Recently, Compass held a webinar about enduring powers of attorney (EPOA), a document that gives a person authority to manage someone else’s affairs if they become unable to make their own legal and financial decisions. On the panel for that webinar, which you can watch through this link, was Brian Herd, a Brisbane lawyer who specialises in life planning for ageing people.
The webinar’s focus was simply on ‘what makes a good EPOA’. Herd explained how EPOAs are set up, how roles and nominations are appointed, and what measures can be put in place to protect your best interests. However, Herd’s rich legal experience has much more to offer older Australians, and he covers all bases in the new second edition of his book, Avoiding the Ageing Parent Trap: An Expert’s Guide to Navigating Elder Care, Finance and the Law.
A partner of law firm HopgoodGanim, Herd works in the field of elder law, which considers the ‘disputes and dysfunctions’ that legally arise as a result of old age (particularly with respect to family relationships). He is also more broadly experienced in the life changes that ageing brings, whether they relate to aged care, retirement, estate planning, incapacity, elder abuse and more.
This is an expert who directly addresses the challenges that ageing brings, and Avoiding the Ageing Parent Trap is an unsentimental ‘guide’ on how to approach the financial complexities of old age. Herd has been consistently recognised by The Best Lawyers in Australia as ‘Lawyer of the Year’ for Retirement Villages and Senior Living Law, and when Avoiding the Ageing Parent was first published in 2021, he received the Australasian Journal on Ageing Book Award.
Herd begins the book by considering the effects of ageing on our interpersonal relationships, or what he calls the ‘human side’. He notes the tensions that arise from ageing: the effect of dementia on marital harmony, the evolving personalities of one’s parents as they become frailer, and the (difficult) need for siblings to collaborate for their parents’ benefit – becoming, in a way, parents themselves.
This leads Herd to consider the ‘family trenches’ that can then emerge, drawing on anecdotes of later-in-life romance, separations and arrangements that lead to children becoming full-time carers to illustrate his advice. From this, he moves to the practicalities of ageing. Should elder people stay at home? Should they move into residential care? What are the financial demands of care? How do we deal with tax and superannuation?
This is where Herd’s experience in the law comes into fruition: he provides detailed information on the financial arrangements that need to be made to avoid a ‘trap’ and explains the role that EPOAs can play in preventing mistreatment of funds and elder financial abuse.
Herd even delves into often taboo subjects such as sexual expression for older people and intimate relationships for those affected by dementia, before considering how to manage the different forms that death can take – whether explaining the financial and emotional costs of a slow demise or the ethical quandary that is voluntary assisted dying, Herd’s advice is candid and comprehensive.
Although Herd’s legal and financial background, and the book’s label as a ‘guide’, may lead a reader to assume the bookis a dry textbook for old age, this is far from the case. Instead, Herd delivers an approachable, often quite funny manual that explains the complex issues old age can bring, in a clear, upfront way.
Avoiding the Ageing Parent Trap is an essential read for ageing people and their families.
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