When is it appropriate to call for a welfare check?

Shel, what kind of law does your firm practice, and what was the purpose of the visit (if you can give a general idea within the limits of protecting the confidentiality of a client)? If it's estate planning or elder law, you're within the scope of the visit to ask him about contacts and family relations, w/o breaching confidence.

If for some other reason, I think you still could ask him about the closest relatives, as it may at some time or other affect your ability to contact him w/I the scope of the work you're doing.

On another level, assuming you have contact information for him, you could call APS to do a welfare check.

However, I would absolutely, definitely make the attorneys in the office aware of the situation before doing anything so there's no issue of breach of "privileged" information.

Some law firms for which I've worked provide a lot of leeway to paralegals; others monitor them very closely. Make sure the attorneys are on board before you contact anyone outside the firm. And the man really is a client of the firm anyway.

(I'm assuming that the state bar in your state still requires attorney supervision over a paralegal's actions.)

I think wanting to get help for him is very thoughtful and considerate.

If it were me, I would ring my local social services team for older adults and get their advice. You don't have to name names so if you don't like the sound of what they suggest they might be able to do for this elderly gentleman there's no harm done; and depending on what they say you can always call your client and ask him if he would like you to refer him for help. In your position you do also have a duty of confidentiality to your client, so no experienced social worker would insist you provide personal details at this initial stage.

Anyway, that's what I'd do.

Getting the county involved can make things much worse, very quickly. Are you able to talk to your client about his situation, and come up with ideas for what would make it easier for him to have help with bathing and laundry? Is he a veteran? Many communities have homemaking services that help with bathing and laundry and cooking, and sometime it can be offered free or at a discounted rate to veterans, disabled persons, or senior citizens. Also, can you ask for his daughter's phone number and give her a call?

Very good of you to be concerned and want to help....go w/GardenArtist's answer...ck w/attorneys first, and see if you can find out daughter's info....I would think it would be in files, esp. if he has a will thru your firm! BLESS YOU FOR CARING!!!!

I would report it and let the proper agencies step in. If no relatives are close, they can contact them. Nice of you to be concerned. When my mother was living with us, my husband had to call the bank in regards to something on her account. He handled her finances but was not on that account but I am. He could not answer their questions and wanted to speak to my mother who was hard of hearing and did not know what was going on. We put her on speaker phone and I was trying to help her answer their questions. The bank finally said we would have to go in to get this resolved. Early the next morning our doorbell rings and there are two women from the County there to speak to my mother. They would give me NO information and insisted on speaking to her alone so we stepped out. I was not happy thinking someone had reported me and we took excellent care of my mother! It then dawned on me that maybe it was the bank. When we went back in the room, the women's demeanor had changed and there were no issues. I asked if the bank had called them and they still could not say but "inferred" it was a concerned business so I knew it was the bank. Although I had been indignant, I then realized the bank had questions and reported it. Actually, was nice to know they would do that as so many people/family members steal from the elderly.

Absolutely, make that call!

There can be many reasons for the client to be in this state and someone needs to look into matters.

Other posters have raised an issue which I should have addressed more specifically. Attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, runners, bookkeepers, receptionists and office managers are all bound by "client privilege", which prohibits them from discussing client information. This is standard throughout law practices.

CM made a good point - any call should be "generic" w/o providing any specific name. I erred in suggesting that APS be called, although I'm not really sure that a call to a government agency on the issue of adult welfare and/or protective services would fall in the same category as releasing privileged information, since this was observational, and not something that was shared in confidentiality. And some specific governmental agencies exist for the exact purpose of intervention in welfare of adults or children.

However, calls to nongovernmental agencies, such as churches or a geriatric care manager, would I think be a breach of privilege.

That's not a criticism of any suggestions; they're all good. But attorneys and all their staff are bound by confidentiality, similar to the role of priests and probably rabbis and other religious leaders.

What is so sad right now is that at least our county social services believe that it is their choice to live that way. We are not doing right by our seniors in many ways. There are many agencies that have case managers/Social Workers who only work with seniors. You may be able to tie one of your meetings in with a Social Worker who can do an assessment and make recommendations.

They likely need psychiatric help.

I've been thinking over this situation and need to state that I had some questions about the thread.

First, paralegals do NOT have clients; the firm and attorneys do, but paralegals do not.

Second, I would have immediately gone to the supervising attorney and shared my concerns if a similar situation had occurred when I was working.

Third, I would NEVER post online about a client. That just is NOT acceptable, even though no names are mentioned.

So I'm wondering about this whole situation now. We'll see if the OP returns; if not....well, draw your own conclusions.

Digital Banker, I know you're trying to be helpful, but just to clarify, hiring a PI to investigate a client's needs would not be very likely to occur in an law firm.

First, there's the issue of who would pay for the PI. The client probably does not have much money, and he would have to authorize the expenditure first if he had provided a retainer. And unless that was discussed, the firm would be in breach of its retainer agreement to spend funds on work that wasn't authorized either through discussion or stated in the retainer agreement.

Second, a firm would generally not expend funds for a PI without expectation of reimbursement.

DB, your concern and your heart are in the right place, but I don't know of any law firm that would hire a PI to investigate a client's personal situation, unless there were fraud involved and the firm was leary of becoming dragged into an unsavory situation.