How do we vet and find the right attorney?

If its dealing with planning for divesting assets and the standard DPOA, MPOA and will (or codicil), then I'd get a NAELA listed elder law attorney. In the past estate lawyers did this but the rules & compliance for Medicaid are pretty complex now that it's it's own speciality area. This site has a drop down list you can refer to.

I spent 3 months getting recommendations from people. Visited 3 attorneys and found one I was happy with. Definitely use a elder care attorney. They know how to jump threw hoops for Medicaid and Medicare

I have always had good luck finding an Attorney who works for a large firm. That way if that Attorney retires or leaves the firm for whatever reason, the firm will have another Attorney taking over said files. There are also excellent solo attorneys, you just have to find the right fit.

Camussen, it is similar to going to a doctor who specializes compared to a primary doctor. I remember my parents used their real estate attorney to draw up their Wills, years later when I saw the Wills yikes those Wills were a landmine, so I quickly got my parents to an Elder Law attorney to draw up new Wills, POA, Medical Directives, etc.

Plus using an Elder Law attorney, if one's parents need Medicaid advice in the future, said attorney would be the one who knows all the current information regarding Medicaid.

Mickey, attorneys in large firms don't "shadow"; that's a misunderstanding of their role. Younger associates' work is monitored by more experienced attorneys to ensure that no errors or mistakes are made. It's not a reflection of deliberate double billing but rather of quality control and training, both in law but in client relations and integrity as well.

I've just seen a family just go through an example of a sole practitioner behaving like a child as well as likely misrepresenting a situation and being deliberately contrary. He also made a made screwup and failed to do something that would have been common knowledge for an attorney of the same level of experience who'd practiced in a reputable firm.

The partner in a large firm will bill at his/her rates and the associates bills at a much lower rate. But the benefit is that the work produced is done primarily by the younger attorney with less involvement on an oversight basis by the more experienced attorney.

Remember that law school unless it's changed recently isn't necessarily applied law; it's theoretical for the most part. Younger attorneys came to work at firms not knowing anything about the practical and process side of practicing law. They learned this not only from the partners, but from paralegals and secretaries. It's one reason why many secretaries didn't want to work for "baby attorneys" - they felt they shouldn't have to help train attorneys.

Canussen, as FF points out, practice areas in law are highly specialized. Law is incredibly complex, new cases are handed down regularly and attorneys need to keep up on all the changes via case law as well as statutory law.

General practitioners who have a smattering or hands in a number of fields likely don't have the time or expertise (because their focus is more broad) to keep up on a lot of the intricacies of estate planning and elder law (a term developed as more firms began to specialize in this area).

E.g., an estate planning attorney such as we hired would be knowledgeable in all aspects of that, including specific ways to best address certain kinds of assets (such as IRAs.) A critical issue is knowing the compressed rates that apply to trusts. Some so-called financial planners have been hawking "free seminars" accompanied by rubber chicken dinners and giving advice, all with the goal of getting access to older folk's money so they can change the investment portfolio.

It's critical to know these issues; someone who advised funding a trust with IRAs is setting the client up for paying higher levels of taxes than if the IRAs were left in individual names and not funded in the trust.

Attorneys who aren't familiar with these intricacies can make some major mistakes.

A few things our attorney did which make life so much simpler was to create a Certificate of Trust... which synopsized the empowered Trustee, co-Trustees, successor Trustees, and authority. I took this shorter version with me when I needed to document my authority. Otherwise I would have had to bring the entire voluminous trust and allow banks, etc. to make copies, which would also give them access to specific terms for specific heirs, which was really none of their business.

You ask a great question-how to find a great elder law attorney? To this day, most people do not understand what elder law attorneys do. Even other attorneys. By the way, I have never heard of an elder law attorney working for a big firm. In my experience, elder law is such a specialized area that you will be lucky to find two attorneys at the same firm that practice elder law. The suggestion to look to NAELA is great advice. Also, NELF can recommend specialists in this area. FYI-I practice in this area of law myself and recently uploaded a seminar video on YouTube which largely compares estate planning vs. elder law. Another tip for finding an elder law attorney, is to ask them if they practice in the Veterans Benefits area and are VA accredited. The best elder law attorneys work with VA Benefits. Hope that helps.

Although the NAELA list is a good place to start, it's no guarantee that the lawyer you choose is excellent at what they do. It just means that they can hang out a shingle saying they practice elder law. I chose one off that list, paid the consult fee & walked out feeling great that we had hashed everything out & had a wonderful care contract plan in the works. Weeks went by without any word from the lawyer. I was consumed with dealing with Mom's ever-burgeoning dementia behaviors & the next thing I knew a month & a half had gone by with no contact from the lawyer. I called the office & they sounded completely shocked & clueless that they were working on a care contract for me but they assured me they'd send me the contract in the mail for review. A week and a half later, I finally got that contract....and it didn't have a THING in it that we had discussed! Honestly, it looked like they had just gone online, Googled 'care contracts', pasted Mom's & my names into it & printed it off! Needless to say, I never signed & returned that contract......and I never consulted that lawyer again!!

I can't remember what site I used, but there are websites out there that give lawyers "grades" just like those doctor grading sites. Within the sites, you can customize the search to include just those lawyers who do elder law/Medicaid planning. I wasn't at all surprised that the original lawyer received only a 6 out of 10 on her profile. I live very rural so I ended up having to choose a lawyer 3 hours from me but he scored an 8.4 out of 10 and has been an absolute Godsend! I couldn't be more pleased with him. Caregiving is stressful enough on it's own & it's been a real blessing to know the legal matters are being handled!

An Estate Planning Practice Group may be a poor choice. One needs to determine if the goal is estate preservation VS and elder affairs lawyer who's goal is establishing all the stuff needed by elderly clients for example durable power of attorney and who handles family bills and caring for family members with Alzheimer's, medicare and Medicaid etc. Have they actually prepared fail elder waivers etc. Have they worked with Area agencies and are they known and respected by the AAAs

The post I created is "How do we vet and find the right attorney?" UncleDave
Why do you refer back to a discussion of swindling and scamming? please stick with how to vet and find the right attorney