Luber: Hey everyone – Marc Luber here.
Today on JD Careers Out There, we’re looking at one of the growing types of law.
We’re gonna here what it’s like to be an Elder Care Lawyer – so let’s get started!
[theme song] Alright – as you may already know, at JDCOT we explore career paths you
can do with a law degree – both in and out of law.
And we do this to help you find a career that fits you and help you succeed.
Today’s guest is Victoria Collier.
She’s a certified Elder Law attorney with her own law firm called The Elder & Disability
Law Firm, which is in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area.
Before law school, Victoria spent 6 years in the US Air Force during Desert Storm – and
she now incorporates an expertise in veteran’s benefits into her practice.
Victoria is a fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Georgia Governor
appointed her to the Advisory Board for the Georgia Council on Aging.
She’s got a great story!
Let’s meet Victoria.
Victoria, welcome to the show!
Victoria: Thank you.
I appreciate being here.
Luber: Thank you for being here.
So we’re all excited to learn all about practicing elder law, so I’m going to be
asking you questions along the lines of a typical day, trying to learn about that and
who makes the right fit for this path, how to break in and how to succeed.
So how about we start by you giving us an overview of your practice and explaining to
us what elder care law is.
Victoria: Sure.
My practice is called the Elder and Disability Law Firm and it’s exactly what it says;
we help senior citizens and those who are planning for disabilities.
People confuse estate planning with elder law because people are most familiar with
estate planning.
But what elder law does is a bit different and the question is what makes the difference.
With estate planning they ask you, “What are you going to do with your stuff, your
estate, your things when you die?”
As an elder care attorney our focus is, what are we going to do with you if you keep living?
We have to make sure that your stuff is still here as long as you are to pay for your long
term care.
So our focus is on the living and the quality of life while you’re here versus how are
we going to protect it for others—your heirs.
Now, if we can achieve both, then we’ve really done our job.
Luber: Interesting.
So let’s break that down into some small component parts because I’m curious to learn
when you’re working to help someone, if they’re going to be living and staying alive
for a long period of time, what are some of the things that you’re doing to help them?
What would you say your mission is there?
Victoria: The components of elder law typically include traditional estate planning for non-taxable
estates.
So for people who have assets less than $5 million if you’re single, $10 million if
you’re married.
That’s the foundation, we use those documents for everything else we do.
The second foundational piece is veteran’s benefits for elderly veterans, which means
over the age of 65 who spent time in a war-time period; doesn’t mean they were in the war,
but it means they were in the military during the war-time period.
We can get them additional tax-free income to help pay for home healthcare, assisted
living care and nursing home care.
And the third main component is Medicaid, planning for people who are going into a nursing
home or they think, and the probability is high, that they will go into the nursing home
in the future.
And so they want to be able to preserve those resources so they can preserve their quality
of life by accessing good care.
And so the focus is on care and diminishing health.
Luber: Interesting.
So what does all that involve?
Are you sitting down with someone and doing paperwork?
Are you going to court?
What are the things that you’re doing to make all this happen?
Alright, we’re gonna cover that and lots more in the full interview with Victoria on
Elder Law!
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There you’re gonna hear lots more from Victoria on what it’s like to work in elder law,
how you can break in and how you can succeed.
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Thanks again for watching everybody – I’m Marc Luber and I’ll see you soon.
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