Elder Law Issues

Why do we ask so many nosy questions in our initial interview with clients? Why do we care about how your children are doing, or how they get along? It’s all in furtherance of figuring out your family dynamics and making sure we consider the best way to accomplish your goals.

We’ve said it before: probate (at least in Arizona) is not the awful beast that most people think it is. That’s not to say you should be eager to have your estate go through probate — but it’s not nearly as bad as you have been led to believe. Let us explain how modern probate works in Arizona, and how it compares to the cost and time involved in probate-avoidance techniques.

Beginning October 30, 2023, Arizona will have a law allowing “supported decision-making” agreements. But what will that mean? And how will those agreements interact with powers of attorney, or guardianship?

If you have substantial wealth, will your estate plan need to be more complicated? Not necessarily. And, for that matter, your estate plan might need to be somewhat complicated even if you are not wealthy. Let us explain.

It’s difficult to understand the difference between civil commitment proceedings, on the one hand, and guardianship or conservatorship proceedings on the other hand. In Arizona (the rules may be very different in other states, so be cautious about generalizing from our system) civil commitment is a separate type of proceeding. Its goal is to force a mentally ill person into treatment — and family members are not parties to the proceeding itself.

In this week’s podcast episode, we try to demystify the differences between the two types of proceedings. We also talk about how limited family involvement can be in civil commitment proceedings, and how frustrating that can be for the very people most concerned about getting effective mental health care.

Planning on getting married? You might want to consider signing a contract with your prospective spouse — a “prenuptial agreement.” In fact, you can sign a similar agreement after you’re already married — a “postnuptial agreement.” Both are recognized under Arizona law.

But what effect will a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement have on your estate planning choices? Join us for a discussion of prenuptial agreements (and their postnuptial counterparts) from the perspective of estate planning lawyers.

Can a terminally-ill Arizona resident ask his or her physician for aid in dying? No — but the landscape is changing in surrounding states. What’s usually called “physician-assisted suicide” is not legal in Arizona, and is widely misunderstood in many jurisdictions.

Like many of you, we have been reading about Senator Dianne Feinstein’s recent legal troubles. We don’t know her or anything about her actual circumstances (beyond what we read), but her story gives us a chance to talk about common themes we see in the often-similar stories of our clients.

If you have charitable inclinations, you might consider whether a Donor Advised Fund is right for you. What are these entities, and how do they work? Well, join us for a discussion.

Suppose a manipulative, combative or just unpleasant family member insists on visiting a demented patient in a nursing home or assisted living facility. Can those visits be restricted? Prohibited altogether?

Can visitor restrictions be imposed by an agent under a health care power of attorney? Does it require a court proceeding?

These problems arise from time to time. The person seeking visitation in some cases might insist that they are a significant contact in the patient’s life, and the health care agent (or guardian) is simply acting out of malice and a desire to control the situation. Arizona law has recently changed to make restricting visitors more difficult. We discuss the current state of the law and how you might choose to address it for yourself — at some future time, of course.