Elder Law Commons^™

Using What We Have: How Existing Legal Authorities Can Help Fix America's Nursing Home Crisis, Nina A. Kohn, Adrianna Duggan, Justin Cole, Nada Aljassar

William & Mary Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed systemic quality-of-care problems in American nursing homes as well as the deadly consequences of a regulatory system that has enabled nursing homes to divert funds needed for care to profit. Policy experts have responded by urging regulators to improve nursing-home oversight practices and by calling for new regulatory and statutory authority to increase accountability. These calls, however, have been met with sharp political headwinds. This Article suggests a path around the political impasse. Specifically, it identifies and explores four opportunities to leverage existing statutory schemes to create stronger incentives for nursing homes to provide high-quality care. …

When Legal Incapacity Becomes A Lack Of Personhood: Why A Ward's Ability To Sue In Their Own Name Should Be A Fundamental Aspect Of Virginia Guardianship, Rachel Davis

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

It is a fundamental failing of any legal system when it is unable to protect the most vulnerable within its population. Whether we are comfortable admitting it or not, guardian abuse of incapacitated wards has been well-documented across all fifty states. Virginia is no exception, and this lack of oversight leaves one of our most vulnerable populations without recourse. This Note argues that by simply granting a ward the ability to bring suit in their own name, Virginia may strike a significant blow to the dysfunction that systematically infects the guardianship process. This Note highlights Virginia statute and case law …

Old Age As The Hidden Sentencing Factor, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

Imagine two doctors who illegally sold opioids in exchange for cash. Both doctors sold roughly the same quantity of pills, had no prior criminal convictions, and accordingly faced the same sentencing guidelines range. The major difference was that one doctor was in his sixties and considerably older than the other doctor. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines provide that judges should consider a defendant's age only in atypical cases. Yet, this Article demonstrates that older defendants received sentencing discounts far more often than younger defendants convicted of the same crime.

This Article gathers sentencing data for almost 130 doctors convicted in federal …

Property Law For The Ages, Michael C. Pollack, Lior Jacob Strahilevitz

William & Mary Law Review

Within the next forty years, the number of Americans over age sixty-five is projected to nearly double. This seismic demographic shift will necessitate a reckoning in several areas of law and policy, but property law is especially unprepared. Built primarily for young and middle-aged white men, the common law of property has been critiqued for decades for the ways in which it oppresses or simply leaves behind people based on their race, sex, Native heritage, and more. This Article contributes a new focus on property law’s treatment of people based on their advanced age. Burdened by higher relocation costs, more …

“Johnny Pushed Me And I Can’T Get Up . . . And I Can’T Get Help!”: The Intersection Of Elder Abuse And Domestic Violence In South Carolina And Its Effect On Older Battered Women, Mary D. Antley

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

We'll Always Have Shady Pines: Surrogate Decision-Making Tools For Preserving Sexual Autonomy In Elderly Nursing Home Residents, Elizabeth Hill

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Deception, Decisions, And Investor Education, Jayne W. Barnard

Faculty Publications

Tens of millions of dollars each year are spent on investor education. Because older adults (those aged sixty and older) are disproportionately victims of investment fraud schemes, many educational programs are targeted at them. In this Article, Professor Barnard questions the effectiveness of these programs. Drawing on recent studies from marketing scholars, neurobiologists, social psychologists, and behavioral economists examining the ways in which older adults process information and make decisions, she offers a model of fraud victimization (the "deception/decision cycle") that explains why older adults are often vulnerable to investment fraud schemes. She then suggests that many of the factors …

Caring For Mom And Dad: The Importance Of Family-Provided Eldercare And The Positive Implications Of California's New Paid Family Leave Law, K. Nicole Harms

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Funding Kinship Care: A Policy-Based Argument For Keeping The Elderly In The Family, Holly Shaver Bryant

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Creating The 'Portable' Guardianship: Legal And Practical Implications Of Probate Court Cooperation In Interstate Guardianship Cases, Charlene D. Daniel, Paula Hannaford-Agor

Faculty Publications

In this article, we discuss the legal and practical issues associ­ated with interstate guardianships--that is, those guardianships in which the ward has ties to more than one state. Part I addresses these issues in the context of jurisdictional questions, securing nec­essary information, judicial monitoring and enforcement of guardi­anship orders, and property management. Part II proposes some modest solutions to these problems, many borrowed from other ar­eas of law (e.g., child support enforcement, child custody determinations, enforcement of civil protection orders, involuntary civil commitment).

This abstract has been taken from the authors' introduction.

The National Probate Court Standards: The Role Of The Courts In Guardianship And Conservatorship Proceedings, Paula Hannaford-Agor, Thomas L. Hafemeister

Faculty Publications

In this article, Ms. Hannaford and Professor Hafemeister confront the issue of who will ensure that the needs of the growing elderly population are met. The authors provide a history and overview of guardianship proceedings and also provide, for the first time, a quantitative description of guardianship usage in the United States. The authors assert that guardianships and conservatorships remain effective ways to pro­tect the rights of the incompetent elderly person. Although these remedies create a legal right in the guardian to manage the financial and medical welfare of the elderly client, the authors argue that a lack of procedural …

Your Money Or Your Wife's?: Social Security Changes Considered, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Protective Services For The Elderly: Commitment, Guardianship, And Alternatives, John J. Regan

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.