Elder Law Commons^™

Understanding The Gap Between Law And Practice: Barriers And Alternatives To Tailoring Adult Guardianship Orders, Eleanor Lanier

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An overwhelming majority of state laws governing adult guardianship require an inquiry into whether less restrictive alternatives may be available/appropriate and, where guardianship is necessary, that guardianship orders be designed to maximize theindependence of the person subject to the guardianship. However, the best available data indicates that most guardianship orders are plenary," removing rights on a wholesale basis rather than individually tailoring the guardianship. To many observers, the imposition of plenary guardianship contradicts the unambiguous statutory language in most states favoring a tailored approach that implements guardianships to maximize an individual's independence and autonomy.

The literature is rife with examples …

Social Security Retirement Benefits Timing: A Model For Working Families, Francine J. Lipman, James E. Williamson

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With more than 61 million individuals receiving Social Security benefits, one out of every four families in America receives monthly cash payments from the Social Security Administration (SSA). These monthly payments directly benefit 48.5 million retired workers, their current and former spouses, 10 million disabled adults, and include more than 3 million children. Several million more children and adults in the increasing number of multi-generational households in America benefit indirectly from Social Security retirement payments.

In addition to the broad reach of monthly Social Security retirement benefits these payments have ensured the financial well-being of millions of American families for …

Ethical Challenges Of Using Law Student Interns/Externs To Expand Services To Low-Income Older Adults, Eleanor Lanier

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No abstract provided.

The Changing Legal Climate For Physician Aid In Dying, David Orentlicher

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No abstract provided.

Aging Populations And Physician Aid In Dying: The Evolution Of State Government Policy, David Orentlicher

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Professor David Orentlicher explores the evolution of physician assisted suicide from illegal taboo to the passage of Death with Dignity legislation and caselaw.

Deactivating Implanted Cardiac Devices: Euthanasia Or The Withdrawal Of Treatment?, David Orentlicher

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No abstract provided.

Help Is On The Way: Senior Legal Hotlines Respond To Elder Abuse, Eleanor Crosby Lanier

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Helplines are an important component of efforts to protect elders from abuse. This article describes the development of the senior legal hotline. After 20 years, these hotlines exist in at least half of the states and provide legal advice and other legal services at no cost to callers. Senior legal hotlines can provide information on financial scams, adult guardianship, advance directives, housing, medical care, and public benefits.

The Commerciality Doctrine As Applied To The Charitable Tax Exemption For Homes For The Aged: State And Local Perspectives, David A. Brennen

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This essay examines the question of how state and local government officials should consider federal tax law principles, like the commerciality doctrine, when they challenge state and local property tax exemptions that rely, at least in part, on tax-exempt charitable status for federal income tax purposes. In particular, this essay uses the example of CCRCs [continuing care retirement communities] to consider tax-exempt law's commerciality doctrine in an attempt to discern distinctions between “homes for the aged” that are “charitable,” and thus entitled to exemption, and those that are too commercial, and thus not entitled to exemption. In fact, one might …

Adult Guardianship In Georgia: Are The Rights Of Proposed Wards Being Protected? Can We Tell?, Eleanor Crosby Lanier

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National scrutiny of guardianship policies and practice by scholars and legal, health, and social service practitioners followed. This resulted in a succession of forums, studies, and recommendations aimed at improving the guardianship system. One such forum was the Wingspread conference, convened by the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1988. Experts from a variety of fields met to produce a groundbreaking set of recommendations for reforming guardianship. Wingspan, a second national guardianship conference addressing reform issues in 2001, produced in a second series of recommendations. The recommendations from these two conferences proposed greater protection for the proposed ward's liberty interests and …

Foreword: Joint Conference On Legal/Ethical Issues In The Progression Of Dementia, Edward D. Spurgeon

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The Joint Conference on Legal/Ethical Issues in the Progression of Dementia grew out of the pressing need to address the very real legal and ethical dilemmas that arise in situations like the one of Marie McDonough Larson and her family. Five groups joined forces to sponsor the Conference: the Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging; the Alzheimer's Association; the American Bar Association's Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly; the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys; and the University of Georgia School of Law. Held at the Center for Continuing Education at the University of Georgia, the Conference spanned …

The Implementation Of Oregon’S Death With Dignity Act: Reassuring, But More Data Are Needed, David Orentlicher

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Undoubtedly, empirical data from Oregon will play a key role for academics, legislators, judges, and the public as debate over the legalization of physician-assisted suicide continues. A central issue in the debate is whether a right to assisted suicide can be limited to only the truly compelling cases, or whether it will in practice be provided to patients who choose it out of depression, coercion, or misunderstanding. Empirical research can provide critical insights into this question.

Experimenting With The "Right To Die" In The Laboratory Of The States, Thomas A. Eaton, Edward J. Larson

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The purposes of this Article are twofold. Our first purpose is to reexamine the legal foundations of a patient's right to refuse treatment. The Court's equivocal handling of the federal constitutional issues in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health invites a closer look at state constitutional, statutory and common law. The source of the underlying right will affect state experimentation with substantive and procedural rules in this area. Our second purpose is to describe the current status of the states' experiments with the right to die. That is, we elaborate in more detail on the state constitutional, statutory and …

The Pension Game: Age- And Gender-Based Inequities In The Retirement System, Camilla E. Watson

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This Article begins by stressing the importance of retirement benefits in general and employer-provided benefits in particular. It then addresses specific current issues of age and gender discrimination under both the private retirement and Social Security systems. Gender-based discrimination is emphasized because of the overlap between gender-based discrimination and age discrimination. Finally, this Article suggests specific reforms for a fairer and more adequate systems in the twenty-first century.