A Toolkit to deal with a growing population of “age”

The Tools

The Texas Appleseed Project and AARP have produced a set of guidelines for persons managing someone else’s money. It includes:

Help for Agents Under a Power of Attorney

Help For Supporters Under A Supported Decision-Making Agreement

Help for Court-Appointed Guardians of the Estate

Help for Representative Payees and VA Fiduciaries

Help for Trustees Under a Revocable Trust

The project page as the expected caveat

This toolkit does not give legal advice. If you have questions about your responsibilities, talk to a lawyer, read our guides as background or visit the “Seniors and the law” webpage at TexasLawHelp.

and I likewise state that inclusion of these references is not intended to give legal advice and no representation is made of the quality of these materials.

An aging population

The population over age 65 in Texas is projected to grow from an estimated 3 million in 2015 to more than 9 million by 2050. Many of those individuals will need help managing their affairs – some through the appointment of a guardian. Texas currently has more than 50,000 active guardianships. OCA is working to provide resources for courts and guardians to help protect Texas’ most vulnerable citizens. — Texas Office of Court Administration, Newsletter April 2017

A tremendous growth of an increasingly needful population, and an opportunity for attorneys to assist, and to redress mischief when it occurs. My observation in mediating cases where guardianships were in place, or needed to have been in place, or where management (or lack thereof) of funds was occurring — is that misunderstanding and misfeasance were as prevalent as malfeasance.

Perhaps these aids will assist better compliance.