In our culture we often equate driving to independence. To preserve dignity, avoid isolation, and prevent the loss of independence, a plan needs to be in place for alternative forms of transportation.

Fortunately, there is a good resource for facilitating this discussion and discussing the alternatives.  The Alzheimer’s Association  now has a number of resources in their Dementia and Driving Resource Center, including safe driving checklists, resources for transportation alternatives, and videos to help families prepare for dealing with this difficult issue.

All California attorneys have to take a certain number of continuing education classes and report those units to the State Bar.  We attend various seminars to complete the required units and typically have hundreds of hours of classes between us.

However a unique type of program is called the Un-Program.  Rather than attending classes with a formal speaker, we meet with attorneys from all over the country and have the opportunity to discuss actual and complex legal situations in an informal setting.  We recently attended the National Academy of Elder Law Attorney’s (NAELA) Un-Program in Grapevine, Texas.  We spent three days meeting in small groups to discuss a variety of issues, with just general topics as the guide for the group.

This was a great way to discuss complex elder law issues including upcoming changes in Medicaid (Medi-Cal here in California), Veteran’s benefits, Special Needs Trusts and disability issues for our clients.  We had the opportunity to discuss cases and brainstorm options for those clients with the best elder law attorneys in the country.  We also have the ability to continue with the Un-Program format by discussing cases on the NAELA Listserve and in future conference calls that will be established.  We found this to be a wonderful resource for us and a great benefit to clients who have increasingly complex issues with federal benefits.

Digital Assets covers a broad range of assets and accounts.  Do you have on line access only to a bank or investment account?  Do you have your photos stored on line?  What about a Paypal account, or a Facebook account or credits on a virtual game?  All of these assets or accounts may be lost if your successors do not know about them.

We have encountered situations where assets are trapped with no access by family due to the inability to login and access them on-line.  Clients may not even be aware that the assets exist, and may not have any mechanism to determine if they have missed anything.  In addition, social media accounts and access to those accounts following incapacity or death is increasingly becoming a problem.

Consider the need to give your successor agents or trustees, or even family members, a list of logins and passwords to all of your accounts.  Security issues are clearly a concern, and one way to still have protection is to give the logins to one child and passwords to another.  Another is perhaps to utilize a password protection system and only leave the main password locked in a safe that a trusted family member can access.  Financial Powers of Attorney should now contain language to authorize access to these accounts, including the power to change login and password information.  We should also consider providing instructions to our agents as to what to do with our social media accounts when we pass away.

It is critical to keep a list of all digital assets, covering everything from investments, to photos to social media,  how they can be accessed and then keeping it up to date.  However, keeping that list solely in the computer may not provide any assistance as the family may be unable to access the computer.  Thus, ensure that a paper copy of the list of all digital assets has been printed and is maintained with your other estate planning documents.

The tour began by dividing the participants into small groups and outfitting us with shoe inserts, special gloves, goggles and headphones.  The affects were uncomfortable and a little disorienting.  We were then led to a typical efficiency apartment with the expected furnishings and personal items.  A voice in the headphones gave each individual a series of daily tasks to complete.

It was hard to complete the tasks and no one in the groups that I met with was able to complete all of the tasks that they had been given through the headphones. Most of the participants were very surprised when they had the opportunity afterward to read the actual instructions that they had been given.  The written list did not match their recollection of the verbal list. In the debriefing afterward some of the participants were adamant that the tasks had been impossible to complete because the necessary items were not available to complete the task.  It turns out that everything that was necessary was available to complete the tasks, but we experienced the frustration of perhaps not finding things where we expected them to be.

I think that for me the hardest part was to remember all of the instructions that were given quickly amidst the distractions that were caused by the equipment I was wearing, especially the noises from the headset. The point that came across most strongly to me was that I need to be patient with someone with dementia.  I need to give them time to respond to one thing at a time and understand that I may need to repeat an instruction when they are bombarded by distractions, some of which may not be distractions to me. I can also imagine how isolating it must be to live in this disorienting world and how much I would need the patient assistance of others.

Depending on the month of your birth, you may have noticed that you have not received the statement. In April 2011, the Social Security Administration decided to stop mailing annual Social Security statements to workers to save money. By suspending mailings for all workers over age 25, SSA is expected to save approximately $70 million in annual printing and mailing fees.  For several months the only way to obtain this information was to go to the social security office.

SSA plans to eventually resume mailing statements to people age 60 and over. In the meantime and for those under 60 going forward, the SSA website has recently added calculators that can be used to compute these values. The tool is an estimator and does not show the actual values that were available on your statement.  The SSA has provided a number of tools at the website to assist you in planning retirement, but has not yet included a feature to access the actual values associated with your social security number.

For those who are currently receiving SSA/SSI benefits, there is an electronic form now available at the website to obtain a Proof of Income Letter that can be used as proof of your income when you apply for a loan or mortgage, income for assisted housing or other state or local benefits, current Medicare health insurance coverage, retirement status, disability, and/or age.  You will have the option to select the information you would like in the letter. This form is a request for the letter, so it will take at least 10 days after submitting the form to receive the letter.

As of January 1, 2012, California Probate Code section 13100 has been updated to allow for small estate transactions where the estate does not exceed $150,000.  This increase in dollar amount should help us avoid the need to open a probate for small estates and to claim assets in a much easier manner.

It is likely however that banks and financial institutions will be resistant and unaware of this change.  Most financial institutions have pre-printed forms which list the old $100,000 limit on them.  Unless the financial institution has updated their forms, the clerks processing the paperwork will be unaware of the change and refuse to process transactions in excess of $100,000 but less than $150,000.  In addition, for financial institutions out of state, it is likely that they will also be resistant to processing a transfer in excess of $100,000 and will need to be educated as to the recent change in California law.  While we may have to educate the financial institutions regarding the law change, overall this new law will greatly ease some of the estate administration issues and avoid the need for probate proceedings for estate less than $150,000.

Saturday, December 3, 2011 is the 19th Annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities, a day to highlight efforts to improve the conditions of persons with disabilities. Across the globe, 15 percent of the world’s population is living with a disability and about a quarter of the global population has a family member with, or works with, someone with a disability.

When the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, America became the first country in the world to declare equality for citizens with disabilities.

There are some changes to the premiums and deductibles for 2012. If you pay a premium for Part A, you’ll pay up to $451 each month in 2012. The Part B premium for most individuals will be $99.90, and the Part B deductible will decrease to $140 per year.

You can review all of the Medicare premiums and deductibles at the Medicare website, including information about the income-related monthly adjustment amounts for Medicare prescription drug coverage.

November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month and the Epilepsy Foundation’s national initiative – Get Seizure Smart – is a grassroots public awareness campaign aimed at getting information about seizure first aid and recognition into the hands of as many Americans as possible, so they will know how to respond if they see someone having a seizure. Even though epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder affecting all age groups, it is still largely misunderstood by the general public.

According to the Epilepsy Foundation, 25,000 to 50,000 people will  die of seizures and related causes this year. Some people live well with controlled seizures, while others, approximately one-third of Americans with epilepsy,  have seizures that are resistant to medical treatment. Epilepsy causes many people to live with constant anxiety, wondering when the next seizure will strike. No age group or demographic is exempt. It is estimated that 1 in 100 children will be diagnosed with epilepsy before age 20, and the number of cases in the elderly continues to soar as the baby boomer generation approaches retirement age. Currently, more than 570,000 adults ages 65 and older in the United States have the condition.