Elder Abuse Resources

Elder Abuse Resources

Here are excerpts from a letter regarding elder abuse.

“It was a pleasure to meet you Wednesday night and very refreshing to hear about the work that you do as an Elder Law Mediator and as an Elder Law Attorney. I mentioned a few other resources you may find useful. You can contact the The Elder Victim Advocate at the Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center here in Warwick.  They support any Elders in the community who need counseling and support services (individually and in group sessions) either at the counseling center or in criminal or restraining order court proceedings.

A Newport andMiddletown advocate can be reached at 401-847-8300 ext 5732.  Any time an Elder or victim of Domestic Violence or Sexual Assault/Child Molestation needs to report to one of these police departments or has already done so they can reach out for more information on their rights and options as the victim of crime, what the procedure will look like, and also for referrals for support services in the Newport and Middletown areas.  We have many advocates around the state and I can assist you in finding a local advocate. As you can see we have a vast network of Advocates and we are all connected to a variety of agencies that serve victims of DV/SA. I would be very excited if you would include Elder Abuse information in one of your upcoming newsletters.  Even the amount of financial abuse out there is astonishing! “

So there you have it. Elder abuse is sometimes physical or emotional and sometimes financial. It is certainly widespread.  The point of this column is that there are advocates for the elderly across the state. We can assist you in finding the right advocate to assist you or an elder you are concerned about. Call us at 401-841-5700.


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The Law Offices of Jeremy W. Howe, LTD. are ElderLaw attorneys in Rhode Island who specialize in wills and trusts, estate planning, guardianship, probate, and Veterans Aid and Attendance Benefits.

They also are Newport Rhode Island Divorce Lawyers, Attorneys, Mediators, and Arbitrators providing services for family law issues such as divorce, child custody and visitation, support, and military family law.

Call them today at 401-841-5700 or visit them on the web at http://www.CounselFirst.com.

Caring for Aging Parents - Finances

7 ways to help aging parents handle finances

By Robert Powell

Make no mistake about it, there’s a large generational role reversal taking place in this country. Adult children are increasingly providing advice and counsel to their aging parents about a wide variety of financial and nonfinancial issues. And, they are being asked to answer questions about everything from Medicare to how to reinvest a maturing CD.

Knowing full well that you might be called upon to become a subject matter expert, if you haven’t already, we asked experts for some help.

“Children of aging and/or disabled parents need to help their parents face up to the decisions they need to make now,” said Chris Cooper, the owner and founder of ElderCare Advocates.

Below is what experts said adult children and aging parents ought to consider, now.

Financial matters

All of us are going to lose our ability to make more complex financial decision when we reach advanced ages, said Michael Finke, an associate professor at Texas Tech University. “The problem is that we often don’t recognize the decline,” he said.
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This is very similar to what happens to older drivers, he said. “Since the decline is so gradual and consistent (we measure the decline in financial decision making at about 2% per year), we often don’t recognize when we become vulnerable to making mistakes,” said Finke.

So, his advice to aging parents and their adult children is this: “Part of a retirement plan needs to be accounting for the decline in our ability to make these decisions,” said Finke. “That means sitting down with a trusted relative or financial adviser and putting a plan in place to delegate some decisions in advanced age,” he said.

Selecting investments that require less active management, such as annuities or a managed payout mutual fund can also help. “We need to not only protect our portfolio against market risk, we also need to protect it against the risk of cognitive decline,” said Finke.

And for adult children, Finke’s recommended the following: “Create a plan with an older parent that includes establishing a power of attorney and allowing an adviser to contact a trusted child if they become aware that the parent is making financial mistakes.”

What’s more, Finke advised doing this sooner rather than later. “Putting the plan in place early in retirement before cognitive decline begins may be easier than convincing a parent who is exhibiting signs of dementia that they need to relinquish control of their finances,” he said.

Jack Tatar, author of “Safe 4 Retirement: The 4 Keys to a Safe Retirement,” agrees. “We all end up having the conversation, but usually too late, when mental capacities are diminished and certain expectations may be set, such as one sibling’s belief that they will get this or that.”

Having these conversations, said Tatar, provide peace of mind for everyone. “Allowing the retiring/retired parents to be more comfortable living out their retirement dream and providing the adult child with a major task done,” he said. “These conversations should result in documented plans, which should be updated regularly.”
Get those documents in order

Speaking of documents, Tatar said, one major way adult children can help their aging parents is make sure all their affairs are in order. “Adult children need to be sure that their parents have things documented such as wills, assets, end-of-life considerations, even their medications and health records,” said Tatar, whose new book, “Having ‘The Talk” with Your Parents About Retirement,” will be published in January 2013.

In some cases, an adviser could be the central point of contact or the adult child, or both.

Read more HERE


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The Law Offices of Jeremy W. Howe, LTD. are ElderLaw attorneys in Rhode Island who specialize in wills and trusts, estate planning, guardianship, probate, and Veterans Aid and Attendance Benefits.

They also are Newport Rhode Island Divorce Lawyers, Attorneys, Mediators, and Arbitrators providing services for family law issues such as divorce, child custody and visitation, support, and military family law.

Call them today at 401-841-5700 or visit them on the web at http://www.CounselFirst.com.

The Average Cost of Nursing Home Care Moves Upward in 2012

The cost of long-term care increased significantly, according to the 2012 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home, Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, and Home Care Costs. 

Private room nursing home rates jumped 3.8 percent to $90,520 a year or $248 a day, while assisted living facility costs rose 2.1 percent on average to $42,600 a year or $3,550 a month.

The average cost of homemaker/companions increased by 5.3 percent to $20 per hour. The news wasn't all about increases, however. The cost of adult day care services remained the same as last year at $70 per day and the average cost of home health aides remained at $21 per hour.

The survey also reports on the cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home, which increased 3.7 percent to $222 a day, or $81,030 a year.

Once again, the highest rates for a private nursing home room in 2012 were found in Alaska, where the average cost rose from $655 a day to $687 a day. This year the lowest rates were found in Oklahoma (with the exception of Oklahoma City and Tulsa) at an average of $147 a day for a private room. Texas (with the exception of Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Houston) had the lowest rate for a semi-private room at an average of $131 per day.

The cost of assisted living continues to be the highest in the Washington, D.C., area, at $5,933 a month (up from $5,757 a month in 2011) and the lowest in Arkansas (except for Little Rock) at $2,355 a month (up from $2,156 a month in 2011). Average home health care aide services ranged from a high of $32 an hour in Rochester, Minnesota (down from $34 an hour in 2011), to $13 an hour in the Shreveport area of Louisiana (down from $14 an hour in 2011). Adult day care services were highest in Vermont at an average of $141 a day and lowest in the Montgomery, Alabama, area, at $26 a day, both down from 2011.

For the full 2012 report, including listings of average long-term care costs in selected cities, as well as the original website for this article, click HERE.  


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The Law Offices of Jeremy W. Howe, LTD. are ElderLaw attorneys in Rhode Island who specialize in wills and trusts, estate planning, guardianship, probate, and Veterans Aid and Attendance Benefits.

They also are Newport Rhode Island Divorce Lawyers, Attorneys, Mediators, and Arbitrators providing services for family law issues such as divorce, child custody and visitation, support, and military family law.

Call them today at 401-841-5700 or visit them on the web at http://www.CounselFirst.com.

Medicare Premium Rise Lower Than Expected

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid has announced the new Medicare premiums, deductibles, and coinsurances. 

The standard Medicare Part B premium is increasing by $5 to $104.90 a month, smaller than the $9 per month increase predicted earlier in the year.

As previously reported, Social Security recipients will receive a 1.7 percent increase in payments in 2013. Most people have their Medicare premiums deducted from their Social Security benefits. The smaller-than-expected hike means that most Medicare recipients will still receive a modest boost in Social Security benefits.

Here are all the new Medicare figures:

    Part B premium: $104.90/month (was $99.90)
    Part B deductible: $147 (was $140)
    Part A deductible: $1,184 (was $1,156)
    Co-payment for hospital stay days 61-90: $296/day (was $289)
    Co-payment for hospital stay days 91 and beyond: $592/day (was $578)
    Skilled nursing facility co-payment, days 21-100: $148/day (was $144.50)

As directed by the 2003 Medicare law, higher-income beneficiaries will pay higher Part B premiums. Following are those amounts for 2012:

•     Individuals with annual incomes between $85,000 and $107,000 and married couples with annual incomes between $170,000 and $214,000 will pay a monthly premium of $146.90 (was $139.90).
•     Individuals with annual incomes between $107,000 and $160,000 and married couples with annual incomes between $214,000 and $320,000 will pay a monthly premium of $209.80 (was $199.80).
•     Individuals with annual incomes between $160,000 and $214,000 and married couples with annual incomes between $320,000 and $428,000 will pay a monthly premium of $272.70 (was $259.70).
•     Individuals with annual incomes of $214,000 or more and married couples with annual incomes of $428,000 or more will pay a monthly premium of $335.70 (was $319.70).

Rates differ for beneficiaries who are married but file a separate tax return from their spouse:

Those with incomes between $85,000 and $129,000 will pay a monthly premium of $272.70 (was $259.70).

Those with incomes greater than $129,000 will pay a monthly premium of $335.70 (was $319.70).

The Social Security Administration uses the income reported two years ago to determine a Part B beneficiary's premiums. So the income reported on a beneficiary's 2011 tax return is used to determine whether the beneficiary must pay a higher monthly Part B premium in 2013. Income is calculated by taking a beneficiary's adjusted gross income and adding back in some normally excluded income, such as tax-exempt interest, U.S. savings bond interest used to pay tuition, and certain income from foreign sources. This is called modified adjusted gross income (MAGI). If a beneficiary's MAGI decreased significantly in the past two years, she may request that information from more recent years be used to calculate the premium.

Those who enroll in Medicare Advantage plans may have different cost-sharing arrangements. On average Medicare Advantage premiums are expected to rise $1.47 per month in 2013.

For more information on the Medicare Part A numbers and the Medicare Part B numbers, click HERE to be taken to the original article.

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The Law Offices of Jeremy W. Howe, LTD. are ElderLaw attorneys in Rhode Island who specialize in wills and trusts, estate planning, guardianship, probate, and Veterans Aid and Attendance Benefits.

They also are Newport Rhode Island Divorce Lawyers, Attorneys, Mediators, and Arbitrators providing services for family law issues such as divorce, child custody and visitation, support, and military family law.

Call them today at 401-841-5700 or visit them on the web at http://www.CounselFirst.com.