Elder Law in Rhode Island - How to Plan for The Future
Getting older comes with a multitude of new decisions. You might need to decide how you’ll pay for medical care after retirement, who should take care of you if you cannot do it yourself, and what should happen to your estate when you die. Rhode Island elder law states you can help plan for the future and save your loved ones from making painful decisions and potential legal headaches. To help you understand, we’ve put together an overview of Rhode Island elder law.
What is elder law? Elder Law in Rhode Island
Elder law is an area of law that encompasses the legal issues concerning older people, their caretakers, and other relatives. Rhode Island elder law includes financial and estate planning concerns and medical and care issues.
What is long-term care?
One of the most common elder law applications is to build long-term care plans for the future. Older adults sometimes become incapacitated or unable to care for themselves towards the end of life. A Rhode Island long-term care plan helps you stipulate what kind of medical care you’d like to receive and who you’d like to manage your estate or make medical decisions on your behalf.
There are several ways that you can plan for elder care in Rhode Island, through power of attorneys, living wills, trusts, and more. A Rhode Island estate attorney like Bryan Nappa can help.
Guardianship and conservatorship
If a person suddenly becomes incapacitated or doesn’t have a care plan in place, the court may appoint a guardian or conservatorship for them. You might be wondering, is conservatorship the same as guardianship? The answer is no. Here’s a breakdown of the differences:
What is a conservatorship?
A conservatorship allows an appointed conservator to make financial decisions on the older adult’s behalf. Conservatorships are often used to protect a person’s financial best interest if they are “financially incapable” of looking after their own money, perhaps due to a condition like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
What is a guardianship?
A guardianship takes things much further. Under a guardianship, the court-appointed guardian looks after all of their ward’s affairs. A guardian’s responsibilities include providing basic necessities, making medical care decisions, and managing financial affairs on behalf of their ward.
Guardianships strip the incapacitated person of all their legal rights, placing all important decisions about their life and care with the guardian. It’s an extreme arrangement and should only be used as a last resort to care for an incapacitated person.
Guardianships and conservatorships can be either long-term or temporary, and it’s possible to obtain emergency conservatorship or guardianship in certain situations.
Power of attorney
If there ever comes a day when you cannot make decisions for yourself, a court-appointed guardian or conservatorship isn’t your only option.
You can arrange to give another person “power of attorney” to grant them control of your affairs. The Rhode Island power of attorney is often someone close to you - like a spouse, an adult child, or a close friend - someone you trust to take care of your affairs and respect your wishes.
You can arrange for a power of attorney to “spring” into effect when, and only when, you become incapacitated. This allows you to maintain control of your affairs while you’re still able to, but keep the door open if the worst should happen.
Instead of appointing someone with general power of attorney, you can also appoint a healthcare power of attorney that only affects your medical care. If you become incapacitated, your appointed healthcare power of attorney would be able to make medical decisions on your behalf as your “healthcare proxy.” They can communicate your wishes to the healthcare professional treating you, ensuring that you receive the care you want.
Living Wills
Appointing someone with power of attorney isn’t the only way to plan for your medical care, should you become incapacitated. Warwick attorney Bryan Nappa has years of experience writing living wills, powe of attorneys, and robust conservatorship and long term care plans
A “living will” allows someone to make arrangements for what they would like to happen when the end of their life is imminent. It can contain instructions about the kind of medical care they’d like to receive, such as leaving behind instructions on palliative care or issuing a DNR. It makes your end-of-life preferences on medical treatments clear and unambiguous, saving your family from making hard decisions on your behalf.
Depending on their goals, some people may choose to include both a living will and a Power of attorney in their Rhode Island long-term care plan.
Estate planning
While no one likes to think about death, establishing an estate plan is one of the most essential ways you can protect your loved ones in the future. With an estate plan such as a will or a trust, you can ensure that your loved ones receive the assets that you want them to have.
Older adults might choose to set up a revocable or irrevocable trust for their beneficiaries. While wills must first go through probate, trusts don’t have to follow the same process. This makes trusts an ideal tool for those who’d like to help their loved ones avoid Rhode Island probate court. Additionally, trusts can also help you avoid inheritance taxes on a larger estate or shield assets to help you qualify for Medicare or Medicaid.
Elder abuse
Unfortunately, older adults are one of the most vulnerable populations to predatory behavior. According to estimates, nearly 1 in 10 people over 65 face some form of elder abuse every year in the United States.
Elder abuse can be emotional, physical, or financial and be perpetrated by spouses, children, nursing home workers, or court-appointed caretakers.
One of the most common forms of elder abuse is financial scams, where someone coerces an elder to change their estate plan or gift their assets to a stranger. Seniors lose almost $2.6 billion a year from scams like these, leaving their loved ones struggling to deal with the aftermath. If you believe that someone you love is a victim of elder abuse, it’s important to contact one of the best elder care lawyers in RI immediately.
Need an Elder law attorney in Rhode Island?
If you have questions about elder law in RI and how they relate to you, Attorney Brian Nappa is here for you.
Attorney Nappa can help you discuss your unique situation and help you arrange a customized future care plan. He’ll help you explore all your options and decide on the path that best suits you and your loved ones. You won’t need to navigate the complexities of a legal jungle alone. Instead, you can find peace of mind that your affairs will be taken care of the way you want.
Contact his office today to book an appointment and discuss strong>senior legal services.