Colorado Springs Legal Blog

If you have not yet brought up the subject of estate planning with your parents, you are not alone. Many families are just not comfortable talking about money around each other and the subject of death is never easy to bring up. Your parents may have also shied away from the subject because they feel insecure about discussing their finances or they may believe they will lose control of their money. 

What happens when an elderly loved one needs someone to handle his or her financial affairs as a conservator? What if they also need someone to take charge of their day-to-day welfare as a legal guardian? Is it better to have a family member of a professional handle the job?

It depends. There are some very good professionals out there who can assist family members with their elderly loved ones by either handling the conservatorship or guardianship entirely or by just advising the family members who are willing to take on the jobs. A competent professional can often ease family tensions -- especially if there are allegations of elder abuse or financial manipulation. Professionals can often resolve a lot of issues when family members can't agree on how to handle a senior's affairs by providing unbiased guidance.

Wills and inheritances are often tricky issues, simply because there are usually a lot of different dynamics in play. Everything can become even more complicated, however, when one of your children is disabled.

If one of your adult children is disabled, there are several issues you need to address with your other children. The sooner you do it, the better. You don't want to leave your children shocked and upset over the terms of your will while they're also in the process of grieving for you. That could lead to a potentially explosive situation that could quickly turn into litigation.

You may not realize that many individuals in nursing homes and long-term care facilities are susceptible to financial exploitation.

Financial exploitation and abuse is much more common than people realize. One in 20 elders have experienced financial exploitation, but only one in 44 cases get reported.