Bluegrass Elderlaw Navigates Unknown Legal Waters With You

from Health&Wellness March 2021

Loving Life at Daisy Hill Senior Living

Most people don’t think about things such as wills, estate planning, probate court or powers of attorney (POA) until – almost always unexpectedly – they have to.

Often at Bluegrass Elderlaw, the initial contact with a client comes in the form of a panicky phone call: “My mom just died. What do I do?”

It can be a tough, confusing time for anyone who hasn’t had to deal with these types of legal matters before. “You just don’t know what you don’t know,” said Mary Patton, a partner with the law firm that specializes in helping people negotiate the unchartered territories of trusts, advanced directives, Medicare and Medicare, guardianships and more. Bluegrass Elderlaw is very experienced in crisis planning.

“When we meet our clients, we sit down and have a long meeting with them to find out about their family, their assets, their goals,” Mary said. “We try to help them meet their goals by constructing a customized plan. We try to get people to do things sooner rather than later. It gives you more time to think about what you want and make sure the right people are appointed to do the right things.” Bluegrass Elderlaw’s accessible Web site has a wealth of information presented in an easy-to-understand format.

“We were originally formed by a woman named Carolyn Kenton,” Mary said. “When she started the business, she was one of the very few people in the area doing elder law. She was joined shortly thereafter by Amy Dougherty. Amy and Carolyn worked together for a long time, and then I joined them as a part-time associate in 2014. Later, Katie Finnell joined us. She had been a solo practitioner doing what we did. We met her and we liked her so much that we said, ‘Why are you doing this by yourself when you could be doing it with us?’ So we brought her in.”

The attorneys work closely together to make sure their clients are well informed about all their options.

“Amy and Katie in particular do a lot more with Medicaid than I do,” Mary said. “We all cover areas of specialty, but we work together as a team. If someone hires one of us, they get all three of us, and that’s what I really love about our firm.”

Other Bluegrass Elderlaw staff includes office manager Carol Weleski, Medicaid paralegal Carolyn “Coop” McCown and paralegal Annie Slone.

Elder law focuses particularly on issues that arise later in life. “Elder law starts with general estate planning – your will, your POA, things like that,” Mary explained. “I always tell people it’s really middle-class estate planning. Most of our clients are concerned about their estate. They don’t think they have assets that are worth addressing with a lawyer, but most of us actually do have assets or we have people in our lives we want to make sure we protect.” Mary says she is very passionate about educating clients about powers of attorney, a major area of their practice.

“POAs can do a lot of things for people and can prevent things like guardianship,” she said. “But they also allow your loved ones to adjust to changes in your life and changes in the law. If you have a good POA, it allows for the agent, the person you’ve appointed, to do things for you.”

When it comes to writing your will, it’s very important to work with attorneys such as those at Bluegrass Elderlaw, rather than going to a do-it-yourself legal Web site. A legitimate will must be drafted precisely and contain elements

We try to help clients get it right the first time.

“DYI legal stuff costs thousands and help clients thousands of dollars to fix if it’s not done get it right correctly,” Mary said. “We try to help clients get it right the the first time. first time. We also try to practice what we preach, so most of the types of documents we talk about we all have done ourselves.”

Mary understands many people aren’t comfortable discussing the inevitability of death, but it’s important to do so. “I try to explain to people it’s a gift to their family to have these things done and in place,” she said. “I tell them to keep a running list of where their assets are, where the life insurance is. Some clients put all their documents together in a three-ring binder so if something happens, they can just grab that binder and that can be their starting-off point. Starting your documents sparks a good discussion with your family about your wishes.”

For more information, check out Bluegrass Elderlaw’s Web site at www.bgelderlaw.com or call (859) 281-0048.