In times of crisis such as what we are experiencing now with Covid-19 when families are concerned regarding the safety of parents and adult children, they may want to combine family units. It seems more of us are moving to be together. Plans to move, long postponed, are given new life. I see it with […]
Continue readingOver the years handling estate planning and working through financial plans with clients I have often thought “Now I have seen everything.” Then in the next day or week I meet a new client or reconnect with a current one and find there really is no end to the twists and turns that life can […]
Continue readingA few years ago I received a phone call at the office from a man with an unusual suggestion. He noted he was a stroke victim and confined to bed after hospitalization. He called me because he knew I am an elder law attorney. He stated he wanted to stay at home and suggested he […]
Continue readingFrom time to time we come across a situation when a bank refuses to accept a power of attorney. It might be a question of formatting or witnessing or the bank might want to have the individual use the bank or financial institution’s standard form. The possibility that a power of attorney might be rejected […]
Continue readingThe Washington Post recently published an article “In Search of Lost Time” that encapsulated a view that is right on except it might have been published somewhat too soon for much of the country, especially the South and the West. Because we do not yet know what states are gaining and which are losing in […]
Continue readingI sometimes say to clients when planning “if you could tell me when you are going to die, when your spouse will die, and who will get sick and when, I can write you an amazing retirement and estate plan!” Things being as they are, we unfortunately (or fortunately) do not know the answers to […]
Continue readingFamilies facing long term care for parents and husbands and wives have always struggled to answer questions, some of them obvious, like how long is the stay, how much will it cost, what treatments and therapy are being provided, and is the care covered by health insurance and, if not, then what. Our office […]
Continue readingOnly a few months ago the expression “moving from red to yellow” would have had no significance for Americans. Today, as I drive or walk through our town of West Chester, Pennsylvania and travel through Pennsylvania and surrounding states, the term means a great deal. There is no chronicler as such of what is occurring […]
Continue readingLeisure time in the age of Covid-19 has definitely taken on a different meaning from the not so long ago past. Sometimes it seems we have been living in a time warp forever. Sometimes it seems only briefly. Then, often it appears we are walking in some sort of dream – or nightmare depending on […]
Continue readingThe ordeal Wisconsin voters went through to be able to vote in person can sound as a warning to Pennsylvania voters and to those throughout the country. Although the Pennsylvania primary has been put off until June 2 we do not know what conditions await at the polls at that time and there is an […]
Continue readingLast week in my column I posed the question whether we need legislation to deal with notarization problems during Covid 19. Now, after having seen and reviewed the directive recently issued by Pennsylvania’s Department of State I recognize some progress toward remote notarization has been made. It deals with some electronic notarization questions but not […]
Continue readingAlmost exactly a year ago I wrote a column for publication on April 2, 2020 in West Chester’s Daily Local News and related publications titled “Will Your Bank Honor Your Power of Attorney?” If that one did not raise enough thought-provoking questions, now in the middle of a global pandemic the question could be rephrased […]
Continue readingThis morning I dressed to go to work, polished off my coffee, checked to see that my cell phone had been properly charged, and positioned myself in front of a laptop computer for another day of work as we now know it. This is a new day at “the office.” Understand that I am the […]
Continue readingIt is amazing what difference a week can make in handling an elder law practice or any business for that matter. As I am sitting here in my home operating from a “remote location,” I consider how different the world can be from what we have been used to. In the past week several orders […]
Continue readingThe current struggles dealing with COVID-19 bring to mind our vulnerabilities as a society but also cause reflection on how to deal with crisis and unexpected emergencies. I suggest it is by having a plan or maybe several plans depending on how circumstances play out. One of the problems we have had now nationally is […]
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