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Legal and Financial Planning for People with Dementia

Legal and Financial Planning for People with Dementia

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Many people are unprepared to deal with the legal and financial consequences of a serious illness such as Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. Legal and medical experts encourage people recently diagnosed with a serious illness — particularly one that is expected to cause declining mental and physical health — to examine and update their financial and health care arrangements as soon as possible. Basic legal and financial documents, such as a will, a living trust, and advance directives, are available to ensure that the person’s late-stage or end-of-life health care and financial decisions are carried out.Older couple filling out legal and financial paperwork for people with Alzheimer's disease

A complication of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and related dementias is that the person may lack or gradually lose the ability to think clearly. This change affects his or her ability to make decisions and participate in legal and financial planning.

People with early-stage Alzheimer’s or a related dementia can often understand many aspects and consequences of legal decision-making. However, legal and medical experts say that many forms of planning can help the person and his or her family address current issues and plan for next steps, even if the person is diagnosed with later-stage dementia.

There are good reasons to retain a lawyer when preparing advance planning documents. For example, a lawyer can help interpret different state laws and suggest ways to ensure that the person’s and family’s wishes are carried out. It’s important to understand that laws vary by state, and changes in a person’s situation — for example, a divorce, relocation, or death in the family — can influence how documents are prepared and maintained. Life changes may also mean a document needs to be revised to remain valid.

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Families beginning the legal planning process should discuss their approach, what they want to happen, and which legal documents they’ll need. Depending on the family situation and the applicable state laws, a lawyer may introduce a variety of documents to assist in this process, including documents that communicate:

  • Health care wishes of someone who can no longer make health care decisions.
  • Financial management and estate plan wishes of someone who can no longer make financial decisions.

Learn how to get your affairs in order.

Advance Health Care Directives for People with Dementia

Advance directives for health care are documents that communicate a person’s health care wishes. Advance directives go into effect after the person no longer can make decisions on their own. In most cases, these documents must be prepared while the person is legally able to execute them. Health care directives may include the following:

A durable power of attorney for health care designates a person, sometimes called an agent or proxy, to make health care decisions when the person with dementia can no longer do so.

A living will records a person’s wishes for medical treatment near the end of life or if the person is permanently unconscious and cannot make decisions about emergency treatment.

A do not resuscitate order, or DNR, instructs health care professionals not to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if a person’s heart stops or if he or she stops breathing. A DNR order is signed by a doctor and put in a person’s medical chart.

Overview of Medical Documents
Medical Document How It Is Used

Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care

 Gives a designated person the authority to make health care decisions on behalf of the person with dementia

Living Will

 Describes and instructs how and when the person wants different types of end-of-life health care

Do Not Resuscitate Order

 Instructs healthcare professionals not to perform CPR in case of stopped heart or stopped breathing

In addition to these, there may be other documents for specific health care procedures including organ and tissue donation, dialysis, brain donation, and blood transfusions. For more information about advance directives for health care, see Advance care planning: Health care directives.

Advance Directives for Financial and Estate Management

Advance directives for financial and estate management must be created while the person with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia has “legal capacity” to make decisions on their own, meaning they can still understand the decisions and what they might mean. These directives may include the following:

A durable power of attorney for finances names someone to make financial decisions when the person with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia no longer can. It can help avoid court actions that may take away control of financial affairs.

A will indicates how a person’s assets and estate will be distributed upon their death. It also can specify:

  • Arrangements for care of children, adult dependents, or pets
  • Gifts
  • Trusts to manage the estate
  • Funeral and/or burial arrangements

Medical and legal experts say that the newly diagnosed person with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia and his or her family should create or update a will as soon as possible after diagnosis.

A living trust addresses the management of money and property while a person is still living. The trust provides instructions about the person’s estate and appoints someone, called the trustee, to hold titles to property and money on the person’s behalf. Using the instructions in the living trust, the trustee can pay bills or make other financial and property decisions when the person with dementia can no longer manage his or her affairs.

A living trust can:

  • Cover a wide range of property (including cars, homes, jewelry, bonds, cash, etc.)
  • Provide a detailed plan for property transfer or sale
  • Avoid the expense and delay of probate (in which the courts establish the validity of a will)
  • State how property and funds should be distributed when the last beneficiary dies
Overview of Legal and Financial Documents
Legal/Financial Document How It Is Used

Durable Power of Attorney for Finances

 Gives a designated person the authority to make legal and financial decisions on behalf of the person with dementia

Will

 Indicates how a person’s assets and estate will be distributed among beneficiaries after his or her death

Living Trust

 Gives a designated person (trustee) the authority to hold and distribute property and money for the person with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia

Where Can I Get Help with Legal and Financial Planning?

Health care providers cannot act as legal or financial advisers, but they can encourage planning discussions between patients and their families. Doctors can also guide patients, families, the care team, attorneys, and judges regarding the patient’s ability to make decisions. Discussing advance care planning decisions with a doctor is free through Medicare during the annual wellness visit. Private health insurance may also cover these discussions.

An elder law attorney helps older adults and their families interpret state laws, plan how wishes will be carried out, understand financial options, and learn how to preserve financial assets.

It’s a good idea to ask about a lawyer’s fees before making an appointment. The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the American Bar Association can help families find qualified attorneys. Also, a local bar association can help identify free legal aid options. See the resources at the end of this article for more information.

Geriatric care managers are trained social workers or nurses who can help people with dementia and their families. Read more about geriatric care managers.

Advance Planning Advice for People with Dementia

Start discussions early. The rate of decline differs for each person with dementia, and his or her ability to be involved in planning will decline over time. People in the early stages of the disease may be able to understand the issues, but they may also be defensive, frustrated, and/or emotionally unable to deal with difficult questions. The person may even be in denial or not ready to face their diagnosis. This is normal. Be patient and seek outside help from a lawyer or geriatric care manager if needed. Remember that not all people are diagnosed at an early stage. Decision-making may already be difficult by the time the person with dementia is diagnosed.

Gather important papers. When an emergency arises or when the person with dementia can no longer manage their own affairs, family members or a proxy will need access to important papers, such as a living will or financial documents. To make sure the wishes of the person with dementia are followed, put important papers in a secure place and provide copies to family members or another trusted person. A lawyer can keep a set of the papers as well.

Review plans over time. Changes in personal situations — such as a divorce, relocation, or death in the family — and in state laws can affect how legal documents are prepared and maintained. Review plans regularly, and update documents as needed.

Reduce anxiety about funeral and burial arrangements. Advance planning for the funeral and burial can provide a sense of peace and reduce anxiety for both the person with dementia as well as his or her family.

Legal and Financial Planning Resources for Low-Income Families

Families who cannot afford a lawyer can still plan for the future. Samples of basic health planning documents are available online. Area Agency on Aging officials may provide legal advice or help. Other possible sources of legal assistance and referral include state legal aid offices, state bar associations, local nonprofit agencies, foundations, and social service agencies.

For More Information About Advance Care Planning for a Person with Dementia

NIA Alzheimer’s and related Dementias Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center
800-438-4380
[email protected]
www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers
The NIA ADEAR Center offers information and free print publications about Alzheimer’s and related dementias for families, caregivers, and health professionals. ADEAR Center staff answer telephone, email, and written requests and make referrals to local and national resources.

Alzheimers.gov
www.alzheimers.gov
Explore the Alzheimers.gov website for information and resources on Alzheimer’s and related dementias from across the federal government.

Financial Literacy and Education Commission
U.S. Department of the Treasury
800-FED-INFO
www.mymoney.gov

This content is provided by the NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA). NIA scientists and other experts review this content to ensure it is accurate and up to date.

Content reviewed:
October 29, 2020

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It Depends – Does marriage matter in family law financial cases?

It Depends – Does marriage matter in family law financial cases?

Click below to observe the Online video

In this edition of ‘It depends’, unique counsel Craig Turvey talks about irrespective of whether relationship issues in family legislation economic scenarios.

Video transcript

Welcome to this edition of It relies upon. These days I’d like to chat about whether or not marriage matters in family legislation fiscal cases.

Spouse and children law house settlement or servicing purposes

Under the Relatives Legislation Act, you can make a home settlement or maintenance claim against a person if you have possibly been married to them or you can fulfill the court that you’ve been in a de facto partnership. Now, if you really don’t tumble inside of possibly of people two categories and you have been in a relationship with anyone and you’re trying to get economic recourse against them, you could possibly not have any solutions. So, it’s seriously crucial that you try out and figure out and get suggestions as to whether you match within just either class or whether there’s maybe nothing at all that can be performed for you lawfully.

Does marriage issue?

It depends. If you are married, it’s seriously effortless to prove. You’ve got a marriage certification. You can just connect that to your software. You really don’t have any other evidentiary problems. And under the Spouse and children Law Act, it doesn’t have to be a relationship in Australia. It could be marriage in any other country. De facto cases are really unique on the other hand. Most men and women do not sign up de facto relationships. So, what that indicates is that there is not 1 magical piece of paper that you can wave all around that will say, I have been in a de facto marriage with this particular person. It means that you could possibly have some problems in conditions of earning a declare. There is loads of people who believe less than the Family Legislation Act they are in a de facto romantic relationship when they probably aren’t or vice versa. The Spouse and children Legislation Act has some a variety of criteria or ailments, guidelines that the court works by using to consider and determine out no matter if people are in a de facto marriage or not. But none of them are definitive, and not a single is given a lot more excess weight than the other. So, what that means is that it might be that you’re not residing collectively with somebody a large amount of the time, but you have a joint motivation to a way of life alongside one another. The other person’s made sacrifices. That may possibly be adequate for you to be regarded below the Relatives Legislation Act as currently being a de facto relationship. Or alternatively, you may not commit a large amount of time collectively. You may not intermingle finances. There could not be any of these joint commitments to a shared intention to stay together down the monitor. So, if you really don’t satisfy suitable problems less than the Family members Law Act, and if you’re not categorised as becoming in a de facto romantic relationship, then you are not heading to be equipped to make a de facto declare. So, naturally, from an evidentiary standpoint, there’s a great deal of variations amongst whether or not you’re married or not. And it’s quite critical due to the fact if you cannot make a de facto claim, as I stated just before, then you could not have any economical recourse against the other human being that you were in a romantic relationship with.

How can I master a lot more?

During our Annual Adviser Meeting on the 23rd and 24th of March this 12 months, Steven Jell and I will be conversing about whether relationship matters not just from a family legal point of view, but also superannuation and estate planning. If you don’t by now have a ticket and you’re fascinated in that kind of dialogue, make sure you, obtain a ticket, otherwise we’re much more than content for you to speak to us straight if you have any queries or everyone else in our respective groups.

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Class-action legal settlement against EatStreet reveals possible financial insolvency

Class-action legal settlement against EatStreet reveals possible financial insolvency

EatStreet, the Madison-based online food-ordering company, appears headed toward foreclosure or insolvency, according to court papers filed Dec. 9.

The filings show the company is no longer able to pay a $1.2 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by delivery drivers, or at least EatStreet’s owners need more time to pay.

The company’s legal problems date to 2020, when Kristoffer Martin, a former EatStreet delivery driver, and two other drivers, sued in federal court over alleged wage theft.

The drivers contended that EatStreet violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and Wisconsin wage law when it “failed to reimburse delivery drivers for vehicle and mileage expenses and when it used drivers’ tips to meet minimum wage requirements.”

In an August settlement, after three daylong mediation sessions and several months of negotiations with a former magistrate judge, EatStreet agreed to pay $1.2 million, including $413,333 in attorney fees. The amount was a fraction of what the plaintiff’s attorneys were seeking, according to a court document.

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During those sessions, EatStreet shared financial information that persuaded the mediator that the company might not be able to pay the larger judgment sought by the plaintiffs.

Then, in a motion filed Dec. 9, EatStreet’s lawyers notified the court that the company no longer believes it will be able to honor the agreed-upon payment obligations.







Matt Howard

EatStreet CEO Matt Howard was one of the speakers at the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s IceBreaker luncheon in 2015.




“Over the last three months, EatStreet’s financial circumstances have deteriorated rapidly due to multiple factors,” according to the recent filing.

EatStreet is asking for more time to negotiate another solution and promises to update the court by Feb. 13.

The company was still operating as of Friday, delivering food from 185 restaurants to customers in the Madison area.

Humble origins

Matt Howard, EatStreet’s chief operating officer, and Alex Wyler, its chief technology officer, founded the company in 2010 in a dorm at UW-Madison, and it has become one of the largest online and mobile food ordering and delivery services in the United States.

Its website shows EatStreet is in about 250 cities, connecting customers to about 15,000 restaurants.

In late 2017, Howard and Wyler were named to Forbes’ 2018 “30 Under 30” list, which recognizes high-achieving young entrepreneurs and philanthropists.

Text messages and calls to Howard and Wyler weren’t returned Thursday or Friday.

Loan default

In September, EatStreet’s main creditor said the company was in default of its loan and negotiated with the company so it could continue operating, documents show.

At the same time, in the filing, EatStreet’s owners said until October they were talking with a national entity that expressed interest in buying it or funding it, but that the deal no longer appears likely.


Ghost kitchen, grocery concepts under EatStreet ghosted employees, abruptly closing shop

Also in October, EatStreet shut down operations of HungerHub, a commercial kitchen and grocery concept it started late last year with three Madison “hubs”: Forkful Market by EatStreet on State Street, and hubs on the East and West sides.

HungerHub had to lay off a number of employees, given its continued inability to generate a profit, the documents say.

More trouble

Late last month, EatStreet learned that it had been sued by several Dane County landlords, the filings show.

According to court records, as of Dec. 8, EatStreet’s primary creditor indicated it intended to move to foreclose on EatStreet’s remaining assets, which serve as collateral for the company’s outstanding debt.

“EatStreet remains in negotiations with its lender, but given the dire financial situation at this stage, EatStreet’s lender is likely to initiate a foreclosure action (or some other insolvency proceeding) by the end of the year,” the records say.

In asking to renegotiate the settlement with the former drivers, the company also said it was anticipating a substantial, eight-figure payment from the Internal Revenue Service based on a pending application for an Employee Retention Credit.


Departed Oakwood Village CEO calls resident concerns 'disturbing'

According to federal Paycheck Protection Program data, EatStreet, based at 316 W. Washington Ave., got a $3.6 million COVID-related PPP loan from the Small Business Administration in April 2020.

As of June 2021, the loan’s status was forgiven from repayment under PPP guidelines, according to information accessible on the website of ProPublica, the investigative journalism nonprofit.

Driver’s story

“Working for them was fairly easy,” at first, said Martin, 36, the initial plaintiff, who lives in Eau Claire, and worked as a driver for EatStreet from November 2018 to November 2019.

He said early on, the company kept its word that drivers wouldn’t have to deliver outside of Eau Claire. “We had a very defined map of our delivery area, but they eventually changed that and we were forced as drivers to deliver well outside of our delivery area.”







Delivery

A delivery driver puts an order from a local restaurant into his car.




Martin said he first became suspicious of the company on Christmas Day in 2018 when he had one delivery, but it was 12 miles away in Fall Creek.

He said the way EatStreet operated then, drivers only got paid for the time it took to get to the restaurant from wherever they were, and then to the delivery location. They weren’t paid for the time it took to return from the delivery zone.

“By sending me out to Fall Creek, I was 30 minutes out, had lost effectively an hour or so, a half an hour of pay. So, for that one delivery I made $0, actually negative amounts of money.”

Over the year, Martin said, he realized the company was “stealing wages,” and with the accumulation of mileage and depreciation on his vehicle, he said his hourly wage was well below the guaranteed $10 an hour he was promised by the company. “It was even below minimum wage.”

So, in March 2020, he filed the class-action suit. “If they were doing it to me, then they were doing it to other drivers,” Martin said.

He said he couldn’t comment on the development that EatStreet can’t honor its settlement obligations now.

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FTX’s financial mismanagement comes under the microscope

FTX’s financial mismanagement comes under the microscope


New York
CNN Organization
 — 

The full extent of FTX’s fiscal disarray is turning into clearer as the failed crypto exchange’s new management combs for funds as portion of the personal bankruptcy system.

In the company’s to start with Chapter 11 hearing in Delaware Tuesday, restructuring attorney James Bromley reported that a “substantial amount” of property have been stolen or are missing.

FTX, formerly one of the most reliable models in crypto, submitted for personal bankruptcy earlier this month. Its CEO and founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, resigned, marking the implosion of his multi-billion-greenback crypto empire.

The swift downfall of FTX and Bankman-Fried has shaken investors’ self-assurance in the market and sparked liquidity crises at other crypto corporations.

Bromley known as FTX’s failure “one of the most abrupt and challenging company collapses in the background of Corporate The us.” He described the network of FTX entities as an worldwide firm “run efficiently as a particular fiefdom of Sam Bankman-Fried.”

In sifting through the rubble of FTX and its additional than 130 affiliated organizations, Bromley reported that Bankman-Fried’s mismanagement and unreliable report-trying to keep has remaining lawyers with an incomplete picture of the companies’ funds.

Bromley did not specify how a lot dollars was stolen or lacking, but mentioned that FTX has been strike with cyber attacks considering that it commenced personal bankruptcy proceedings on November 11.

Forward of the listening to, lawyers for FTX submitted filings that confirmed the firm and its affiliate marketers had a complete of $1.2 billion in dollars — far more than double the volume estimated in a preceding court docket filing.

The up-to-date figure underscores what FTX’s new chief executive explained past 7 days as a total absence of centralized dollars controls less than the management of Bankman-Fried.

In a filing previous 7 days, the CEO, John J. Ray III, said the new administration team experienced been in a position to only approximate the amount of money of dollars on hand at about $564 million.

It is been a chaotic month for the crypto sector as the failure of FTX has established off a contagion that has still left numerous other corporations in economic peril.

Just one of those corporations, a crypto brokerage termed Genesis, halted withdrawals very last week, citing an “abnormal” amount of requests that exceeded its existing liquidity.

On Monday, Bloomberg claimed that Genesis was having difficulties to increase an supplemental $1 billion in cash for its lending arm and that the company is warning opportunity traders that it may well have to have to file for individual bankruptcy. The report cited unnamed resources Genesis did not immediately respond to CNN Business’ request for remark.

Another distinguished crypto lender, BlockFi, halted withdrawals as FTX unraveled and appeared to be staring down individual bankruptcy of its very own, according to the Wall Road Journal.

When asked for remark, a BlockFi representative referred CNN Company to the company’s preceding statement on its website, reiterating that there had been “a range of scenarios” less than consideration. “We are doing the function now to figure out the very best path ahead for our customers,” the firm said.