INCAPACITY

We all want to believe that we will never suffer from dementia, memory disorder, Alzheimer's or other forms of incapacity that will prevent us from taking care of ourselves. When we are healthy, we don't want to think about what will happen to us if, or when, we are not healthy.

This means that most of us fail to properly plan for this unfortunate scenario, one that could affect us at any time, at any stage of our lives, whether through natural aging, an illness, or an accident. But nationally, nearly half of the population over the age of 85, and one in ten over 65 suffer from Alzheimer's disease. And in Pennsylvania, we have the largest population of senior citizens in the entire country. Chances are great you will live to be elderly and thus face possible incapacity.

Hopefully, advanced planning will cause you to have a valid power of attorney in place while you still possess the requisite mental capacity to sign documents. Take action now so that your desires and wishes in the future will be in place and honored. Together, we can formulate a program in place so that you are protected in the event that you become incapacitated.

If you wait until you lack the capacity to engage legal services on your own behalf, then you put yourself at risk for having someone else make significant, life-altering decisions for you. The only option at that point is for your family or loved ones to seek guardianship over you through the court system. Guardianship is a complex process where the court appoints a decision-maker to take control of the person's financial and healthcare decisions. If you have a loved one who has not planned in advance for incapacity, please contact me so that we can discuss the procedure for making sure that the proper guardian is appointed to care for him or her.

• Elder Law
• Employment Law
• Litigation