Elder Care Attorney: Shockingly expensive but so very worth it!!

Mincemeat, thanks for the clarification, it was more than $270 total for your parents legal doc's. That DOES sound way too low to be true. So, you're being challenged on the SNF placement? Who is challenging your decision? Siblings? I could be in similar situation (mom needs to go rehab after knee surgery) soon, and would love to know how your DPOA may protect against challenges, and steps you're taking to bolster the DPOA.

Mallory, the bulk of the documents and work was done ahead by my mother's attorney. When I consulted with this attorney about the fact that my father had dementia and was making bad decisions, he reminded me that he represented my father. He urged me to consult with my own attorney and recommended the elder care attorney I talked to. We spend the hour reviewing documents and the scenarios I was worried about. With my fathers dementia behavior documented, she thought I should have no problem receiving gardianship if the POA was ever challenged.

I signed a no pay waiver for our elder lawyer since my altz/dementia husband spent his retirement monies on lottery tickets. ..nothing is left. His ss to the nh mine I pay my rent

Happiness is finally getting Mom and Dad to an Elder Law attorney to update their Wills, POA's, etc. I had found an Elder Law attorney who my sig other and I found with a large law firm... expensive was an understatement, but well worth the cost as we, ourselves, were doing Trusts.

At first I didn't think my parents [mid-90's] would like this attorney because the attorney was [gasp] a woman, but lo and behold my parents enjoyed talking with her and felt they could trust her. My parents were so surprised at the 3-ring binder size worth of papers they needed to preview and sign. A far cry from their previous Wills, etc. which were just a few pages. Now I can sleep at night knowing all the documents are up-to-date... the old Will was a landmine. I actually paid for my parents new documents, like I said, well worth the cost.

Same thing for me. Just the consultation helped enormously, and I was blessed that was all we needed.

One hour? And you're done? would love to have my mom meet with that lawyer. She has spent thousands, but mostly because siblings feel free to call lawyer & chitchat about estate details which may affect themselves. The lousy slime ball of a lawyer doesn't know how to say "no" because he knows he can bill mom for his "time".
You got a real bargain!

The good thing is that my mother who has been deceased for many years had the intelligence and willingness to have a will and POA's made out ahead. My hesitance is that my father has dementia and should be an academy award winner for flipping his crazy and nastiness on and off like a switch. Yes, if this piece of legal work had not been done in advance it would have cost thousands. I am so thankful for that.

It's good to hear someone support use of a real attorney as opposed to downloading forms from online. I compare that somewhat to legal bungee jumping or extreme sports - high risk activities.

I often wonder how much people spend on electronic gadgets that they really don't need, but balk at paying someone who's spent thousands of dollars and 7 years of school to learn the specialty in which he/she practices.

And $270 is truly a bargain. Kudos to you for taking this route!

That $5000 included , Will, POA's, Trust, Health Proxy, etc..

$270 thats great.. Mom paid $5000.00

$ 270 was a bargain & it sounds like you found a gem. Really good legal is pretty priceless in the maze that is elder care.