The Commission produced four continuing legal education accredited webinars in collaboration with the ABA Center for Professional Development during 2012.
Information is already available on the first program scheduled for 2013, Advising Grandparents Raising Grandchildren.
Effective Advance Care Planning: Are Your Advance Directives Worth the Paper They Are Written On?
January 31, 2012
Speakers: Walter T. Burke, Charles P. Sabatino, Patricia Bomba
This program focused on practioners’ knowledge and skills with respect to: the evolving components of advance care planning and how the emerging "Physician (or Medical) Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment" (POLST or MOLST) will affect the process as they emerge in virtually every state, effectively counseling clients and provide them with the tools they need for meaningful health decisions planning, and drafting more practical and effective advance planning documents.
Spousal and Domestic Partner Issues in Pensions and Retirement Income
April 12, 2012
Speakers: David Godfrey, Nancy J. Knauer, Gerald McIntyre, Elizabeth Wells
This program covered the essential elements that elder law, estate planning, family law, and general practitioners need to know about spousal and domestic partner rights in traditional defined benefit pensions, IRAs, 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans, and Social Security retirement benefits. Also covered were distribution elections, beneficiary designations, and special issues for same sex couples.
Elder Care Mediation and Why It’s Important to Your Practice?
June 5, 2012
Speakers: Robert J. Rhudy, Carolyn Rodis, Erica Wood
With the aging of the boomers, clients increasingly face conflicts in estate planning and elder care. Questions will arise within the family such as: Who will take care of mom? How do you untangle family feuds over the estate? Who decides about dad’s health care? This program featured information from an experienced mediator and attorney about how senior mediation can address sibling, extended family, and intergenerational disputes in elder care.
Drafting Financial Powers of Attorney: Avoiding Financial Exploitation of the Elderly
October 2, 2012
Speakers: Linda S. Whitton, Andrew H. Hook, Lori A. Stiegel
Are you aware of the damage that can be caused by poor drafting of financial powers of attorney or the damage caused from a lack of understanding of the clients circumstances? Powers of attorney are too often viewed as minor legal documents, yet they are often used as tools for committing serious financial exploitation against older Americans, a problem that is on the rise in our aging society. Learn smart drafting and counseling skills and how state law is changing to strengthen the effectiveness and safety of powers of attorney for finances.
