Law ElderLaw's Beginnings

Rick Law, founder of Law ElderLaw, has experienced the devastating impact that long-term dementia can have on a family. He has seen the incredible burden that is borne not only by the families of his clients, but also within his own family. He has watched as family members have exhausted their own health and emotional resources by being sacrificial caregivers. This sacrifice is a major motivator that has caused us to develop the services and systems of Law ElderLaw. We are dedicated to protecting and serving the elderly and those who love them.

Rick began his work in the ElderLaw area in 2000, when he received a frantic call from friends that began with a panic-driven question, "Rick, my husband has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Am I going to lose my house? What can I do?" At the time that Rick received this question, he, like most attorneys and other counselors, responded, "I don't know."

Nonetheless, even though Rick did not know the answer then, he did not let that stop him from helping his friends. He embarked on a mission to find the answers for this aging couple, and others in distress. That phone call led Rick to discover the answers to questions that families in crisis ask and desperately need to have answered. He learned quickly that almost no one seemed to know how to advise clients in this type of crisis.

Our law schools and ongoing legal education are excellently equipped to prepare attorneys, accountants, and financial planners to do the technicalities of estate planning — which is really "death and distribution" planning. Many advisors are well prepared to counsel their clients in the area of financial planning. which is focused on asset accumulation. but there are few expert counselors who have been prepared to provide wise counsel for those clients and family members who are facing the prospect of "outliving their money and assets." For the most part, those who face the potentially catastrophic financial and emotional impact of long term nursing home care have been abandoned by society's safety net and professional counselors.

Rick Law has organized Law ElderLaw to provide the answers that “throw a lifeline” to individuals in danger of sinking under the weight of a long-term nursing care burden.