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Elder Law Ethical Issues

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Ethical Issues in an Elder Law Practice
By: Todd Whatley, BS, PT, MHS, JD, LL.M, CELA*
© 2015 The Elder Law Practice of H. Todd Whatley
*as certified by the National Elder Law Foundation, an ABA accredited entity

Introduction Ethical issues arise in every area of the practice of law. However, it seems that the area of elder law is a minefield of ethical issues and quandaries waiting for the unaware attorney. Elder law has significantly complicated issues that deal with not only your client, but also the family of the client and even non-family members that are just as close to the client as their family and may in fact be the only contact you have to your client. The problem with this area of the law and its ethical dilemmas is the fact …show more content…

There is plenty of opportunity to advocate for our clients to the Department of Human Services, the hospital, the nursing home, the bank, etc. but a majority of our job is advising our clients as to the laws. There are numerous areas of confusion, misunderstanding, wive’s tales, and out right falsehoods. Our job is to clarify these issues and set people straight on how this area of the law works. We work at helping clients coordinate their goals to the realities of the system in the face of financial concerns, medical problems, family issues and moral concerns about the course of action to be …show more content…

The Connecticut Bar Association in an ethics opinion (CT Eth. Op. 97-35, 1997 WL 816056) summarized this area of law and quite competently summarized what the attorney client relationship should be: The maintenance of a normal attorney-client relationship requires competence (Rule 1.1), adherence to the client’s instructions (Rule 1.2), diligence (Rule 1.3), communication (Rule 1.4), confidentiality (Rule 1.6), avoidance if conflict (Rules 1.7 through 1.10) and safe keeping of property (Rule 1.15). When we have done all of the above we have provided good ethical service to our

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