Hawkins Elder Law provides you with this overview on incapacity and guardianship in Indiana.

Employees of many Hoosier hospitals ask patients the same question during the admission process every day, “Do you have a living will?” This may surprise people, but a patient’s answer to that question does not matter because when a living will arrives at the hospital, it is “dead on arrival.” This article explains why Indiana’s […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] An audience member at one of our recent presentations about advance health care directives suggested that people should make powers of attorney and advance health care directives when they reach 50 years old or older. We responded that most people over 18 years of age […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] A report published by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2009, showed that more than 60% of Americans had been married at least once by age 30 and at least 10% of Americans had been divorced by age 30 (https://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p70-125.pdf). If a “traditional” household includes a […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Young adults have blind spots about life because they were oblivious during their childhood of many decisions that their parents made for them. They never had to worry during childhood about filing income tax returns or whether to have x-rays or stitches because such decisions […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Financial experts often say that if you die without a last will and testament, the state will decide who gets your assets. That statement is true if you die owning assets without joint owners and without naming beneficiaries of bank accounts, insurance policies, retirement plans, […]

  [See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Most of us become seriously injured or deathly ill sooner or later and depend upon other people to take care of us. We should all plan for this problem ahead of time so that our caregivers can be well prepared to do the job […]

Ask anyone about Alzheimer’s disease and you will probably get shudder, grimace, and a story about a friend or family member’s tragic loss of consciousness. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia conditions impact all of us reaches far beyond dementia patient statistics. The Alzheimer’s Association reports that in 2014, Alzheimer’s disease afflicted about 14,000 Indiana residents […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Imagine if you could buy a do-it-yourself book by noted computer software guide author Dan Gookin entitled: Brain Surgery for Dummies. How about a book entitled: Bypass Surgery for Dummies? Such titles seem ridiculous, but today’s self-help society encourages people to read simple books and […]

[See our Disclaimers page about relying on this website’s contents.] Divorce and remarriage causes many estate plan complications. This article describes asset problems that some remarried couples encounter and suggests ways to avoid or reduce the hardships of those problems. A remarried person’s spouse and children may differ about who should receive the person’s assets […]