Elder Law : Cases and Materials - 3rd edition

Summary: This new edition presents a broad overview of the legal and policy questions relating to the law's reaction to older individuals and an aging society. The issues overlap a number of existing legal fields, including traditional areas such as guardianship, Social Security, paying for health care, trusts and estates and more recently developing fields such as long-term care issues, housing needs and health care decision-making. The authors cover the topics in sufficient ...show more detail to orient the student user, while permitting the teacher the opportunity to supplement or expound on the material.
Some may argue that a topic such as Law and Aging cannot be corralled for teaching into a single book. The alternative view, keyed to client needs and practice skills, is that Elderlaw provides the opportunity to examine the roots of legal ethics and the role of the lawyer as professional problem solver, and the uses of law in relationships between people over life's course.

To accommodate faculty who do not wish to assign the entire book, the chapters are generally intended to be freestanding to accommodate any number of different foci and teaching plans. However, it is recommended that certain related chapters be read in the sequence in which they are presented. Chapter 1 addresses why aging is a subject for the law and Chapter 2 examines the attorney's roles in the Elderlaw field and ethical issues in working with older people. The authors recommend that chapters 1 and 2 start the course, since the basic questions presented develop throughout the rest of the materials. Chapter 5, Health Care, should be covered before Chapter 6, Long-Term Care. Similarly, Chapter 8, Guardianship, is a foundation for Chapter 9, Property Management and Chapter 10, Health Care Decisionmaking. ...show less