Have you noticed there seems to be an increase in law firms that say they focus on “Elder Law”? Part of the trend may be due to the increase in numbers in the senior community and so lawyers are attempting to provide a needed service. However, Elder Law is a term that is misused by some attorneys and oftentimes by the public at large. It is thought to be identical to “estate planning.”
Elder Law and estate planning are two similar, but at the same time wholly different, types of law. Specifically, Elder Law is a niche of estate planning. The main difference is that Elder Law focuses on asset protection during your lifetime, while estate planning concentrates on what happens to your assets after you pass away.
Elder Law is asset protection and preservation planning; specifically, planning that occurs while you are living to help you preserve and protect your assets during your lifetime. It includes planning to help you weather the costs of long-term care or aging in place in your own residence. Elder Law incorporates estate planning in that it will direct how your beneficiaries’ inheritance will be distributed, while at the same time helping you preserve that inheritance. So, not only will your Elder Law attorney help you plan how to use your assets most effectively throughout your retirement years, but he or she will help you plan how those assets will be distributed after your passing. Elder Law may seem to focus on older adults, but estate planning is for anyone of any age, and includes the creation of wills, trusts, deeds, guardianships, and other types of plans.
As you age from a later teen through your twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties, you will need your Elder Law attorney to create an estate plan that keeps pace with your life changes. Later, your Elder Law practitioner will walk you through asset protection to make sure that all the fruits of your hard work are not lost in your later years.
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