Elder Law

Diogenes syndrome is a severe and often misunderstood mental health condition most commonly affecting older adults. Also known as senile squalor syndrome, it involves extreme hoarding, domestic squalor, and self-neglect - often creating dangerous living conditions. While it may resemble a typical hoarding disorder, Diogenes syndrome is far more serious and frequently linked to underlying mental disorders, including dementia, schizophrenia, and personality disorders. What Is Diogenes Syndrome? Diogenes syndrome is sometimes described...

It isn’t often that the folks on the United States Supreme Court talk about the elderly falling at home, but that is exactly what happened in a recent opinion.  What is a Wellness Check?  A wellness, or welfare, check is when police go by a person’s home to check that person’s well-being. To define the issue, we turn to the example given by Justice Kavanaugh: “Suppose that an elderly man is...

Most of us are familiar with claiming our children as dependents for federal income tax purposes. However under some circumstances you can claim your parents or other qualifying relatives as dependents. Why should I claim my parent as a Dependent? The recent changes to the tax laws took away the personal exemption for each dependent that we were used to. For tax years 2019 through 2025 there are no personal exemptions....

Recipe for a contested guardianship: Take one senior, add a dash of dementia, mix in a dollop of assets, simmer with decades of resentment and hurt feelings, and garnish with one or more disgruntled family members. Guaranteed to cook up into a gut-wrenching and expensive guardianship case. A guardianship is a court proceeding that is initiated to have a person (the “ward”) declared legally incapacitated, take away one or more of...

Let rich Aunt Meg die without a will and then just wait for the swarm of heirs to descend on her estate.  You won’t be able to move through her mansion living room without stepping on one. There is an orderly process of inheritance under the law.  It is called the law of descent and sets out the order that Aunt Meg’s kindred will inherit. A kin who steps into line...

In recent years, the traditional nuclear American family that prevailed in the years following World War II – father, mother and children all living together – has undergone a number of societal strains and changes, including the frequency of divorce and an increasing number of single-parent households. Consequently, census figures reveal that today, 1 in 10 American children live with a grandparent, and that statistic includes approximately a quarter...

Super-Powers at Your Service Let’s see – are you a resident of Texas?  Check. An adult? Check. Age 60 or older? Check. Congratulations!  You are guaranteed Super-Powers.  These extra-special powers, which go by the catchy name of Rights of the Elderly, have to be accorded to you by convalescent and nursing homes, home health services, and alternate care services provided to you in your home, neighborhood and community. In fact, each one...

When a family member or other loved one dies, the natural response is to feel overwhelmed. However there are some very practical and legal matters that need to be attended to “immediately if not sooner”. What Happens To a House When The Owner Dies? Sad as it may seem, when a person dies his property becomes at risk. Sometimes friends and family use this as an opportunity to help themselves to...