Why Should I Use a Board Certified Specialist?

If you were having heart surgery, would you go to your general practice doctor or would you want to see a Board Certified Specialist? There are over 30,000 lawyers in Ohio of which less than 30 are certified as Specialists in the area of Elder Law. Why is that so important? Once someone graduates from law school and passes the State Bar Exam, they are licensed to practice law. They can assist with traffic tickets, divorces or even estate planning documents like Wills, Powers of Attorney and even Living Trusts. The State deems the attorney competent, but you could be their first trial, first hearing, or even first legal document client.

On the other hand, a Board Certified Elder Law Specialist must have practiced law for at least 5 years of which they must have a substantial involvement practicing Elder Law. They must complete at least 9 hours more per year than a general practice attorney and need peer references from other Elder Law Attorneys familiar with their competence and qualifications. In addition, a Certified Elder Law Specialist must sit for an all-day examination (for which the pass rate is less than 40%!).

The practice of Elder Law is the combination of Estate Planning and Long Term Care Planning (at Cooper, Adel Vu we also combine financial and tax planning services). Our job is to make sure that people don’t lose everything they worked a lifetime to accumulate and make sure they don’t leave a mess for the loved ones they leave behind. A mistake in estate planning could result in your family paying at least 4% of your estate in attorney fees and the cost of bad long term care planning could cost over $10,000 a month! Now that you know the costs of an inexperienced lawyer’s mistakes, shouldn’t you take the extra time, drive the extra mile and consider using a board Certified Elder Law Specialist versus a general practice attorney?