Elder Law Forms & Documents

Having all information regarding a senior's health, diseases, doctors and medications in one place ensures everything is easily accessible when you need it most. Use this Medical Information Checklist to help you stay organized.

A do-not-resuscitate order (DNR) is an advance care planning document that specifies what potentially life-sustaining medical interventions a person does not want to receive. A basic DNR order usually states a patient’s wish to avoid undergoing CPR.

When an elderly loved one winds up in the hospital, things happen so quickly that it can leave family members overwhelmed by their new roles as advocates and caregivers. Take these 7 steps to quickly get organized and better manage their care.

One of the biggest challenges for long-distance caregivers is helping aging parents plan for their future health care preferences. Making advance care plans is a key step for your parent to take to be sure that their health care preferences are known.

Even If your elderly parents do not live close by, you are still concerned for their care. Make caregiving from a distance more manageable to ensure that your elderly parent is safe and well cared for.

Advance directives are useful for end-of-life care planning, but there's another tool that goes one step further. POLST forms enable terminally ill elders to turn their future care preferences into explicit medical orders for doctors and first responders.

Understand the specifications of your POA document to avoid unnecessary strife regarding important medical and financial decisions.

We retain health records, financial statements and tax documents just in case we need them, but this can be overwhelming for caregivers who store their loved ones’ files, too. Use these tips to organize what you should keep and purge what you shouldn’t.

Many people, like your elderly aunt, are afraid to deal with wills, powers of attorney, etc. because they think it makes it more likely that something bad will happen to them.

When acting as power of attorney (POA) for a loved one, your signature must make it clear that you are acting on their behalf and not assuming personal responsibility for the contract or transaction.

A list of both professional and colloquial abbreviations commonly used in the Caregiver Forum on AgingCare for medical, long term care, and senior housing terms.

Painful legal battles amongst family members over Kasem’s care overshadowed his final years of life, highlighting the importance of obtaining legal documents and having clear conversations about end-of-life issues sooner rather than later.

As an elder law attorney, I was prepared for the day when my father began experiencing symptoms of memory loss. I knew what elder care documents to prepare, what information to have on hand, and how to keep everything organized and accessible.

Dementia patients with end-of-life care instructions in place were three times less likely to experience fear and anxiety in their final days.

Applying for Medicaid for an aging parent can be tricky. One caregiver describes his personal experience navigating the Medicaid application, dealing with the government and the red tape that comes with applying for Medicaid.

One of the most exhausting parts of being a caregiver, from my point of view, is that there's always the threat of an emergency that we are responsible to handle. We are literally on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Power of attorney forms are a crucial part of planning for future health care needs and financial decisions, but it is important to understand how these legal documents can be drafted and the effects they can have on family relationships.

Family caregivers face a great deal of emotional, physical and often financial stress. While your focus may be on managing an aging loved one’s health care and money, it’s crucial to make your personal finances a priority as well.

Recent research indicates that a large number of caregivers lack the basic knowledge necessary to handle an elder health emergency.

There are a few legitimate reasons why family members may want to change an aging loved one’s power of attorney designation, or remove themselves from their responsibilities as POA.