Category Archives: For Caregivers

Links of Interest

Here are some recent estate planning articles from around the web. Links will open in a new window, so you can read the articles without losing this page.
…[I]f an individual dies intestate (without a will) the probate courts will determine how to distribute that person’s assets. And although the court system may [...]

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How Do You Deal With Stress? (And why does your lawyer care?)

(Hingham Bathing Beach Park, a great place to de-stress.)
Very often the people in my office (or reading my website) are under some type of stress. Either they are overwhelmed caring for an aging parent or ailing loved one, they are nervous about planning for their future and thinking about their death or disability, or someone [...]

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How Do I Convince My Parents to Do Their Wills?

This is a very common question that I get from adult children calling my office, friends asking about their parents or that I sometimes ask myself.
While we know that we mean well when we want to make sure our parents have their estate plan in place, I think that what our parents hear is “Hey, [...]

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Why Am I In the Waiting Room?

If you bring your parent to an appointment with an elder law attorney, you might want to bring a good book or your knitting.  This is because you may be sitting in the waiting room for most of the meeting.
The American Bar Association explains why in their pamphlet Why Am I Left in the Waiting [...]

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Bringing a Trusted Friend To a Meeting

Doctors sometimes recommend that you bring a companion to an appointment where a second set of ears may be useful.  Sometimes my clients find it helpful to bring a second set of ears to our meetings together, and will invite a friend, family member or other trusted advisor to sit in.  This usually takes place [...]

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Helping Your Health Care Proxy

April is Health Care Decisions month, the month when you are supposed to sign health care proxies and talk to your family about your “end of life wishes.” I know many people will sign health care proxies, but I wonder how many will take that next step to communicate their wishes to their families, or [...]

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There’s No Right (or Wrong) Time to Talk About It

People often think that you need to have “the talk” about important subjects.  As though having one giant conversation at some magic age with your kids about sex or drugs or drinking will be sufficient to last them through out the rest of their growing up years.
And very often my older clients think they need [...]

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Fear Won’t Keep The Basement Dry

A neighbor’s heat stopped working yesterday. It had been raining since Friday and she arrived home from some errands to a cold house.  She’s older, so she asked me to go down the steep basement steps to see what was going on.  There was floating going on – lawn chairs, coolers, papers. And a furnace [...]

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Links You’ll Love

Here’s a round up of things I’ve been reading this week.  All the links open in a new window, so feel free to read one and then come back, without fear of getting lost in the internet.
Damomma, also known as Elizabeth Soutter and the woman who helped design my website, has a beautifully touching post [...]

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Trash Or Treasures?

I went to an antique appraisal event over the weekend. The fees went to charity, so I figured it would be a fun way to find out some more information about some family “heirlooms.” During the rather long wait, people were talking to each other and sharing information about their treasures.  It got me thinking [...]

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