Sarasota Elder Law & Guardianship Attorneys Helping You Protect Your Loved Ones

Helping Seniors with their Legal Needs

As we age, our legal needs change. Estate planning decisions become increasingly important. At Lyons, Beaudry & Harrison, P.A serving Bradenton and Sarasota, we have more than 80 years of combined experience assisting seniors with their unique legal issues. Our attorneys help you create an estate plan, establish a power of attorney with a trusted person and develop an advanced medical directive that allows you to direct your medical care when you are no longer able to do so yourself. You can rely on our decades of combined experience to create estate planning documents that give you peace of mind and provide guidance to you and your family, including.

Creating a Life Care Plan for your Long-term Care

The selection of a person to make your future financial and medical decisions is a very important part of your estate plan. However,  as you grow older, the providing and coordination of your care can be time consuming and stressful for both you and your family. Because the baby boomer generation is living longer with fewer children from past generations, the number of potential family caregivers to share the burden of the care has declined. Oftentimes family members live far from their parents or simply do not have the time to meet all of the needs of the elderly parent.   Long-term care decisions such as the hiring of companions, selection of a assisted living home or nursing home  can be overwhelming. This is the time when you are most susceptible to financial exploitation. At Lyons, Beaudry & Harrison, P.A. we believe that a proactive approach to the challenges of aging, long-term illness and disability enhances the quality of life for every member of the family. Our attorneys will create a Life Care Plan which is customized for your current and long-term needs.

A Life Care Plan helps you respond to the challenges created by aging, long-term illness or disability whether  you reside  home, transitioning to a long-term care facility or currently residing at a  long-term care facility. A Life Care Plan is a combination of estate planning, asset protection, legal services, public benefits qualification, care coordination, family education, nursing home advocacy and crisis intervention services customized to meet your current and future  legal, financial and medical needs. A Life Care Plan lightens the load for the whole family.

A  Life Care Plan includes care coordination services performed by a life care coordinator who is experienced in helping families develop, implement and monitor care arrangements for elderly or disabled loved ones. Life care coordinators help caregivers sidestep burnout while enabling loved ones to age with dignity in the least restrictive environment. They also:

• Conduct assessments to identify problems, develop care plans including eligibility and need for care services
• Arrange and monitor in-home health or companion services
• Act as a liaison between elders and family members living at a distance, monitoring their situation and identifying problems
• Transition the elder to a new living situation including a retirement community, assisted living or a skilled nursing facility
• Review medical issues and refer specialists as necessary
• Provide independent advocacy to the elder and their family concerning health care products and services
• Provide guidance on the quality and availability of resources within the community

How Life Care Planning  Works

While the elder is living at home or with family, a Life Care Plan provides care coordination and support services that ease the burdens on family caregivers. Our on-staff life care coordinator conducts an assessment, identifies appropriate care and community services, offers family education, coordinates services, helps you anticipate and prevent problems and serves as an advocate for high-quality care. The goal of the plan is to keep your loved one at home as long as possible with support.

As the elder’s condition progresses, our elder law attorneys and life care coordinator are developing a plan of action that explains how your loved one’s legal, financial, health care, housing and long-term care issues can be handled as your loved one’s condition changes. If and when nursing home or assisted living care is needed, you already have a plan in place to qualify for and access medicaid and other public benefits if needed. Your plan lays out how you will access appropriate community resources, transition to the right long-term care facility and pay for long-term care while seeking to preserve assets.

After the elder moves to a long-term care facility, our life care coordinator visits to monitor quality of care and serve as the resident’s and family’s advocate. The Life Care Coordinators and attorneys work closely together with the staff to help assure quality of life. If problems occur, our attorneys get involved to resolve them as quickly as possible.

A family crisis is often unexpected and overwhelming. We are prepared to act quickly to help you select the right long-term care facility or home based services and to develop a Medicaid plan designed to preserve assets for the spouse and family. We are often first contacted when a crisis occurs and placement in a long-term care facility is needed immediately. In such cases, we are prepared to act quickly to help you select the right long-term care facility and to develop a Medicaid Plan designed to preserve family assets for the spouse and family members.

Life Care Planning is a relationship between our firm, you and/or your family that gives you support, guidance and services that you need throughout your long-term care journey. A Life Care Plan offers welcome reassurance to you and your family that you may enjoy an increased quality of lift until the end of life.

Guardianships and the Preservation of your Assets and Quality of Life

With the establishment of a proper estate plan and Life Care Plan, the intrusion of by the court into your private affairs and the expense of a guardianship can be avoided. In the event a guardianship is filed against you, it may be necessary to engage in guardianship litigation to maintain control of your affairs or to enforce your selection of the person to handle your affairs in the event of your incapacity.

If you failed to select a person to handle your financial and medical affairs or made the selection when you lacked capacity or were subject to undue influence, the only way to protect your assets and quality of life is by the filing of a guardianship and appointment of a guardian. There may be circumstances when a guardianship is necessary, even if an estate plan is in place,  to undertake actions in your best interests.

At Lyons, Beaudry and Harrison, P.A., we serve the Sarasota and Bradenton communities in all aspects of a guardianship and guardianship litigation. Our attorneys help you navigate through the challenging guardianship process. Our lawyers have the experience to assist in the resolution of any dispute or fully litigate the dispute, if necessary.

Call now to speak with a Sarasota  attorney about elder law issues and a Life Care Plan

At Lyons, Beaudry & Harrison, we are here to help you sort through complex issues of elder law. Call 941-444-6407 or contact us online to make an appointment at our Sarasota office. We are located on Main Street in the Sarasota Ellis Bank Building.