LAW 5712: Later Life Legal Planning Seminar - 2184

Every day, 13,000 Americans turn age 65. By 2040, 20 percent of the population will be age 65 or older. Older individuals face three significant issues including replacing income lost due to retirement, declines in physical and mental capacity, the need for surrogate decision making, and paying for acute and long-term care. The Seminar will focus on effective legal responses to these issues. It is a policy based seminar that will require students to appreciate, understand and formulate legal solutions about specific issues that arise due to the realities of aging. The Seminar will spend the first weeks examining the issues through a series of readings. Each student, under the guidance of the Professor, will select a topic on which to write a two-draft paper that describes a particular legal issue faced by an older adult, analyzes the challenges it presents to society and the legal system, and proposes a solution to the issue. Each student will make a presentation to the Seminar that will serve as the basis for an extended class discussion of the issue.