In part one of my story about Lucy we left off with Lucy settling into her new home at an assisted living facility. I’d helped her move there from the home where she’d been living for almost 50 years. Shortly after the move her son returned from where he lives overseas to celebrate the holidays with his mother. Unbeknownst to him, Lucy had updated her trust with the guidance of an Estate Planning Attorney to redirect the proceeds from the sale of the house to pay for her care rather than being given to her son. As so often happens in families when there are considerable assets involved, Lucy’s son began putting pressure on her to gift him a significant portion of those assets. While I had helped get her long term care payments started, she still needed to supplement those payments with the proceeds from her home in order to meet her living expenses.

The son put so much pressure on Lucy that it became abusive. As a result, I notified Adult Protective Services, who opened a case of potential Elder Abuse. Here’s what happened next.

• A social worker began making regular visits to Lucy and her son, who was staying with her.
• The Geriatric Care Manager I had connected her with worked closely with the doctor, who made an assessment that Lucy wasn’t competent.
• Eventually the Public Guardian’s office got involved and Lucy was placed in a conservatorship, meaning a court appointed professional, in this case a Professional Fiduciary, was put in charge of managing her affairs.
• The son was ordered to limit his visits with Lucy. When it was evident that he wasn’t going to convince his mother to gift him the money he wanted, he returned to his home overseas.

What could have been a very unhappy ending to Lucy’s story was averted thanks to the team of professionals I was able to reach out to on her behalf. If you are caring for an aging loved one, know that you don’t have to do it all yourself. Here’s a little more about the various members of Lucy’s “village.”

Daily Money Manager (that’s me!): A Daily Money Manager’s role is three-fold: An advocate, who informs the elder about community services available, benefits he or she is entitled to, and application assistance; a debt manager, who helps negotiate with creditors; and a bill payer, who organizes the bills and reminds the elder when to pay each bill; or the DMM may have authorization to pay the bills from the elder’s bank account.

Geriatric Care Manager: Geriatric Care Managers are trained and experienced in any of a number of fields, including nursing, gerontology, social work or psychology. They are specialists in issues related to aging and elder care, and can provide guidance and resources for families caring for older adults and those suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s or dementia.

Elder Law Attorney: An Elder Law Attorney may do estate planning, asset protection and trust administration. In addition, elder law also encompasses protecting the rights of seniors.

Estate Planning Attorney: An Estate Planning Attorney provides guidance in choosing the appropriate options for maintaining an estate after death or in case of incapacity.

Professional Fiduciary: A Professional Fiduciary is sometimes appointed by the court to serve as a guardian, conservator and/or personal representative of estates. They also serve by agreement as trustees, representative payees or as agents under powers of attorney.