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Planning to Age
With Dignity
Important Information for Seniors to Ensure your
Wishes for the Future are Known and Honored
The Importance
of Planning Now
No one wants to think about a time when they won’t be
able to handle their affairs. People don’t want to
think the words dementia, incapacity, or Alzheimer’s
will ever apply to them. And hopefully, they’re right.
However, this mindset puts many seniors at risk for
having someone else make significant, life-altering
decisions for them. Your wishes for the future are
important, and should not be left to chance!
Yet, many seniors and their families do not seek
legal assistance until it is too late; that is, they
wait until the senior lacks the capacity to engage legal
services. This leaves the family with the sole option
of seeking guardianship through the court system. The
guardianship process is complex, lengthy, and expensive,
and may result in the appointment of a decision-maker
that is not someone you would choose for yourself.
Advance planning services can help to avoid this
outcome and allow you to preserve your wishes for a time
when you may not be able to manage your own affairs.
These services are particularly important for seniors
who have an early stage memory disorder or who are age
80 and over.
Take action now
to preserve your wishes for the future
The Planning to Age with Dignity program assists
seniors with:
- Powers of Attorney: for designating someone to
make financial and health care decisions on your
behalf.
- Simple Wills: for directing how your property
should be distributed at your death.
- Living Wills: for stating your preferences
about what kind of medical treatment you do and do
not want to receive if you should become permanently
unconscious or terminally ill and cannot speak for
yourself.
- Standby Guardianships: for designating a
guardian of minor children in your custody in the
event you are unable to care for them.
- Special Needs Trusts: used in a will to provide
for a family member who is disabled.
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Call the SeniorLAW Center Intake Line
for assistance and more information
(215) 988-1242
Monday through Friday 9 AM to 1 PM |
SeniorLAW Center (formerly Judicare)
has provided free direct legal services, community
legal education, advocacy, and linkage to vital
resources for over 100,000 seniors since its
founding in 1978.
SeniorLAW Center serves thousands of
elders each year, including victims of elder abuse
and financial
exploitation, grandparents raising
grandchildren, elderly tenants and homeowners
facing eviction and foreclosure, and seniors
planning their long-term health and financial care.
DID YOU KNOW…..
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Nationally, nearly half of those
over age 85, and one in ten over age 65 have
Alzheimer’s disease, making advance planning an
important process for all seniors.
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Pennsylvania has one of the
largest populations of senior citizens in the
country: Twenty percent, or one out of every
five people is age 60 or older. By 2020, more
than 3 million Pennsylvanians will be age 60 and
over.
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Philadelphia has the largest
percentage of senior citizens among the
country’s 10 largest cities.
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SeniorLAW Center wants to help
you to plan for the future. Call our intake
line at (215) 988-1242 and ask about the
Planning to Age with Dignity program.
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Independence Foundation
generously funds this new legal project
through its innovative Public Interest Law
Fellowship Program, which enables young
lawyers to work with a public interest legal
services agency on a project designed to
meet an unmet need. Created in 1996, the
Fellowship supports direct legal services
for disadvantaged clients who cannot
otherwise obtain access to the justice
system. |
Who Should seek legal help?
Anyone who answers YES to any of the
following:
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I have been recently diagnosed
as having a dementing illness that will affect
my ability to make decisions in the future, i.e.
Alzheimer’s disease, or I am afraid that I may
be at risk for a dementing illness.
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I am age 80 or older.
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I have a preference about who
should handle my affairs if I am ever unable to
express my needs.
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I am concerned about how medical
and financial decisions will be made if I
become unable to communicate my wishes due to a
cognitive disorder.
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I have never clearly expressed
my preferences about how my affairs should be
handled to my family (or significant others) or
my doctor.
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Call the SeniorLAW Center Intake Line
for assistance and more information
(215) 988-1242
Monday through Friday 9 AM to 1 PM |
Protect your wishes.
Plan now.
Legal services are an important
tool for all seniors, but particularly for those
with an early stage dementia diagnosis or seniors
over the age of 80, who are at greater risk for
having others make decisions for them.
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Plan to Age with Dignity
Call SeniorLAW Center’s Intake Line
at
(215) 988-1242
Monday through Friday, between 9 AM and 1 PM
for more information. |
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SeniorLAW Center
100 S. Broad St.
Suite 1810
Philadelphia, PA 19110
(215) 988-1244
www.seniorlawcenter.org
Continuing our proud
tradition of providing free quality legal
services and community education to
Philadelphia’s elders since 1978. |
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