When It’s Time to Move Your Elderly Parents

When elderly parents who are living on their own reach a stage when they can no longer care for themselves and their property, it can be a challenge to know where and how to begin the process of getting that parent moved out of their longtime home. Below, find some suggestions on how to thoughtfully and respectfully help your parents move into a new community, and contact a New York estate planning attorney to ensure that you have all necessary documents in place when you do.

Create a plan alongside your parent

Once your parent is in need of outside help, you may feel tempted to take over the move without input from them, making all relevant decisions about where they’ll move and when. Keep in mind that making the decision to leave their home is a difficult one for your parent. Be respectful of how challenging it may be for them to lose their independence and leave their home. Make sure that the move still feels like a decision they’re making for their own well-being, rather than one that is being imposed on them, and communicate a moving game plan clearly.

Consider hiring a specialist to help your parent sort through items

If your parents have spent decades in their home, they may have accumulated a generation’s worth of possessions without ever sorting through them. Deciding what to keep and what to give away can be an emotionally taxing process. Going through the sorting process with a child may prove too difficult. Instead, consider hiring someone who specializes in helping the elderly sort through their belongings, keeping only what is meaningful and necessary and selling or donating the rest. Estate sale companies often provide this service and are experienced in diffusing emotional responses to decisions on whether to keep items.

Obtain a power of attorney and make sure your parents have an estate plan

If your parents don’t already have these documents in place, use the occasion of moving them into an assisted living arrangement to have them give you or someone else they trust a power of attorney in the event their health declines further. They should also put a living will in place to ensure that they do not receive treatments or life-preserving measures they don’t want. If they still need an estate plan, this is also the time to create one.

If you or someone you love is in need of skilled New York estate planning and end of life legal services, contact the compassionate and skilled Hudson Valley estate planning attorneys at Rusk, Wadlin, Heppner & Martuscello, LLP for a consultation, at 845-236-4411 (Marlboro), or 845-331-4100 (Kingston).