Elder Law Commons^™

Setting Up A Non-Profit Trust Company: The Special Needs Trust Company In Singapore, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Persons with special needs are in an extremely vulnerable position where they are potentially subject to financial abuse by criminals or other untrustworthy people. In Singapore, this concern has led to the setting up of a non-profit company called the Special Needs Trust Company (SNTC). This article traces the formation of SNTC, the infrastructure and legal documentation required for setting up such a non-profit company and how the special needs trust is currently used in Singapore. The Singapore experience may provide a useful starting point to policy makers and non-governmental organisations from other jurisdictions which may be looking into the …

The Home: Where Our Heart Resides, David M. English

Faculty Publications

Helping a client maximize the use of his or her home for these purposes is no simple task. It requires knowledge of options and resources across many domains. But stepping back and taking a broader look at these strategic opportunities and pitfalls is useful in appreciating the knowledge and skill set needed to competently counsel and represent aging clients. This article looks first at a variety of consumer protection issues, examines the interrelationship between the home and a variety of government benefits, and concludes with a discussion of technology that may enable an elderly person to remain in the place …

Operation Arbitration: Privatizing Medical Malpractice Claims, Myriam E. Gilles

Articles

Binding arbitration is generally less available in tort suits than in contract suits because most tort plaintiffs do not have a pre-dispute contract with the defendant, and are unlikely to consent to arbitration after the occurrence of an unforeseen injury. But the Federal Arbitration Act applies to all "contract[s] evincing a transaction involving commerce, " including contracts for healthcare and medical services. Given the broad trend towards arbitration in nearly every other business-to-consumer industry, coupled with some rollbacks in tort reform measures that have traditionally favored medical professionals in the judicial system, it is very possible that we may witness …

The Medicaid Gamble, Ann Marie Marciarille

Faculty Works

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was an unprecedented gamble. The ACA transformed Medicaid from an unevenly and underfunded program for the poor and disabled to a program to offer those priced out of commercial insurance markets government-funded health insurance similar to Medicare, the single-payer system for seniors and the disabled. In a sense, the ACA gambled that Medicaid could be more like Medicare.

The ACA, as it was transformed by the Supreme Court of the United States, became a gamble on the part of the Court that good things would follow from empowering each of the states …

Disincentivizing Elder Abuse Through Disinheritance: Revamping California Probate Code § 259 And Using It As A Model, Travis Hunt

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

In Re Allers: A Display Of Progress, Not Perfection, In The Guardianship System, Melanie Rosen

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Complex Decision-Making And Cognitive Aging Call For Enhanced Protection Of Seniors Contemplating Reverse Mortgages, 46 Ariz. St. L.J. 299 (2014), Debra Pogrund Stark, Jessica M. Choplin, Joseph Mikels, Amber Schonbrun Mcdonnell

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

This article analyzes the factors that affect the effectiveness of the current rules and counseling protocol in enabling seniors to make well-informed decisions on whether to enter into a proposed reverse mortgage in light of the cognitive barriers that consumers in general, and seniors in particular, face. The article then proposes further changes to these rules and the counseling protocol to better enable seniors to determine whether entering into reverse mortgages is in their best interest in light of their specific financial situations and goals. Section I provides an overview of the current status of the law relating to reverse …

Financial Security Scorecard: A State-By-State Analysis Of Economic Pressures Facing Future Retirees, Christian Weller, Nari Rhee, Carolyn Arcand

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

As Americans increasingly worry about their retirement prospects, states play an important and growing role in retirement security policy. States already manage long-term care programs for the elderly through Medicaid. Concerned about the impact of future elder poverty on state and local budgets and their local economies, a number of states are exploring the creation of low-cost and low-risk retirement savings plans for private sector workers who lack access to pensions or 401(k)s on the job. Some states have developed programs to help older workers find work.

This report presents the Financial Security Scorecard, designed to inform state-level stakeholders and …

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.

Re-Evaluating The Role Of Companion Animals In The Era Of The Aging Boomer, Rebecca J. Huss

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Taxation Without Limitation: The Prohibited Pretext Doctrine V. The Sebelius Theory, Brett W. Hastings

Marquette Elder's Advisor

The Article posits that the Supreme Court erred in its ruling regarding the Affordable Care Act by overlooking a well-established constitutional principle, dubbed the Prohibited Pretext Doctrine. This doctrine, which prohibits the exercise of a prohibited power through the pretextual use of a power granted, faded from memory due to the post- Lochner era expansion of the Commerce Clause. Nevertheless, the doctrine remains valid law. In overlooking the Prohibited Pretext Doctrine, the Supreme Court established a new and contradictory doctrine, labeled the “Sebelius Theory.” The Sebelius Theory turns the Prohibited Pretext Doctrine on its head by explicitly allowing the government …

Survivorship Rights In Joint Bank Accounts: A Misbegotten Presumption Of Intent, Gregory Eddington

Marquette Elder's Advisor

The Article addresses the frequently litigated issue of the ownership of joint bank accounts that elderly people may have opened to protect against incapacity or to avoid FDIC insurance limits on single accounts. Despite the strong possibility of these non-donative motives, most states—by statute or court decision—award the accounts to the surviving co-tenants instead of the depositors’ heirs or will beneficiaries. This occurs even when the account contract did not contain language of survivorship and even when there is no evidence that the depositor was offered a contract that would have allowed him or her to choose an agency arrangement. …

Consistency Is Key: To Preserve Legislative Intent The Irs Must Afford Legal Recognition To Non-Marital Relationships In A Post-Doma World, Shane R. Martins

Marquette Elder's Advisor

Although the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Windsor v. US allows for federal recognition of same-sex marriages, the Internal Revenue Service will only grant spousal recognition to couples residing in states that term same-sex unions as marriages. Consequently, spousal treatment will not be extended to non-marital relationships, even in states that treat their Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships as “marital equivalents.” Given that spousal recognition for federal tax purposes was intended to ensure geographic uniformity and horizontal equity, the IRS must grant spousal recognition to couples who are in relationships that their respective state identifies as a “marital equivalent”.

Observing Observational Status -- Auditors And Inequities

Marquette Elder's Advisor

No abstract provided.

Bring Ulysses To Florida: Proposed Legislative Relief For Mental Health Patients

Marquette Elder's Advisor

None

Enduring Powers Of Attorney And Financial Abuse Of Older Persons: Are Existing Safeguards Sufficient?, Paula Wedge

LLM Theses

Research has shown that older persons, particularly those with diminished capacity, are vulnerable to financial abuse by enduring power of attorney, which is otherwise an effective estate planning tool. Current legislation in Nova Scotia is not adequate to protect older persons from such financial abuse, which can be extremely devastating for them not only financially but physically and emotionally. Improvements to legislation are one part of the multi-dimensional solution to the problem. Educational initiatives for donors, attorneys and others is critical. Non-adversarial remedial measures to abuse, such as restorative approaches and elder mediation, must be fostered, as they provide for …

Chicago Declaration On The Rights Of Older Persons (2014), John Marshall Law School, Roosevelt University Of Chicago, East China University Of Political Science And Law

Court Documents and Proposed Legislation

Adopted on July 11, 2014 at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois at the conclusion of the 2014 International Elder Law and Policy Conference organized by The John Marshall Law School, Roosevelt University of Chicago, College of Arts and Sciences, and the East China University of Political Science and Law (Shanghai, China)

Selling Hospice, Sam F. Halabi

Faculty Publications

Americans are increasingly turning to hospice services to provide them with medical care, pain management, and emotional support at the end of life. The increase in the rates of hospice utilization is explained by a number of factors including a “hospice movement” dating to the 1970s which emphasized hospice as a tool to promote dignity for the terminally ill; coverage of hospice services by Medicare beginning in 1983; and, the market for hospice services provision, sustained almost entirely by governmental reimbursement. On the one hand, the growing acceptance of hospice may be seen as a sign of trends giving substance …

Putting Retirement At Risk: Has Financial Risk Exposure Grown More Quickly For Older Households Than Younger Ones?, Christian Weller, Sara Bernardo

Gerontology Institute Publications

Financial markets have been characterized by boom and bust cycles since the 1980s, while the responsibility for managing retirement wealth has increasingly shifted onto individual households at the same time. Policymakers and experts have expressed concern over rising risk exposure among older households, who appear to be increasingly exposed to the growing financial risks just as they near retirement. We consider household data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances from 1989 to 2010 to analyze the correlation between age and risk exposure. We test if older households’ risk exposure has indeed grown over time, if it has increased …

Context Matters: Disability, The End Of Life, And Why The Conversation Is Still So Difficult, Alicia Ouellette

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.