Partner at the Columbus office of Roetzel Andress; Paralegal at the Columbus office of Roetzel Andress

AuthorMichael A. Poe; Eugenia Maish
PositionPeace Of Mind
Pages1063-1065

Page 1063

Previously published in Bar Briefs (Spring 2003). Republished with permission.

Michael Poe is a Partner at the Columbus office of Roetzel & Andress, where he practices Estate Planning and Elder Law.

Eugenia Maish is a Paralegal at the Columbus office of Roetzel & Andress.

This is the twelfth article from the Supreme Court of Ohio Advisory Committee on Mentally Ill in the Courts about effectively dealing with mentally ill offenders in the criminal justice system. This article highlights the Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of Central Ohio (PLAN-CO) which provides personalized planning services to enhance quality of life for disabled family members, and much more.

During almost 25 years of advising clients on their estate planning needs, I have often found myself challenged with them to find a way to help families with disabled children as they faced continuity of care issues.

A client, whose child with minor brain damage from birth and diagnosed in high school with OCD Depression, recently introduced me to a wonderful new resource. While the child had an excellent care plan currently in place, I was intrigued by the arrangement for continued care the family had created with a new non-profit organization called Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of Central Ohio (PLAN-CO). From my perspective, and after a thorough examination of their estate plan, they appeared to have a strong plan in place for the entire family, including a succession plan for caring for their disabled child. The family's foremost concern was not merely financial planning for the child's future following his parents' demise. Rather, they were focused on finding lifetime advocates to champion the child's needs now before they were no longer available to act as his number one care giver. In fact, I was so interested and impressed with PLAN-CO's services, I began working with its board of trustees.

PLAN-CO's program for care of dependents with disabilities is part of the National PLAN Alliance, a nationwide network of 28 affiliates in 22 states. PLAN-CO provides a structure, a venue, if you will, for pulling together the many pieces of a complete plan of care. When started in 1999, the main goal was to "enhance the quality of life for the disabled family member now and in the future." Fast forward to today and...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT