Elder Law Commons^™

Filial Support Laws In The Modern Era: Domestic And International Comparison Of Enforcement Practices For Laws Requiring Adult Children To Support Indigent Parents, Katherine C. Pearson

Journal Articles

Family responsibility and support laws have a long but mixed history. When first enacted, policy makers used such laws to declare an official policy that family members should support each other, rather than draw upon public resources. This article tracks modern developments with filial support laws that purport to obligate adult children to financially assist their parents, if indigent or needy. The author diagrams filial support laws that have survived in the 21st Century and compares core components in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and post-Soviet Union Ukraine. While the laws are often similar in wording and declared intent, …

Special Needs Estate Planning-A Family Perspective, Terry L. Toske

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Toske illustrates the need for early estate planning involving the entire family when a developmental disability affects a family member. The importance of maintaining eligibility for government programs is stressed, as well as the benefits of the planning to all concerned. Two case studies are used for illustration. A what do I do now? list is included.

The Communitarian Approach In The Elder Law Construct, A. Frank Johns

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Johns suggests that the proposed revisions to the Model Rules do not go far enough in their approach to multiple party representations in elder law issues. He discusses initial client contact, formation of the client-lawyer relationship, client confidences in multiple representation, and intergenerational conflicts. Three interesting case studies are included to highlight the problems that can arise.

Funding A Grandchild's College Education, Richard L. Kaplan

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This article examines a number of college-funding mechanisms available to grandparents for their grandchildren. In light of the multifaceted considerations and often conflicting factors, the article shows which approaches are most appropriate given any set of circumstances

Abuse In Nursing Homes: Consumers Are Being Left In The Dark, Kathryn Hensiak

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Horrific reports of physical and sexual abuse plague our nation's nursing homes. A key information resource for consumers, the federal Nursing Home Compare website, is failing to provide adequate information. While government officials are making efforts to improve the site, consumers must be vigilant and protect family members in nursing home care.

Mediation In Estate Planning: A Strategy For Everyone's Benefit, David Gage, John A. Gromala

Marquette Elder's Advisor

How much better would this world be if we all believed that most disputes could be avoided? Mediation is offered as a tool to reach agreement, but the hard work of mediating a dispute requires a knowledgeable, experienced professional. These authors offer observations and strategies based on their expertise and success in the field.

Have State Judiciaries Become Legislatures When Grandma Comes To Court?: State Court Decisions In The Post-Troxel Era, Paula A. Lorfeld

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Although Troxel v. Granville mandated presumptive consideration of parents' rights in non-parent visitation statutes, states have interpreted Troxel in different ways. Lorfeld cites cases in several states. Some states have ruled non-complying statutes unconstitutional, while other states have ruled such statutes to be constitutional if they are applied with a presumption of unstated parents' rights. Are these courts usurping legislative functions?

Using Family Limited Partnerships For Estate Planning, Milton Childs

Marquette Elder's Advisor

By using a family limited partnership, parents can keep control of a family enterprise while providing limited ownership rights to their children. Estate planners can use this device to protect assets and reduce income taxes. Childs suggests and explains different methods of reducing or eliminating estate taxes, discussing the need to differentiate between safe and dangerous assets.

Essay- Passing It On: The Inheritance, Ownership And Use Of Summer Houses, Ken Huggins

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This essay discusses the many problems encountered when a summer vacation home is passed along to the next generations, such as assigning time slots and sharing responsibilities among various generations. Ways to make such situations work are explored. The suggested option is a formal operating agreement. Developing such an agreement and a comprehensive list of what might be included are discussed.

Grandparent Kinship Caregivers, Anna Leonard

Marquette Elder's Advisor

With more children having grandparents as their primary caregivers, the informal nature of this relationship in the past is being transformed into a more formalized structure as public financial aid is needed by either the children or their grandparents or both. Leonard explores the difficulties grandparents encounter and the financial ramifications and legal options, including kinship foster care, which must be considered.

Family Harmony: An All Too Frequent Causality Of The Estate Planning Process , Timothy P. O'Sullivan

Marquette Elder's Advisor

In this in-depth article O'Sullivan explores reasons for naming a non-family member as fiduciary, while maintaining family input. Bequests involving family businesses or farms are investigated. Also discussed are issues involving loans to children, compensation for parent care, blended families, and the advisability of discussion of will provisions with adult children, especially if bequests are unequal. In all instances, steps to maintain family harmony are urged.

To Be Or Not To Be, Should Doctors Decide? Ethical N Legal Aspects Of Medical Futility Policies , Maureen Kwiecinski

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Who should decide when to discontinue life support when such treatment appears to be hopeless? This article explores withdrawal or withholding life-sustaining medical treatment when health-care providers and family members disagree on a course of action which is likely to be futile or inappropriate. Ethical, moral, and legal implications are raised, and the lack of and need for guidelines is discussed.

Elder Mediation: Optimizing Major Family Transitions, Rikk Larsen, Crystal Thorpe

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This article postulates that mediation may be an effective way for families to make difficult decisions on how to best care and provide for an elderly family member with declining abilities. Bringing all involved family members together and allowing all to be involved in the decision-making process invests each with a responsibility for decisions made from all the options available.

Managers' Obligations To Employees With Eldercare Responsibilities, John A. Pearce Iii, Dennis R. Kuhn

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Progress And Progression In Family Law, Martha Albertson Fineman

Faculty Articles

The process and nature of change in our family formation seems unlikely to be derailed. The policy question for those concerned with the institution of the family in today's world should not be how we can resuscitate marriage and thus save society, but rather how we can support all individuals who create intimate, caring relationships, regardless of the form of those relationships. Continued inattention to the social and economic dislocations and the emerging family needs produced in the wake of changes in family formation can be disastrous, not only to individual families, but also to society.

Of particular importance for …