Denver Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

Often, siblings are in their 60s or 70s, but rivalries remain and may have only intensified over the years with career and financial success or lack thereof. From the time Mom or Dad needs more care, the disagreements can start.

Comprehensive estate planning and candid conversations can avoid some fights. For instance, if transferring assets while you are still alive, explain that the investments, gold coins or savings may be needed in the future to help pay for costs of long-term care. Including a “letter of wishes” in an estate plan can also be beneficial to address family issues, including sibling dynamics.

An important part of our practice at Chayet & Danzo, LLC, is to help to protect vulnerable Colorado seniors in nursing homes, assisted living and other kinds of long-term care facilities. To that end, we advocate for quality, safe health care services as well as the prevention of elder neglect and abuse of all kinds.

We counsel family members about signs of abuse or neglect and about legal remedies for elderly victims harmed or neglected in long-term care.

In more news about the financial abuse of seniors, CNN just published an article about an important study linking early dementia and susceptibility to telephone scams. So even if your older loved one seems cognitively healthy and normally exercises good judgment, falling prey to a phone scam may be an important wake-up call.

While younger people may generally be more tech-savvy and aware of the kinds of scams that are trending, elders tend to not be in the loop. So, when someone calls claiming to be a grandson in jail on a Caribbean island needing bail money, or a computer pop-up says to call with your credit card number so the vicious attack on your computer files can be stopped, an older person may believe the story.

Colorado law establishes the court-appointed position of public administrator to act as a fiduciary in certain probate matters, usually when no one connected to the person or family involved is available or willing to serve. Attorney Marco Chayet has served as the public administrator in the Colorado 18th Judicial District since the court appointed him in 2014.