Recently, we were forced to watch a painful family feud play out in the media over how Casey Kasem should be cared for in his final days.  This type of internal family strife is not uncommon even among non-celebrity blended families who may not have considered the consequences of naming one child, a new spouse […]

bills and coins

The public battle — always emotional and sometimes bizarre — began in October 2013 when daughters Julie and Kerri led a protest outside of Kasem’s Los Angeles mansion, holding signs demanding that their stepmom let them see their ailing father. With celebrity life comes a lot of media attention, and with that attention comes the […]

A proper Caregiver Agreement is essential when a loved one or friend wants to pay you to provide assistance and care for them. Here is a link to an article in which Michael J. Amoruso, Esq., Managing Partner of Amoruso & Amoruso LLP in Westchester County, NY and Howard S. Krooks, Esq., Of Counsel to […]

Portrait of a Gay Couple

While 19 states recognized same-sex unions, as of the end of May 2014, 31 still didn’t. The rift means that couples must take special precautions to have the right estate and emergency-health care legal documents in place – and often on hand. Whether already married or planning to tie the knot soon, same-sex couples need […]

Often, proxies are confused about how “do not hospitalize” orders work. Several proxies believed, mistakenly, that a such an order was equivalent to a request to withhold medical intervention altogether. For elderly loved ones in nursing homes, there is a very powerful tool found in a little known directive known as the “do not hospitalize” […]

doctors

The new tool, developed by researchers from Italy’s University of Milan, could provide doctors with a more objective method that gauges the complexity of a patient’s consciousness. Advances in brain science keep us informed and help us better understand how the brain functions. And when it comes to making end-of-life plans, the more we know […]

Young Woman Biting Her Finger Nail

With back-to-school season upon us, it’s an issue that’s timely to consider. Once your children turn 18, you are no longer entitled to see their medical records and make decisions about their medical treatment—unless they take a few basic estate-planning steps first. When a child turns 18, the transition to adulthood seems to be just […]