The San Diego Elder Law Center is pleased to announce that the State Bar of California has designated our staff attorney, Philip P. Lindsley, a Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate. 

To become certified in this area, an attorney must demonstrate extensive knowledge and experience with no less than 5 years practicing in this area of law, a minimum number of clients served also in that area, and more than 44 hours of additional education. They must also pass a rigorous examination, and pass a State Bar background and check and investigation. 

As defined by the State Bar, Estate planning, trust and probate law is the practice of law dealing with: the creation, protection and disposition of a client's assets, during life and upon and after death, in accordance with the client's expressed desires; the tax and family relationship consequences of the client's acts and desires; the preparation of wills, trusts and other documents to carry out the client's desires; the administration of estates and trusts (such as necessary court or non-court procedures; tax reporting, payment of tax and tax audits; and management and transfer of assets); and the protection of the property and provision for the personal needs of individuals unable to handle their own affairs by reason of age, illness or other incapacity. 

This is Mr. Lindsley's second specialization certification. He is also a “Certified Elder Law Attorney,” one of only two San Diego County. Mr. Lindsley has 30 years of experience in disability and Medi-Cal planning, conservatorships, trust & estate planning, special needs trusts and probate. He limits his practice, San Diego Elder Law Center to these areas.

San Diego Elder Law Center's Mission is to be devoted to protecting the financial resources, legal rights and dignity of the elderly, disabled, and special needs individuals, as well as their families and caregivers.

As people are living longer, the divorce rate among seniors is growing. Older couples confront different problems than younger ones do when getting divorced, and a mediator can help sort through these issues and facilitate an amicable settlement.

While divorces among younger couples usually focus on child support and visitation issues, some of the considerations that seniors must take into account when getting divorced include:

• Health Insurance: Is one spouse on the other's health insurance?

• Retirement benefits: Is one spouse relying on the other's retirement benefits? Does the beneficiary need to be changed?

• Housing: Seniors may have more value in their home than younger couples and they are more likely to own more than one home.

• Life Insurance: Is there value in a life insurance policy?

These issues can be complicated to deal with and expensive to litigate. A mediator can help to work them in a cheaper and less contentious way than what would happen in court. Mediators meet with couples and allow them to discuss their needs in a non-confrontational manner. The goal is to produce a settlement that addresses the interests of both spouses.

Mediation works best if it is started right away and not after the couple has already been to court. Going to court can generate bad feelings, which may make mediation more difficult. Starting mediation early can also save on attorney's fees and other costs. Expenses quickly add up when you bring a case in court. Once a mediated agreement is signed, it is binding and needs only to be filed with the court. In addition, divorce can be difficult on children, even if they are adults. Mediation can help keep the divorce civil so children are not forced to take sides.

For an article on divorce mediation by a mediator, click here.

Hospitals often give patients a health care proxy form to sign on being admitted. While it might seem easy to sign a generic health care proxy form, having a document that is specifically tailored to your needs is important.

A health care proxy allows you to appoint someone else to act as your agent for medical decisions. In general, a health care proxy takes effect only when you require medical treatment and a physician determines that you are unable to communicate your wishes concerning what that treatment should be. Appointing someone to serve as your agent helps ensure that your medical treatment instructions will be carried out.

While a health care proxy serves to appoint an agent to speak for you, you can also use it to give the agent guidance about your medical wishes. Following are some issues that can be addressed in a health care proxy:

• The name of the person authorized to act for you. It is good to appoint an alternate as well.

• If you are terminally ill, in a coma, or have brain damage with no hope of recovery, you can explain the kind of treatment you don't want. For example, you may not want feeding tubes, resuscitation, dialysis, or blood transfusions

• Whether or not you want to be kept alive by machines if you are in a persistent vegetative state.

• Under what circumstances you want pain medication to be administered.

• Whether you want to donate your organs.

• Whether you want to be cremated or buried and where and how your remains should be disposed of.

Whatever choices you make, you should invest the time considering your health care wishes before drafting a health care proxy. For this reason, signing a generic hospital form may not be a good idea, as such a form may not take your individual wishes into account. In addition, if you already have a health care proxy as a part of your estate plan, the generic form may revoke your more personal health care proxy.

To learn more, please contact us at: 619.235.4357 or visit us at our web site.

Would you pay $60 for something you could get for as little as $1 and probably don't need at all? A company called National Deed Service is hoping to persuade homeowners to part with the extra cash to purchase a "certified copy" of the deed to their home. Officials in many states are warning homeowners not to fall for the company's deceptive, but apparently legal, pitch.

For the last three years, the Northbrook, Illinois-based National Deed Service has been sending direct-mail solicitations to homeowners in different parts of the country alleging that the U.S. Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) recommends that property owners have an official or certified copy of their deed and offering to deliver such a copy within 30 days for $59.50, or higher depending on where the homeowner lives. The Service's Web site further warns that "It is not an easy process to obtain public records from a governmental agency."

In fact, obtaining their deed is usually quite simple, inexpensive, and probably unnecessary for most people. A deed is a public record and is available from the Register of Deeds at most county courthouses for as little as $1, or even for free in some locales. Some counties also allow homeowners to view and print their deeds from their Web site. Most homeowners receive a copy of their deed at closing, but even if they don't have one, there is little necessity to pay a hefty sum for a "certified copy" when a copy is always available when and if a homeowner needs it.

As for National Deed Service's claim that the government suggests that homeowners keep a certified copy of their deed, the FCIC Web site actually simply suggests that if you have a safe deposit box, it should contain certified or official copies of documents.

"I don't know how the deed companies thought they could stretch our statement that 'if you have your deed, you should keep it someplace safe (like a safe deposit box)' into 'you definitely need to have a copy of your deed in your possession,'" Rebecca Fulcher, a consumer information specialist with the FCIC, told the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith, Arkansas. According to Fulcher, most homeowners don't need to have a copy of their deed.

The Recorder's Office in Allen County, Indiana, was recently flooded with calls from homeowners asking about a solicitation they'd just received from National Deed Services.

"We've pursued this issue with the Indiana Attorney General on several occasions and the problem turns out to be that there are enough disclaimers in this letter to keep it within the law, but it sure is close and it sure does spook a lot of people who don't read it all the way," said Allen County's Recorder, John McGauly, on WANE TV in Fort Wayne.

For its part, National Deed Service claims it is simply providing a service for those willing to pay for the convenience of not going down to the courthouse themselves. "People can cut their own hair if they want to, but they go to a barber," company owner Barry J. Isaacson told Real Estate News.

Although you can begin receiving Social Security benefits anytime after age 62, the longer you wait, the higher the benefit you will receive. Still many people need money right away and cannot afford to delay. If you are married, there is a strategy that may allow you to claim some benefits immediately and then claim more benefits later.

First a little background: You have three options for when to begin taking your Social Security retirement benefits: 

1. You may begin taking benefits between age 62 and your full retirement age. 
2. You can wait until your full retirement age (which varies depending on your age).
3. You can delay benefits and take them anytime up until you reach age 70. 

Your benefit will increase by 6 to 8 percent, depending on when you were born, for every year that you delay, in addition to any cost of living increases.

The "claim now, claim more later" strategy outlined in a new study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College is based on the fact that married individuals are entitled to either a Social Security benefit based on their own earnings or to a spousal benefit equal to one-half of their spouse's full retirement benefit. When you reach full retirement age, you can choose which benefit you want to take. If you choose your spousal benefit, you can continue building up delayed retirement credits for your own benefit. Then at age 69, you can claim your maximum retirement benefit and stop receiving the spousal benefit.

The study gave an example of how this "claim now, claim more later" strategy would work. According to the study, it is usually optimal for a wife to claim her own early retirement benefits because wives typically earn less than their husbands but also usually outlive them. Once the husband dies, the wife is entitled to his benefit as a widow. Therefore, according to the strategy, the wife would claim early retirement benefits at 62 while the husband waited. Once the husband reached his full retirement age, he would claim a spousal benefit. Then at 69, the husband would claim the maximum amount of his retirement benefit and stop receiving the spousal benefit. If the wife earns more than the husband, the strategy would work in reverse.

Illustration: Beginning at age 62, Mrs. Brown gets $978 a month in early retirement benefits. Beginning at age 66, Mr. Brown receives a spousal benefit of $767 a month (50 percent of his wife's full retirement benefit of $1,534/month). Then, at age 70, Mr. Brown stops receiving the spousal benefit and begins receiving $3,209 a month (the maximum amount of his retirement benefit).

To read the study, click here. (This will open a PDF file. You do need Acrobat Reader which is a free download. If ou do not have Acrobat Reader, download here.)