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    Vol. 38, Issue 2 (November - December 2016)

      December 2016

    Elder

    2016 Year in Review

    Hon. Patricia Banks

    In this, its 37th year, the Commission has continued to leverage the cumulative expertise of its members and staff in its pursuit of its mission: to serve as a collaborative, interdisciplinary leader of the Association’s work to strengthen and secure the legal rights, dignity, autonomy, quality of life, and quality of care of aging persons. It is this unique holistic focus on law and aging that enables the Commission’s singular impact.

    Elder

    Funding Sources

    The Commission’s operating budget is made up of core funding from ABA general revenues that currently provide about 40% of the funds needed to run the Commission. The remainder comes from grants, contracts, and donations. The Commission’s funding totaled approximately $1.4 million as of September 2016, although revenues can vary considerably from year to year depending on the number and size of grants in any given year.

    Elder

    Guardianship and Supported Decision-Making

    Erica Wood

    The ABA Commission on Law and Aging is committed to making change in adult guardianship. This means working to protect rights and support self-determination. It means pushing for high fiduciary standards. It means promoting strong court oversight. It means finding help for family guardians. In 2016, the Commission has driven important systemic changes that affect individual lives.

    SPOTLIGHT

    Elder

    National Legal Resource Center (NLRC) & National Center on Law and Elder Rights (NCLER)

    David Godfrey

    The Commission on Law and Aging has received funding under the Older Americans Act to support the development and delivery of legal assistance to persons age 60 and over with the greatest economic or social needs for over 25 years. Over the years, the focus of this work has shifted several times and this year saw the shift from resource development under the National Legal Resource Center (NLRC) to training, materials, and case consultation for the National Center on Law and Elder Rights (NCLER). The change is much greater than the change in name; it is a major change in the structure of the Center.

    Elder

    Human Rights of Older Persons

    Charlie Sabatino

    This year the Commission continued its participation in the annual meetings of the U.N. Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing in collaboration with the official ABA liaison Professor Bill Mock of John Marshall Law School. The Working Group has continued to engage in extensive inquiry and debate about whether the U.N. should pursue a separate convention on the rights of older persons, or instead, seek to strengthen the enforcement of existing universal international standards as they may apply to older persons. That question has remained a threshold sticking point to consensus.

    Elder

    Illinois-Specific Lay Fiduciary Resource and Webinar Now Available

    Millions of Americans are managing money or property for a loved one who is unable to pay bills or make financial decisions. These financial caregivers may be agents under a power of attorney, guardians of property or other fiduciaries. To help financial caregivers in Illinois, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Office for Older Americans has created easy-to-understand Managing Someone Else’s Money guides with information and resources specific to Illinois.

    ABOUT BIFOCAL

    BIFOCAL, the Commission on Law and Aging's bi-monthly journal, provides timely, valuable legal resources pertaining to older persons, generated through the joint efforts of public and private bar groups and the aging network

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