WealthCounsel’s Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) is a strong tool to use for asset protection. Not only is the trust designed to protect assets from being counted for Medicaid eligibility, the trust can also be designed to accomplish asset protection for beneficiaries. Protecting loved ones is a common goal in elder law cases. Clients want to know that they are not only protecting themselves, but they are doing all they can to better the lives of their loved ones. Asset protection can be a desired product. To be able to protect beneficiaries from creditors, divorce, or judgments is a satisfying feeling. So how can one design the MAPT to achieve the best protection?

The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) has been around for more than a century.  The non-profit has commissioners from each state that promulgate uniform laws for states to ruminate and adopt. The goal of the UTC is to promote the uniformity of laws across the U.S.  A model act is one that doesn’t necessarily need to be adopted in its entirety; the purpose of the act can be achieved even if only parts of the act are adopted.  A uniform act is one that tries to establish the same directive on a particular topic across the various jurisdictions.  Even if the goal of a uniform act is adoption in its entirety, many states still add their own changes and nuances upon adoption. 

According to the National Council on Aging, 1 in 10 elders in the U.S. have experienced some form of abuse, yet only 1 in 14 is reported. It is a sad reality that there are elders in our communities that suffer from various forms of abuse. Financial, physical, and sexual abuse are common examples of the ways in which our older generation is exploited and endangered. Unfortunately, elder law attorneys are likely to encounter such a client at some point during the course of their careers.

Every lawyer is, or definitely should be, familiar with the Rules of Professional Conduct for the states in which they practice. A primary tenet of lawyering is the duty of an attorney to keep their client’s disclosures confidential. With that in mind, how does an attorney balance the need to keep client information confidential with a moral or legal requirement to disclose potential elder abuse?

Do the duties of confidentiality prevent disclosure?