Introduction

• Library: Alzheimer's and the Practice of Law: Counseling Clients with Dementia and Their Families (ABA) (2013 Ed.)

INTRODUCTION

Rick Law's Story

How and Why I Became an Elder Law Attorney

It all started with a phone call to my law office in the year 2000. I was 50 years old and my practice was primarily focused on taxation, real estate investments, and traditional estate planning. I received a call from my dear friend, Luise. With panic in her voice she cried: "Bob has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. What are we going to do? Am I going to lose my home? Are we going to lose everything?"

I had to respond, "Luise, I have no idea. I have never been asked those questions before. I don't know, but I will find the answers for you." Unknowingly, I had been launched on a new life path that would lead me to the creation of a new law firm. The firm is known as Law Elderlaw, LLP, which has a regional presence in the Chicago metropolitan area.

The caller, Luise, was a woman in her 60s whose husband, Bob, was 72 years old. Due to receiving a dreaded diagnosis, they had suddenly lost a comfortable retirement. They also lost their hope of a long and fulfilling retirement marriage. Even though only one of them had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, they both became victims. Both husband and wife were smashed by the wrecking ball of dementia.

Bob was a former amateur chess champion, so he was well aware that he was mentally declining. He was also a tough guy. He had fought in the Korean War, walked the beat as a cop, and had survived everything up until his diagnosis. Now he felt helpless and dreaded sliding into the dark abyss of his doctor's diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Luise was panicked with the fear of losing her husband, her home and her hard-earned financial security. Would she be able to continue to live in the same neighborhood? They were both scared, yet they were walled apart from each other by their own individual fears.

Bob and Luise are typical of millions of aging American citizens. Most of them have lived frugally, played by the rules, and planned on enjoying a modest and pleasant retirement. But now, after the diagnosis of a long-term disability, they're overwhelmed by the staggering emotional, physical, and financial cost. They fear the diagnosis may destroy their marriage, finances, and dreams.

Luise had many questions:

1. What was going to happen to Bob?
2. How was he going to get the health care that he needed?
3. How are we going to plan to help both me and Bob live through the years that may go by between the time of his diagnosis and his eventual death?
4. How will we protect the home so that I can continue to live in the community, despite Bob's multiyear care needs?
5. Will my husband's health-care needs totally impoverish me while stealing his health and life?
6. Prior to Bob's eventual death, how are we going to access, find, and obtain quality long-term care?
7. What would be left for me to live on after the disease has run its course?

When Luise initially called me, my mind had immediately searched through my mental list of items I had in my legal professional tool kit. Here is what I found that I was prepared to provide an estate-planning client:

1. Reduce and eliminate estate tax.
2. Protect the survivor spouse while protecting the estate tax credit for residuary

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