Family Agreements Go National – Report From the NAELA Unprogram
Twice a year I always travel to meet up with groups of elder law attorneys for a few days and refresh what we know. July means Harrisburg or Hershey, Pennsylvania for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute sponsored “Elder Law Institute.” In January it is Grapevine near Dallas or Houston, Texas for the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) “Unprogram.” The January pilgrimage to Texas is national.
This year was no different except that this year on January 24 was my second year as a facilitator/ presenter at the NAELA Unprogram in Grapevine, Texas. My topic, one that I have begun to become associated with nationally, is Family Agreements. More of that later.
An “Unprogram” is limited to experienced elder law attorneys. Lawyers who have been around awhile begin to experience the same issues from different perspectives. Questions center around “What do you do in your State?” or “How do you solve this problem since that law was passed?” It is an “Unprogram” because it is an unstructured format for open discussion.
It might seem that what happens in Texas or Florida, California or West Virginia, would have no relevance to Pennsylvania but nothing could be further from the truth.
First, since the entire nation is affected by Federal law, creative solutions developed by practitioners in one or more States can be adapted for use throughout the country. The “Unprogram” becomes like a laboratory to devise solutions wherever we practice.
Second, where laws are especially difficult or harsh, the national platform is an opportunity to anticipate changes before they occur and prepare to deal with them.
Finally, some of our clients come from those other States or are moving to them. Without a national perspective on how the laws are administered in other States, we cannot advise these clients or their families intelligently on how to handle their problems.
This is what happened at the Unprogram Meeting on Family Agreements.
First, I should note that, last year when I facilitated a similar program, I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of attendees.
This January 24 was very different. I watched as lawyers filled the room from Texas, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, among others. There was standing room only and some participants sat on the floor. The Family Agreement subject had obviously grown in significance among elder law practitioners.
The session began for me on a humorous note as one attorney I did not recognize turned to me and said “I know you.” The speaker was Michael Cohen, a Dallas attorney I quoted in my column a few years ago. Mike is a fascinating writer in his own right with his Grandma Gussie senior humor stories about his wife’s grandmother that can be read on-line at www.Dallaselderlawyer.com.
The questions that were asked were the type that could come from the public generally but informed by the underlying question “can they work” in my State. What is the difference, for instance, between a Family Agreement and a Personal Services Contract. Can Family Agreements work even where Medicaid is not a motivator.
I noted that Family Agreement is a broader term than a Personal Services Contract. This was important to the Texas practitioners since, under their law, elderly parents are not permitted to agree with relatives to pay for care unless the relative quits her job and devotes herself full time to caring. We questioned the legality of the Texas rule but, even in this circumstance, Family Agreements can work.
Family Agreements include agreements for services but also agreements regarding purchase of residences, construction of “in-law” suites and living quarters for parents moving in with their children, division of inheritances, dividing responsibilities, and any number of other issues that are important to parents and their adult children.
Henry Carpenter, an elder law attorney from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, noted “Medicaid ‘drives the bus’ so to speak,” but added that he starts by asking families “What do you want?” and proceeds from there.
I pointed as one example to an Agreement we wrote to assist a son and daughter-in-law to blend households. Their plan was to bring his parents from a distant part of Pennsylvania to Chester County, move his mother from a nursing home, purchase a home together, sell their prior home, and divide responsibilities with other family members who live both in and outside the State, avoid Medicaid problems and provide a secure environment for his parents. It succeeded.
The Agreements are a “blank slate” on which the family can write. Legal advice is critical for Medicaid but also to take into account tax and estate considerations and to stretch dollars for families in a difficult environment today.
About the Author Janet Colliton
Esquire, Colliton Law Associates, P.C. Janet Colliton has practiced law for over 38 years, 37 of them in Chester County, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her practice, Colliton Law Associates, PC, is limited to elder law, Medicaid, including advice, applications and appeals, and other benefits planning including Veterans benefits, life care and special needs planning, guardianships, retirement, and estate planning and administration.