By Nameeta Singh
More babies were born in 1946 than ever before: 3.4 million, 20 percent more than in 1945. This was the beginning of the so-called “baby boom.” In 1947, another 3.8 million babies were born; 3.9 million were born in 1952; and more than 4 million were born every year from 1954 until 1964, when the boom finally tapered off. By then, there were 76.4 million “baby boomers” in the United States. They made up almost 40 percent of the nation’s population.
WHAT IS THE BABY BOOM GENERATION?
The term “Baby Boom” is used to identify a massive increase in births following World War II. Baby boomers are those people born worldwide between 1946 and 1964, the time frame most commonly used to define them. The first baby boomers reached the standard retirement age of 65 in 2011. There are about 76 million boomers in the U.S., representing about 29 percent of the population. In Canada, they are known as “Boomies;” six million reside there. In Britain, the boomer generation is known as “the bulge.”
With increased educational, financial and social opportunities, the Boomer Generation is often portrayed as a generation of optimism, exploration and achievement. Compared with previous generations, more young adults pursued higher education or relocated away from family to pursue career and educational interests. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, post-war optimism inspired a sense of stability, opportunity and prosperity—values commonly held by the middle class. This was the dawn of space exploration, accessible long-distance travel and prosperity for many Americans.
ELDER LAW FOR BABY BOOMERS
As baby boomers age and their parents live well into their 90s or even over 100, the field of elder law has continued to expand to meet the legal needs of this growing population. In its broadest sense, elder law is the specialized field of law that addresses the diverse legal needs of aging baby boomers and their elderly parents. This includes the following legal areas:
Disability Planning and Special Needs Planning
Special needs planning encompasses the legal needs of disabled individuals, including both children and adults. In many cases, these individuals will be eligible to receive government benefits (both state and federal) due to a physical disability and/or mental disability. However, if these individuals are gifted assets or inherit assets, then they may no longer qualify for any government assistance, so it is important to understand that if baby boomers want a special needs individual to receive part of their estate, then they will need to do specific planning to ensure that the individual will continue to receive government assistance.
Long Term Care Planning, Medicaid Planning and Veterans Benefits
Medicaid planning is a subcategory of long term care planning and involves re-positioning and/or transferring assets in order to qualify for Medicaid nursing home benefits. Veterans benefits in relation to elder law encompass providing for the long-term health care needs of veterans of the U.S. armed forces.
Estate Planning
Most often estate planning and elder law are seen as very separate and distinct practice areas. Because of boomers’ desire to protect their future lifestyle and the need for planning in advance, the areas of estate planning, lifetime disability planning and certain elder law asset protection strategies will soon become completely integrated in the public’s mind. Since boomers do not like to think of themselves as “elderly” or “seniors,” we may want to think of this holistic approach as “boomer law.”
Guardianship and Conservatorship
When a person becomes mentally incapacitated, who will be able to make the incapacitated person’s personal and financial decisions? If the person took the time to make a disability plan, then he or she will have the right legal documents in place and will be able to dictate who will make these decisions. But if the person does not have a disability plan, then a family member, friend, or, in some cases, a complete stranger, will have to go to court and request that a guardian or conservator be appointed on behalf of the incapacitated person.
Guardianship, also referred to as conservatorship in some states, is sometimes referred to as “living probate” since it is the court-supervised process of administering an incapacitated person’s estate.
Personal and Financial Elder Abuse
As people age, they unfortunately become prone to personal and/or financial abuse. This can range from “granny kidnapping” to outright theft of personal belongings and financial assets. Financial elder abuse can occur through the use of a Durable Power of Attorney or by undue influence, such as wrongfully coercing an elderly person to give away their assets or change their Last Will and Testament or Revocable Living Trust. This has led to a specialized area of litigation aimed at recovering the elderly person’s assets.
CONCLUSION
As the population of aging Boomers grows, so too will their unique legal needs (described later on in this post). Yet surprisingly, few lawyers, particularly younger solos or more recent graduates are targeting the Boomer population. Sure, there are plenty of law firms that market themselves to “seniors” with a focus on “elder law,” which traditionally covers estate or Medicare planning, health care issues, guardianships or nursing home abuses. Trouble is, most Boomers don’t view themselves as growing old and indeed, cringe at being referred to as seniors.
Boomer Law is a growth market, not only because of sheer numbers, i.e., more aging boomers, but also because the legal needs of boomers are far more diverse and complex than those of the generations that preceded them. In addition to traditional matters like guardianship, nursing home abuse and estate planning where older clients have also needed assistance, there’s a range of potential new practice areas that might cater to the unique needs of today’s Boomers.