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How Will Your Clients’ Families Know What They Want?How Will Your Clients’ Families Know What They Want?

If they suffer from a disability or illness, help them prepare a letter of guidance.

Michael Gilfix

July 16, 2024

5 Min Read
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For decades, we’ve advised parents of children with disabilities to write and annually maintain a “letter of guidance.” This letter explains how a caregiver and a trustee can take the best possible care of that child.

This approach has been consistently recommended because a special needs trust typically gives great flexibility to the trustee but is light on the daily minutia of life. Yet, the minutia of life determines the quality of life.

This same approach should apply to the clients themselves. They should let their future caregivers know about their quirks, eccentricities and unique needs should they end up suffering from dementia or some other disability that interferes with their communication skills. What should be done to avoid up...

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About the Author

Michael Gilfix

Gilfix & La Poll Associates, LLP

Michael Gilfix is a nationally known authority in the field of law, aging and estate planning. A 1973 graduate of Stanford Law School, he is a Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), a co-founder of NAELA, and a Certified Legal Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. Mr. Gilfix regularly addresses professional audiences, including attorneys, physicians, certified public accountants, and financial planners, nationally as well as locally.
An entrepreneur in the legal field, Mr. Gilfix created the first legal aid program for elders in 1973. He served as Executive Director of that program, Senior Adults Legal Assistance (SALA) of Santa Clara County, for ten years. In 1983 he created the law firm that is today known as Gilfix & La Poll Associates LLP . 

Mr. Gilfix is a California legal advisor to Partnership For Caring, the national organization devoted to rights of individuals to make their own health care decisions. 
A highly respected practitioner and a prolific author, Mr. Gilfix is co-author of Tax, Estate & Financial Planning for the Elderly: Forms and Practice (Matthew Bender) and is the principal author of Medi-Cal and Asset Preservation, a book- length set of materials for practicing attorneys. He regularly contributes to a wide variety of legal journals such as Trusts and Estates Magazine, where his writings have discussed the role of personal values in estate planning, life care communities, and asset preservation planning.