Estate Planning

Maine Center for Elder Law opened a Portland office in January 2014.  The office is on Monument Square, directly above Longfellow Books and Foley's Bakery.  The building was formerly Benoit's Department store, http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/7872. 

Parking is available in the connected parking garage.  You enter next to Foley's Bakery and take the elevator to the 2nd floor.  Allow time for some coffee and one of the best baked goods in town.  You can shop at the farmer's market on Wednesdays.

Attorney Barbara Schlichtman will be the attorney in the Portland office most of the time; however, all attorneys will meet clients in Portland when necessary.  Barbara works in Kennebunk part of each week along with attorneys Martin C. Womer and Britton R. Garon.

Maine Center for Elder Law continues to focus its practice on elder law and special needs planning.  Elder law inludes guardianships, conservatorships, estate planning documents, MaineCare planning and applications.

You may call Barbara Schlichtman on her direct line at 207-619-2529.  This number is directed to whichever office she is occupying.  The primary number for Kennebunk remains 207-467-3301.

This video is created by the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and Stetson University College of Law, which offers a master's of law in Elder Law.  The video is targeted toward upcoming attorneys to explain "What is Elder Law?"  However, it is a good explanation of issues that an elder law attorney can address.

This video could also be useful for caregivers trying to decide what issues they face.  In our office, we often see adult children who want to take care of their parents, but don't know where to begin.  This video is a good resource.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/46297718

The wealthy recluse's bequest to her nurse and doctor raises serious ethical questions.

See article by Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., is director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43516963/ns/health-health_care/

A colleague posted the following response in a professional listserve discussion about how to respond when a client asks about using online estate planning documents instead of hiring an estate planning attorney:

"I have a physician client who asked me to set up a Professional Limited Liability Company for his practice.  At our first appointment, he asked me why could he not just go to the internet and pull up the necessary forms.  I told him he was welcome to do so; just as I could go to the internet, diagnose my medical condition, and then order the prescriptions myself.

He sat down and said, 'OK, where do we start?'"