In the last 100 years, medical advancements have increased the average life expectancy by over 20 years. Add to that the fact that population growth is on the rise and the result is that more people are living longer. Although longer life expectancies are great, they don’t come without challenges. Elderly individuals and their care givers face unique challenges, especially legal ones.

Many caregivers and senior citizens find it necessary to seek legal advice when they come across legal challenges. While a general practice attorney might do, hiring an elder law attorney will prove to be far more beneficial. Elder law attorneys exclusively practice law in the areas that most affect senior citizens. Consequently, they’re far more experienced with and knowledgeable about such legal matters. Here are three primary practice areas of elder law attorneys.

Estate Planning

Elder law attorneys help seniors and caregivers prepare their estate by drafting all the necessary documents. Specifically, seniors can expect help with documents such as durable power of attorney, living wills, last will and testaments, designations of healthcare surrogates, and declarations of preneed guardians. These documents are often confusing and require proper drafting which makes hiring an elder law attorney a great decision.

Medicaid Planning

As if Medicaid’s rules and regulations weren’t difficult enough to navigate, they change all the time which makes things truly confusing. Seeing as elderly attorneys specialize in Medicaid, they constantly stay up to date on all of its rules. As such, elderly persons and their caregivers find that applying and qualifying for Medicaid is made much simpler with the help of an elder law attorney.

Probate and Trust Administration

It’s a fact of life that everyone dies. When an elderly person dies, they often leave behind a plethora of personal belongings and assets. In some cases, a deceased person’s belongings are not legally designated to a beneficiary. In such an event, the deceased’s family is left in a trick situation. Elder law attorneys help families navigate the court probate process which determines how a deceased person’s items and assets are distributed. Alternatively, before they die, elderly individuals designate an individual to carry out their trust administration which determines the fate of their belongings and assets. Elder law attorneys help trust administrators by ensuring that they are following all of the laws involved with the trust.

Navigating elder law as a senior citizen or a caregiver is a challenging task. Thankfully, there’s no need to do it alone. Consulting an elder law attorney for professional counsel takes all the challenges out of elder law.