The practice of elder law focuses on an array of legal issues particularly important to older people but important to many others as well. They include issues relating to retirement and estate planning, to powers of attorney, guardianship and other forms of substitute decision making, to private and public long-term care and other health care financing and to abuse of vulnerable individuals, among other issues.
The Elder Law Section offers opportunities for education and consultation on issues relevant to elder law practice. Occasional seminars are complemented by the Section's active list serve – an ongoing conversation among members, responding to questions and sharing insights. The Section also offers opportunities for serious exploration of systemic problems identified by members and for policy advocacy on issues relating to the administration of justice.
Elder Law List Serve
The Section list serve, available only to Section members, is a forum for elder law questions and answers and for the sharing of useful information and ideas. To join the list serve, please send your e-mail address and WSBA number to sections@wsba.org.
Guardianship Task Force
The Section's Guardianship task force was created in 2007 to explore systemic issues affecting guardianship in Washington. It was chaired by Tacoma lawyer (and former Section chair) Eileen Peterson. The task force report, with recommendations, was considered by the Section executive committee on August 18, 2009. A motion was adopted, by unanimous vote, to endorse the recommendations. The recommendations address such subjects as active judicial monitoring of ongoing guardianships, uniform systems of recording and gathering guardianship-related data, training for non-professional guardians, and state funding for the court system's guardianship-related role and for the Office of Public Guardianship. To see the task force report, please click here.
Public Guardianship Update
The Office of Public Guardianship (OPG) was created by the legislature in 2007. The legislation creating it, now codified in Chapter 2.72 RCW, was based on a bill developed by the Elder Law Section to implement recommendations of its public guardianship task force. (To see the report of that task force, please click here.) The bill was supported by the WSBA and many other organizations. Its object was to make guardianship services available to individuals who need them and are alone (without family members or friends to serve as volunteers) and poor (without the means to pay for needed services).
The OPG is part of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). It provides services, currently on a pilot basis, by contracting with certified public guardians in six counties. The acceptance of new cases was suspended in 2009 in anticipation of, and response to, a reduction in the funding of the AOC.
With the strong support of the Elder Law Section and many other organizations, the 2010 Legislature appropriated $274,000 in its supplemental operating budget "solely for the office of public guardianship to provide guardianship services for low-income incapacitated persons." For more information about the Section's legislative effort, please click here.
The 2007 legislation required a study and two reports from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, to consider the costs and offsetting savings of the program. A first report was issued in August 2009. To see the report, please click here.
Interested in joining the Elder Law Section? If so, click here to sign up online, or call 206-443-WSBA.
Elder Law Web Links
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