Advisers: How to talk to clients about elder care

Elder Care issues can create one of the most stressful situations of your clients' lives.

Elder Care issues can create one of the most stressful situations of your clients’ lives. Caring for a disabled loved one, whether he is your spouse or she is your mother, is an incredibly difficult endeavor which can drain a family of money, energy, and harmony.

The first thing that you should discuss with your clients that still have healthy parents and spouses is to make sure that each of them has advanced directives and powers of attorney in place for both finance and health care. Advanced Directives and Powers of Attorney for health care will permit a loved one’s agent to obtain health information on someone who is ill and to direct medical professionals on health decisions. Powers of Attorney for finance (also called powers of attorney for property) permit the agent access to the loved ones funds to help pay for care. If they do not have these documents, encourage your clients to get them. In many cases, people without these documents will need a guardianship or conservatorship proceeding to make these decisions, always an expensive and personally invasive option.

On that note, in many situations, one of the most difficult things to do is to convince an asset custodian to accept a financial power of attorney once a person is disabled. You can add a lot of value to your clients by helping them complete and file the asset custodian’s power of attorney form or convince the custodian to accept the client’s form. This is often an easier prospect while someone is competent, instead of after they lose their competency.

You may also want to encourage you clients to purchase appropriate long term care insurance policies, as this is the best protection.

Lastly, if the inevitable does happen, encourage your clients to contact professionals who can guide them through the process. Doing it alone is very scary and dangerous because the system is so complex and there are so many pitfalls. The families should look at contacting both elder law attorneys and geriatric care managers. Elder law attorneys are lawyers who concentrate their practices on the issues that surround the diseases and effects of aging. You can find a local elder law attorney through the website for the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys (www.naela.org). Geriatric Care Managers are nurses and social workers who have private practices that help families navigate through long term care issues. You can find a local Geriatric Care Manager through the website for the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers (www.caremanager.org).

Ask Mr. Neiburger questions in our Adviser Community forum.