Self-Help Legal Switcheroo

October 29, 2009

We all like to save money—especially on legal matters. Millions of people are now using do-it-yourself online legal form services like www.legalzoom.com. To check it out, I went there, too. Their home page proudly raves, “Save time and money… created by top attorneys… helps you create reliable legal documents… we even review your answers and guarantee your satisfaction.” There is even a testimonial from an attorney who says, “As an attorney, I have been pleasantly surprised with the ease and efficiency of legalzoom.” What is not as obvious, at the very bottom of the home page, is their disclaimer of liability. Go ahead and scroll down to the bottom of the page—you’ll see the disclaimer in very light print. It states:

“The information provided in this site is not legal advice, but general information on legal issues commonly encountered. Legalzoom’s legal document service is not a law firm and is not a substitute for an attorney or law firm. Legalzoom cannot provide legal advice and can only provide self-help services at your specific direction. Please note that your access to and use of legalzoom is subject to additional terms and conditions.”

The words “additional terms and conditions’ is a hot-link that if you click on it will take you to an even longer disclaimer! The disclaimer guts all of the assurances of reliability and suitability of use that you may have assumed were part of the “actual review of your answers and guarantee of satisfaction.” YOU ARE THE “LAWYER” WHO CHOOSES THE LEGAL FORM! If you decide to be your own lawyer, please understand that legalzoom has the best of all worlds. They advertise that they will provide you with the best form of your choosing and save you money—but if you ever have a problem because of that document, they’re not responsible. You are the one who made the decision about which legal document was right for you and your circumstances. Just yesterday in a meeting with a client, that client exclaimed, “Wow, I never knew that there were so many things to think about in our estate planning.” I responded, “You know, that’s what most people say when it comes to estate planning, disability, Medicaid, or veteran’s benefits. You don’t do this work every day, so you just can’t know all of the issues.” The real value of what any professional counselor does is listen to your description of your circumstances and goals, and then choose the best course of action. There is an old story about a factory which shut down due to an equipment failure. The owner of the factory called a renowned expert to rush to the factory to get things moving. The owner told him, “This shutdown is costing us $100,000 per day!” The expert arrived, walked around the faulty machine, then took out a screwdriver and adjusted a thing or two. Within moments the machine came back to life and the factory began to hum with activity. The owner was thrilled—until he was given a bill for $10,000. He roared, “But it took you less than 10 minutes to fix the machine—it cannot possibly cost $10,000!” The expert calmly responded, “No, it took me a lifetime to know exactly where and how to use that screwdriver. The bill is $10,000—but the value to you is $100,000 per day.” Moral of the story: The right solution for the circumstances often requires a lifetime of preparation.

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The Veteran’s Helping Hand

By Rick Law on

October 21, 2009

- VA Benefits

This is a story about heroes who serve heroes—our veterans of the armed forces. I first met the dedicated warriors of the Veteran’s Assistance Commission of DeKalb County, Illinois (DeKalb VAC) when they visited our law firm, Law Elder Law LLP recently. The DeKalb VAC provide a full range of services related to veteran’s benefits. I wanted to get to know them, because we need a knowledgeable source of VA benefit information in order to serve our clients with excellence. We deal with an important “sliver” of the VA benefits panorama; we often provide free advice to wartime veterans who are over 65 regarding the VA “aid and attendance” long term care benefit. Interestingly, even though the State of Illinois has authorized counties to create Veteran’s Assistance Commissions, most counties have not provided funds to actually fulfill that all-important task. Here in the Chicago metro area we are fortunate to have several county veteran’s assistance commissions. Herb Holderman, Steve “Scooter” Scoughton, Linda Drake, and Tammy Anderson are the knowledgeable and caring team who help “needy and/or disabled veterans” at the DeKalb VAC. Today, the DeKalb VAC serves several hundred veterans every year—but it has not always been there for veteran’s needs. The story of the founding of the DeKalb VAC is a testimony to the power of democracy, a great idea, and the focused persistence of honest men and women with servant’s hearts. Herb Holderman and other community leaders worked together to bring the organization into existence. Herb is now the superintendent—but he worked behind the scenes for years and was the driving force that brought life to the DeKalb VAC. After many years of trying to convince the political powers that there should be a Veteran’s Assistance Commission there, in 2003 Herb and the grassroots group were finally allowed to file a special tax referendum. The goal was to create a taxing district which would fund the veteran’s service organization. As you can imagine, the likelihood of passing a new tax seemed remote. Yet with the help of local veterans’ groups and other concerned citizens, they raised the battle flag and fought for support. The idea proved to be so popular that the referendum passed by a 76% “yes vote”—what a victory! Today, only a few years later, they work to serve veterans from World War II through Iraq and Afghanistan. Their job is to help provide veterans with shelter assistance, food, utilities, transportation to medical appointments, and information about educational and vocational rehabilitation benefits. When I asked what they thought was the most important part of their work, each one had a different perspective. Scooter responded that he enjoys creating close personal relationships with veterans and those who work at the VA hospitals and other principal service providers. That is his way to providing veterans with even greater access to benefits. Tammy shared that she believes that it’s her goal to be both a helper and a listener; she wants to provide the veteran with both patience and compassion. Tammy added, “The Vietnam veterans were treated really badly. I tell them that I am here to fight for them.” Veterans Service Officer Linda loves her job, and her only regret is that she is not a veteran herself. She feels honored to be doing the job of helping brave men and women with VA benefit assistance. Then Herb, the superintendent summarized this way: “Our veterans are proud, and they want to be able to stand on their own. When it gets to the point that they might lose their home, they come in to see us with tears in their eyes. Our job is to help them so that they can keep it all together.” Then he quietly stated, “Unfortunately, this year, due to the times, the needs of the veterans have doubled.” Even though the needs have doubled, this is a story which has many happy endings. It is my privilege to have you meet Herb, Scooter, Tammy, and Linda. Every day they make life better for our United States Armed Forces veterans. I salute you!

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Grandma’s Cobwebs

By Rick Law on

October 14, 2009

- Alzheimer's and Dementia, Caregivers

About a year ago, for reasons I can’t really explain, I wanted to find out what books specifically for children had been written about Alzheimer’s. It was easy to find a book called What’s Happening to Grandpa? by Maria Shriver. When I went to Amazon.com to find out more about Maria Shriver’s book, I saw a review that said that “Dr. Ann Frantti wrote a book entitled Grandma’s Cobwebs several years ago on the same topic. Unfortunately, Dr. Frantti doesn’t have the benefit of Ms. Shriver’s ‘star power’ in terms of getting publicity about Grandma’s Cobwebs, but her book is excellent.”

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Elder Law Scholar New Class President

By Rick Law on

October 13, 2009

- News

The staff at Law Elder Law LLP wishes to congratulation Matt VanDyke, our Elder Law Scholar. Matt recently became the freshman class president at Olivet Nazarene University. “I am really grateful for the opportunity that has been given to me. It’s a pretty big responsibility, but I think so far it’s been rewarding,” Matt says. “The class I’m representing is the largest in the school’s history, so that is pretty exciting. One of my goals will be to connect our class to each other through our faith and to unite our class with the community as a whole.” As Elder Law Scholar, Matt spent the summer learning to bridge communication lines between seniors in the community and young people like himself. He plans to apply what he learned in whatever ways possible during his time at college.

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Attorney Zach Hesselbaum on Board of Oswegoland Seniors Inc.

By Rick Law on

October 9, 2009

- News

Attorney Zach Hesselbaum of Law Elder Law LLP was recently elected to the Board of Directors of Oswegoland Seniors Inc. This organization is a not-for-profit Illinois corporation developed to work with the Village of Oswego, Oswego Township, and the Northeastern Illinois Agency on Aging to establish a 501(c)(3) organization to take over the running of the Oswego Senior Center. The Senior Center started out in 2007 as a congregate meal program to feed seniors a balanced meal twice a week. After 18 months of running a successful meal program feeding about 110 seniors at each meal, they moved to what was formerly Traughber Junior High School, to accommodate the growing number of seniors — between 120 and 140 people twice a week. Additionally, the Senior Center has computer classes, Bingo, Bunco, Pinochle, movies, line dancing, craft programs, and the Wii Game for exercise — and with the local Y.M.C.A moving into the building, they will be able to provide area seniors with even more opportunities to stay healthy. Several times a month they have speakers on subjects ranging from better nutrition to identity protection, current senior scams, and health care information.

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Out With the Old… In With the Older!

By Rick Law on

October 8, 2009

- Our Firm, Personal

Today I stop living a lie! Despite the old photo I have been showing you, I really don’t have brown hair anymore—and unfortunately, I now need to wear my eyeglasses all the time. The photos above are both of me, Rick Law, 2004 and 2009. I promise to no longer hide behind my former, more youthful 55-year-old portrait. No siree, I’m now a 59-year-old white-haired grandpa, and proud of it! Let me reflect on the passage of the last five years—“Rick Law, 2004-2009.” Someone insightfully said that the “dash” between dates symbolizes all of the life events that took place during that time. As an elder law attorney who works with the issues of the frail, the senior citizen, and those with disabilities of any age, some of the biggest changes that I have noticed over the last five years are:

Now the Boomers are coming into my office. Five years ago, my practice was totally focused on my parent’s generation, the Greatest Generation—but now it’s our turn. We, the Boomers, are starting to die, become disabled, have memory issues and mobility issues, experience young-onset Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and have other longevity problems.
The federal and state governments have insufficient resources to meet the demand, so they keep creating even bigger barriers to accessing long term health care benefits. This is true despite the current president’s recent health care promise that “I will not let a bureaucrat come between you and quality health care.”
The speed of change forces my legal team and I to have to “sprint” to remain honed and ready advocates.

For me personally, some of the most important things that have happened in the “dash” of the last five years are:

The startup and growth of our law practice, which is focused in the areas of estate protection and planning, disability, Medicaid, and veteran’s benefits for the over-65. We have gone from three employees to a great team of twenty!
The birth of my four beautiful grandchildren—Lucy, Daphne, Evan, and Phoebe.
Having served over 1,500 clients throughout Illinois.
Delighting in the presence of our bright young attorneys—Diana M. Law, partner; Gina Salamone, Esq.; and Zachary Hesselbaum, Esq. It makes me feel good to know that when and if something happens to me, these three can lead the legal team while serving our clients and their families.
The founding of the Veterans Benefit Institute, which has been one of my greatest legal experiences. It has allowed us the opportunity to provide education about VA benefits for the over-65 wartime veteran to more than 80 law firms from around the country.
My entrance into the blogging world, which has allowed me to get to know some of the most wonderful, caring, and life-lifting people that I have ever met in my life.

So far this ‘aging thing’ has been full of love and life. I am trying to follow the wit and wisdom of the great philosopher, Lucille Ball, who said, “The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” Here’s to eternal hope! Rick

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The Lifetime Love and Protection Trust (The Lifetime Parenting Trust)

By Rick Law on

October 1, 2009

- Asset Protection, Our Firm, Special Needs Planning

A number of times I have had clients tell me that they love their adult children, but they have a child who has chosen a destructive lifestyle. Sometimes it’s a mental health issue, or sometimes it’s just a matter of making very bad choices. These parents do not want to abandon any of their children—but they also do not want to give money to fuel the fire that is consuming their child. They come to me and ask me what to do. These are not persons with a legally defined disability—but they will squander all of their inheritance unless their parents find a way to provide “lifetime love and protection” over estate assets. The answer is what I call the Lifetime Love and Protection Trust (LPT). A Love and Protection Trust is designed to be a legal tool to provide protection, motivation, and encouragement for an adult child who is unable to make careful and supportive decisions with his or her money. The LPT works to ensure that your investment in your adult child is used to further your caring purposes, positive values, and enduring concerns for his or her well-being. A professional trustee will follow your written trust instructions and safeguard your property to benefit your child. Trained investment professionals will safeguard the money and work to maximize a reasonable and profitable return on the assets that you have left to be invested. By law and by the trust document itself, the trustee must make prudent and intelligent decisions to protect your child and your trust monies. Unfortunately, it happens all too often that adult children squander their entire inheritance unless you take control and help them by making a final gift of love and protection by using a lifetime trust. The LPT prevents an adult child from foolishly spending, wasting, and losing your hard-earned estate. Your investment in your child is protected from creditors, failed marriages, and other predators. Some adult children consistently make destructive choices and therefore are extremely vulnerable to creditor lawsuits and many other types of legal claims. An LPT can be designed to discourage substance abuse and to provide for the special needs of your adult child. You can and should build protective walls around the legacy that you have chosen to leave your child. Build a fortress with this trust. At its most basic, a love and protection trust will be there for your child long after you are no longer able to be directly involved. Your legacy of love, protection, and sound investment management will give your adult child the best chance to still have money available if and when he or she eventually chooses to seek help to make a positive life transformation.

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Self-Help Legal Switcheroo

The Veteran’s Helping Hand

Grandma’s Cobwebs

Elder Law Scholar New Class President

Attorney Zach Hesselbaum on Board of Oswegoland Seniors Inc.

Out With the Old… In With the Older!

The Lifetime Love and Protection Trust (The Lifetime Parenting Trust)

Estate, Asset & Retirement Tax Attorneys

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