Sara E. Meyers of the White Plains and Somers law firm of Enea, Scanlan & Sirignano LLP has become a certified elder law attorney (CELA), receiving her certification last month from the National Elder Law Foundation as accredited by the American Bar Association.
“I”™m only the 36th CELA in New York state,” said Meyers, who has been an attorney for nearly decades. Her practice focuses on elder law, guardianships, special needs planning and long-term care planning strategies.
Meyers stated she pursued CELA status because there were relatively few attorneys carrying that designation, which requires passing an examination that covers the multiple disciplines that encompass elder law.
“It”™s sort of the Good Housekeeping stamp of approval,” Meyers joked. “It sets me apart from other elder law attorneys by showing that I have that certification. But more importantly, I felt it was important for my own professional continuing education, to make sure I knew that I had my skills and knowledge up to date ”” I studied for about six months and I learned so much that I”™m putting into practice now. I”™ve seen my growth as an elder law attorney from studying for the exam.”
Meyers, who is also co-chairperson of the Westchester County Bar Association”™s (WCBA) Guardianship Committee and a frequent lecturer for both the WCBA and New York State Bar Association, recalled the certification test covered 50 multiple choice questions and eight essays on elder law topics including tax questions, Medicaid, medical care facilities, veterans benefits and age discrimination in employment.
Meyers observed in recent years there has been a “substantial” growing interest in the legal profession on elder law.
“We have an aging population,” she said. “Baby boomers are getting older, and we”™re going to need attorneys with significant knowledge within the discipline of elder law to be able to service these aging individuals.”
Meyers pinpointed long-term care as being the most pressing issue within this legal focus today.
“Nursing homes in Westchester could be $18,000 to $20,000 a month,” she continued. “Looking at that over a year, it”™s a couple of hundred-thousand-dollars a year. So, savings can be depleted rather quickly if somebody has a need for nursing home care or even for home care. And people are depleting those life savings.”
Meyers added that “another issue which runs parallel ”” and we saw this a lot, unfortunately, during the pandemic ”” was that not everybody has done their estate planning. People were without a health-care proxy or a power of attorney. It”™s important to have those documents ”” you have control over who”™s going to be making those decisions. If a person doesn”™t have these advanced directives and they should become incapacitated, without a power of attorney and health-care proxy, a family member or a loved one or a spouse would have to petition the court to be appointed a guardian to have legal authority to act.”
