Deciding when a parent needs a guardian is never an easy decision to make. If you fail to step in, however, your parent could be physically injured or financially victimized by unscrupulous individuals who prey on the elderly. For these reasons, it is best to be proactive if you suspect that a parent’s physical or mental health has deteriorated to the point where a guardian may be needed. The average American lives much longer now than was the case a century ago. Living longer, however, doesn’t … [Read more...]
Protect Yourself From Elder Abuse
There are crimes that make you silently shake your head, like minor traffic violations. There are other crimes that make you wonder what this world is coming to, like elderly abuse. A recent case out of New York is one of the latter. Michael Ostrowski was appointed to be the guardian of his grandfather who has dementia. This is rather ordinary and happens in Probate Courts every day. What is not ordinary is what Ostrowski did with that guardianship. He used it to steal approximately $300,000 of … [Read more...]
Guardianships in Texas
In Texas, courts can appoint guardians of the person or of the estate. A guardianship is a legally supervised process in which a guardian is responsible for a person’s property or person. The person receiving the guardianship is the “ward.” A guardian of the person is someone appointed to take care of the ward’s personal well-being. A guardian of the estate is someone appointed to take care of the ward’s personal finances and property. A guardian can make sure the ward is properly cared for and … [Read more...]
Why is Incapacity Planning Important?
Life can turn on a dime without any warning, and things can rapidly change without you even realizing it is happening. One day you could be just fine and loving life, and the next day you could be lying in a hospital bed clinging to life. Yes, it can happen that fast – even faster in some situations! What do you do, though? While you can’t prevent things from happening because it is, after all, unexpected – you can put some plans into place. Incapacity planning, believe it or not, is an … [Read more...]
Put the Proper Estate Plan Tools Into Place
There are a large number of estate planning tools your estate planning lawyer is experienced with, and understands that you are not. Because there are so many options to explore and tools to put into place, it will be necessary to meet with your estate planning lawyer regularly until everything is complete. Even then, meetings will follow regularly in order to keep all the documents up to date. Often times, people believe they only have to worry about their estate plan during the planning … [Read more...]
Three Estate Planning Tools to Avoid Guardianship
Guardianship is a court proceeding in which a surrogate decision-maker is appointed to make either personal and/or financial decisions for an adult that lacks the capacity to make these decisions on their own. It is often used as the last resort in helping an elderly loved one who can no longer handle their own affairs. There are no winners when it comes to guardianship cases, and it is in everyone’s best interest to take steps to avoid the possibility of a court-ordered guardianship in the … [Read more...]
