersey, was indicted Monday, report NJ.com, Law360, the New Jersey Law Journal and the Asbury Park Press.…

May 2, 2018 2:49 PM CDT

Lawyer who used nonlawyers to sell living trusts is suspended in New Jersey

A lawyer who was disbarred in Pennsylvania for using nonlawyers to market and explain living trusts to elderly people has received a two-year suspension in New Jersey for the same conduct. The New Jersey Supreme Court suspended Barry Bohmueller for two years, but he cannot seek reinstatement until he is…

Apr 17, 2018 7:00 AM CDT

Suit blames broker’s suicide on forced retirement that worsened his depression

A wrongful death suit claims JPMorgan Chase & Co. was liable for the suicide of a broker whose depression worsened after the bank forced him to retire. The suit was filed Monday in federal court in Manhattan by the estate of Michael Lorig, report the New York Law Journal, Fortune…

Apr 5, 2018 1:24 PM CDT

New law championed by ABA fights elder abuse and exploitation

Members of Congress came together in bipartisan agreement this fall to pass a law strongly supported by the ABA that would enhance the federal government’s response to elder abuse and financial exploitation of seniors.

Dec 1, 2017 12:30 AM CST

Lawyer falsely claimed he was checking on ward who was no longer at facility, suspension order says

An Omaha, Nebraska, lawyer has received a one-year suspension for claiming in guardianship reports that he was checking on an incapacitated adult who, it turned out, had moved out of an assisted living facility without his knowledge. The Nebraska Supreme Court suspended Rodney Halstead in a Nov. 3 order (PDF),…

Nov 9, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Cases raise questions about adult guardianship and lawyer-hospital relationships

Cases in Michigan and South Carolina are raising questions about lawyers who receive guardianship appointments as a result of their relationships with hospitals.

Oct 10, 2017 7:45 AM CDT

Supreme Court to decide if church-affiliated pension plans are subject to ERISA

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday accepted and consolidated three cases that consider whether pension plans operated by church-affiliated groups are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. At issue is whether the pension plans operated by three Christian-affiliated hospital systems are exempted from federal regulation because of ERISA’s…

Dec 5, 2016 8:30 AM CST

Judge blocks federal rule that would ban arbitration in nursing home disputes

The implementation of a new rule prohibiting federal funds for nursing homes that enter binding arbitration agreements with residents has been blocked by a U.S. district court judge, who found that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) did not have authority to enact the mandate without statutory authority.…

Nov 7, 2016 4:20 PM CST

Federal rule barring forced arbitration of nursing home disputes is likely to be challenged

A new rule that bars nursing homes that receive federal funds from forcing disputes into arbitration is likely to be challenged, according to lawyers involved in litigation over patient care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued the rule on Wednesday, report NPR and the New York Times. The…

Oct 3, 2016 7:50 AM CDT