A Late Summer Eldercare Checklist

As summer starts to wind down and vacations and school breaks are in the rearview window, it’s time to get back to regular routines and responsibilities. If you’ve got aging parents, this seasonal transition is a good time to be thinking about their living situations, healthcare needs, and other long-term planning issues. Whether your parents are living independently or are considering moving to an assisted care facility, going through a late summer elder care checklist will give you, your senior loved ones, and your family peace of mind.

Review Advance Directives and Powers of Attorney

Advance directives allow a person to designate a third party to make financial and medical decisions in the event of incapacity. These include:

• Healthcare Proxy  –  A healthcare proxy allows you to name a specific person to make medical decisions on your behalf if there comes a time when you cannot make those decisions for yourself. In New York, hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers are legally bound to follow your agent’s decisions as if they were your own. A healthcare proxy also allows you to make your wishes known regarding organ, tissue, and eye donations.
• Living Will – A living will is an advance directive to guide others who will make your medical decisions. It instructs medical care providers and family members on the type of medical care you want to receive if you become incapacitated, such as certain life-extending treatments. It works in tandem with your healthcare proxy. 
• Power of Attorney – A power of attorney authorizes a party you designate to make and execute important personal and financial decisions if you are not able to do so. 

There are several benefits that come with using these and other advance directives. Specifically, they offer the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you are making the decisions regarding your health care and financial well-being. They also can be used to protect assets, ensure eligibility for Medicaid and other benefits, and avoid difficult court proceedings.

If your senior does not have these advance directives, it’s time to create them. If your senior created these advance directives several years ago, they should be reviewed to make sure that they still reflect your senior’s desires and needs. In particular, changing family dynamics often require changes to these advance directives. 

Review and Update Wills and Trusts

Wills and trusts are critical documents in estate planning and elder care. In the absence of a valid will, you will be deemed intestate, and your assets will pass NOT in accordance with your wishes, but according to the state’s intestate scheme. For example, in New York, if you die without a will and you’re married, your spouse will inherit the first $50,000 of your property, then one-half of the rest of your estate if there are children. If there are no children, your spouse will get everything. Intestate laws specify inheritance for the rest of your kin, including adopted children, stepchildren, grandchildren, siblings, parents, and so forth. To avoid having your senior’s estate subject to state-mandated inheritance laws, it’s important to ensure that his or her will is in order. Note, though, that not all assets pass by a will. These include:

• Property that’s been transferred to a trust
• Life insurance proceeds with a named beneficiary
• Real estate that has a transfer-on-death deed
• Retirement accounts that have a named beneficiary

Trusts are a popular method of estate planning, in part because of the benefits they offer compared to wills. They often offer more flexibility and potential tax benefits. They can also avoid probate and protect assets from long-term care costs. Trusts can be revocable or irrevocable depending on the purpose of the trust. The trust can be designed so the person creating the trust continues to have full use of the assets or property while they are alive, and can designate what should happen with them when they pass away. 

As seniors age, it’s important they review their wills and trusts on a regular basis. For example, if any will beneficiaries have passed, it’s important to amend the will. Or if children named as beneficiaries in the trust are past the age of trust distribution, the trust should be amended. The senior might also want to reallocate trust distributions, depending upon the current situation of the trust beneficiaries. 

Assess Your Senior’s Living Arrangements and Safety

Home is where most injuries occur for seniors, and many of these injuries are due to falls, burns, and accidental poisoning. It’s important to regularly assess your senior’s safety situation, particularly if they are living at home. The bathroom and stairs are two of the most common areas of falls. They are particularly hazardous due to the risk of tripping, slipping, and stumbling. Accidental poisonings occur due to an overdose of medicine or when a senior confuses a household cleaning product for a consumable. Burns happen due to open flames and hot liquids, often in the kitchen, when a cognitively impaired senior fails to appreciate the danger or does not have the dexterity to manage the problem. 

Here are other areas to be particularly attentive to:

• Do all outdoor entrances have lights?
• Do outdoor pathways have rails and guards?
• Can the mailbox be easily and safely reached?
• Are interior rooms and hallways well lit?
• Are throw rugs and scatter mats secured to the floor?
• Are high traffic areas clear of obstacles?
• Are stairs in good repair?
• Is the water thermostat set to avoid scalding?
• Are there adequate smoke alarms and fire extinguishers?
• Do outlets have surge protectors?
• Is there a list of emergency phone numbers in an obvious place?

There are a number of other important considerations to take into account when auditing your senior’s house for safety. It’s important to take a proactive approach, making environmental modifications, using safety devices, and providing education and supervision to your senior. It’s critical to do this on a seasonal basis as weather conditions such as snow, ice, and heat glare will affect your review. 

Contact the Law Offices of Davidow, Davidow, Siegel & Stern

Our team has many years of experience providing knowledgeable, high-quality, and caring elder law guidance to seniors and their families. Contact us today to see how we can help you.

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