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The Golden Girls Estate Planning Observations

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Need a good laugh?  Watch reruns of the Golden Girls. The show offers good entertainment and many great estate planning observations as well.

  • Home sharing is a great option for older folks.  It provides companionship, financial support, and house-hold task sharing.  Blanche shares her Miami home with Rose, Dorothy, Sophia, and Blanche.
  • The elderly have to deal with divorce and widowhood.  Dorothy is divorced from Stan.  Rose, Blanche, and Sophia are all widowed.
  • The elderly need to feel worthwhile and be contributing members of their community.  The Girls volunteer for needy causes and participate in community events such as the fund raising telethon.
  • Older folks often have to care for their own parents…and it’s not easy.  The girls allow Sophia (Dorothy’s mother) to move in with them after she leaves the nursing home.
  • Older folks, though officially retired, often work.  They work for needed money or volunteer to feel useful.  Dorothy teaches and Rose has various jobs and volunteer positions.
  • It is so important to let the special people in your life know that you love them.  The Golden girls battle with each other and their children and other family members.  But, they are sure in the end to let them know that they care about them.  This even applies to Dorothy’s pain in the neck ex-husband, Stan.
  • Older folks have to deal with depression and the deaths of friends and loved ones.  Sophia makes friends and loses them to dementia and death.
  • The elderly are often resentful of having to live in a nursing home.  Remember when Sophia burned down Shady Pines?  And, she never lets her daughter, Dorothy, forget how much she hated it.
  • If you want your trusted friends to be able to visit you in the hospital, it is important to name them in your health care estate planning documents.  When Rose is seriously ill and in the hospital, there is much discussion on the definition of family.

And as Betty White and Saturday Night Live have proven again, the elderly can be very cool and hip.

If you have questions or concerns about helping your elderly loved one or about estate planning, consult with a qualified elder law attorney.

Sinclair Prosser Gasior
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