Elder Mediation

Concerns and conflicts related specifically to older persons are the concerns of elder mediators and elder lawyers.  There are often several people concerned about the older person and wanting to be a part of the decision-making.  Bringing everyone together to work towards a solution takes special skills and training.  Elder mediators receive extensive training in multi-party mediation so they can provide a respectful, supportive and informed way for family members and caregivers to work together to find solutions to challenging issues involving the older person.

The issues in elder law and elder mediation are wide-ranging and often complex.

Here are some of the issues that elder mediators or elder lawyers can help to resolve:

1. Loss of driving licence
2. Onset of dementia
3. Change of personality
4. Downsizing
5. Safety of staying in own home
6. Moving into Retirement Home or Assisted Living
7. Moving into Long Term Care
8. Disputes with management or other residents in Retirement home or Long Term Care
9. Disagreement about need for assistance with daily care
10. Conflict between elder person and care givers
11. Elder person’s ability to manage finances in question
12. Elder person being influenced by friends or family members
13. Elder person’s ability to make personal or health decisions in question
14. New romantic partners or friends of elder person
15. End of Life decisions
16. Power of Attorney concerns
17. Guardianship concerns

Elder mediators have extensive training in how to help concerned family members and others talk about these issues and work together to come to an agreement on how to resolve their concerns.  A background in estate law and family law can be especially helpful for many elder law issues.  For other concerns that might arise in the elder’s life, a medical or social work background can be very helpful in an elder mediator.  Lived experience in caring for older persons is also invaluable in this area.

Anita Phillips is a family and estate lawyer and family mediator with many years of lived experience as a caregiver for several elder family members.  She has experience dealing with family members with dementia, wandering, in home care, retirement homes, long term care, etc. She is in training to become a fully accredited elder mediator and expects to receive this accreditation of AccEM in 2021.