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Elder mediation often provides an efficient and sensitive solution to the complicated elder care decision making process.

Why Elder Mediation?

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As baby boomers age and government resources diminish, we will face many difficult choices concerning how we handle transitions during our elders’ declining years. Families will have to be able to evaluate resources and options and develop ever changing strategies to support their elders. This will require communication and problem solving skills that will need to be increasingly sophisticated. When there is disagreement among family members about what to do, elder mediation is a rational first step for families to help them address their changing needs.

Decision-making when an elder family member's well-being is at risk can be very taunting to most families.  Families often stumble through a major elder decision and end up with a less than ideal solution.  Family members may have stopped communicating, may have different agendas or interests, or may have difficulty talking about things like money. Siblings, dealing with their differences in their own economic, geographic and family situations often find it challenging to work together effectively. They also may have spouses who hold strong views of their own.  Finally, the elder in many cases will be unwilling to change the status quo, which may be untenable.

Elder mediation often provides the efficient and sensitive solution to the complicated elder care decision-making process that families are seeking.  Rather than family members hiring attorneys to litigate their differences (which can be very expensive and increase conflict among family members), mediation can help families with differences resolve them in a safe environment where all parties can have their voice heard. 

Mediation does not replace the role of attorneys in providing legal advice and counsel, and often, the mediator will refer parties to an attorney for legal advice and for executing their agreements.

Mediation can simply be the opportunity for a family meeting where a trained neutral facilitator can create space for everyone in the family to be heard on an important developing family transition. It can be the forum by which the family can privately work through the challenges that are being faced and come up with an agreement about how to move forward.