A Salt Lake elder law attorney helps older adults and their families handle the legal side of aging: powers of attorney, advance health care directives, trusts and wills, guardianship and conservatorship, long-term care and Medicaid planning, probate, and elder abuse or financial exploitation. Unlike a single-document estate plan, elder law looks at the whole arc of later life, including what happens if you lose the ability to make your own decisions while you are still living. Attorney Jeremy Eveland is licensed to practice law in Utah and helps Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County families put these protections in place before a crisis forces the issue.

What Does a Salt Lake Elder Law Attorney Actually Do?

Most people meet an elder law attorney at one of two moments: early, when a parent is still healthy and the family wants a plan, or late, when someone has already had a stroke, a fall, or a dementia diagnosis and nobody has legal authority to act. The work looks very different depending on which door you come through.

Elder law is less a single practice area than a cluster of overlapping ones. A Salt Lake elder law attorney typically works across:

• Incapacity planning. Durable financial powers of attorney and advance health care directives that let a trusted person act if you cannot.
• Estate planning. Wills, revocable living trusts, and beneficiary coordination so assets pass the way you intend.
• Guardianship and conservatorship. Court proceedings when someone has already lost capacity and no valid documents exist.
• Long-term care planning. Structuring assets and income with nursing home or in-home care costs in mind.
• Probate and estate administration. Settling an estate after a death, with or without a will.
• Elder abuse and financial exploitation. Responding when a caregiver, family member, or scammer has drained accounts or pressured a change to documents.

For a broader survey of the field, including the topics not covered here, see our overview of elder law. This page focuses specifically on how these issues play out for Salt Lake families and what to do about them.

The Difference Between Estate Planning and Elder Law

People often use the terms interchangeably, and they overlap heavily, but the distinction matters.

Traditional estate planning in Utah is largely concerned with what happens after you die: who inherits, how to avoid probate, how to reduce tax and administrative friction. Elder law includes all of that but adds the harder question, which is what happens if you live a long time and stop being able to manage your own affairs.

That gap is where families get hurt. A perfectly drafted will sits in a drawer doing nothing while a family fights over who can sell Mom’s house to pay for her memory care. The will only speaks at death. The documents that speak during life are the power of attorney and the health care directive, and those are exactly the ones people skip.

Core Documents Every Utah Senior Should Have

These four documents do most of the work. Each answers a different question, and each has a different failure mode when it is missing.

The durable financial power of attorney

Utah powers of attorney are governed by the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, codified at Utah Code Title 75A. The statute defines an agent as a person granted authority to act for a principal, and it addresses coagents, successor agents, and durability.

Two decisions drive everything: who you name, and how much authority you give them. Both deserve real thought rather than a default choice of “my oldest child.” We cover the tradeoffs in depth in who should you name as power of attorney in Utah, and explain the mechanics in our guides to the power of attorney and the durable power of attorney.

“Durable” is the word that matters. A power of attorney that is not durable can stop working precisely when it is needed, which is when the principal becomes incapacitated.

The advance health care directive

Utah’s Advance Health Care Directive Act is found at Title 75, Chapter 2a of the Utah Code, and it was renumbered effective September 1, 2024. This document does two jobs at once: it names an agent to make medical decisions, and it records what you would want in situations you may not be able to speak to. See our guide to the health care directive for how the pieces fit together.

The revocable living trust

A revocable living trust earns its keep in two ways for older adults. It can keep assets out of probate at death, and, just as importantly, it provides a successor trustee who can step in and manage the assets without a court order if the person who created it becomes incapacitated. Our overview of trust law covers the broader landscape.

The catch is funding. A trust only controls assets actually retitled into it. An unfunded trust is an expensive stack of paper, and this is one of the most common and most preventable failures we see.

When Do You Need a Salt Lake Elder Law Attorney?

Certain moments should prompt a call rather than a wait-and-see approach:

1. A dementia, Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s diagnosis. Capacity may still exist today. It may not in six months. This is the narrowest window in all of elder law.
2. A parent is entering assisted living or a nursing home. Costs and eligibility questions arrive immediately.
3. A spouse has become the full-time caregiver. Planning for the caregiver’s own incapacity is routinely forgotten.
4. Documents are old or from another state. Institutions balk at stale documents, and out-of-state forms may not track Utah’s statutes.
5. A bank has refused to honor a power of attorney. This happens more than people expect and often has a fixable cause.
6. Money is disappearing. Unexplained withdrawals, a new “friend,” or sudden document changes are red flags for exploitation.
7. Someone has already lost capacity. Then the conversation shifts to guardianship, and speed matters.
8. A second marriage is involved. Blended families create competing claims that generic documents handle badly.

Guardianship and Conservatorship in Utah

When no valid power of attorney exists and someone can no longer make decisions, the remaining option is court intervention. Utah addresses this in Utah Code Title 75, Chapter 5, Protection of Persons Under Disability and Their Property. The chapter defines an adult as an individual who is 18 years old or older, and it provides for court visitors, who are individuals trained in law, nursing, or social work and appointed by the court without a personal interest in the proceeding.

The rough distinction:

• Guardianship concerns decisions about the person: where they live, their medical care, their daily welfare.
• Conservatorship concerns decisions about the property: accounts, income, real estate, bills.

One person may serve in both roles, or the court may split them. Either way, this is a public court proceeding with filings, notice to interested parties, potential objections, and ongoing reporting duties to the court. It costs more than planning would have, takes longer, and strips away privacy. Families who arrive here almost always wish they had signed a power of attorney years earlier. Our page on working with a guardianship lawyer walks through what the process involves.

Long-Term Care and Medicaid Planning

Long-term care is the financial risk that dominates elder law, because it is the one most likely to consume a lifetime of savings. Medicare, despite the common assumption, is not a long-term custodial care program.

That leaves private pay, long-term care insurance, certain veterans benefits, and Medicaid. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program, and Utah administers its own; eligibility rules and current figures are published at Utah Medicaid and Medicaid.gov.

The 60-month lookback is the rule people learn too late

Federal law at 42 U.S.C. Section 1396p establishes a lookback period for asset transfers. For disposals of assets made on or after February 8, 2006, the lookback date is 60 months before the relevant date. Transfers for less than fair market value inside that window can trigger a penalty period during which benefits are unavailable.

This is why the instinct to “just give the house to the kids” so often backfires. A well-meaning transfer can create exactly the gap in coverage the family was trying to avoid, and it can carry capital gains consequences for the children on top of that. Because eligibility figures and rules change, this is an area to verify against current official sources rather than rely on what a neighbor did years ago.

Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Financial Exploitation

Financial exploitation is the quiet epidemic of elder law. It rarely looks like a stranger’s scam call. More often it is a family member with account access, a new acquaintance who appears during a period of loneliness, or a caregiver who gradually takes over the finances.

Warning signs worth taking seriously include unexplained withdrawals or transfers, sudden changes to a will, deed, or beneficiary designation, a new person accompanying an older adult to the bank, isolation from other family, and unpaid bills despite adequate income.

Utah treats this seriously. As the Utah Department of Health and Human Services explains, Utah Code Section 26B-6-205 requires any person who has reason to believe that a vulnerable adult is being abused, neglected, or exploited to immediately notify Adult Protective Services or the nearest law enforcement office. Reports can be made by telephone Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at 1-800-371-7897, or online 24 hours a day through Utah Adult Protective Services. In an emergency, call 911.

The legal response often runs on two tracks at once. There is the protective track, which may mean reporting, revoking a power of attorney, or seeking a guardianship, and the recovery track, which may mean unwinding transfers or pursuing the person who took the money.

Probate and What Happens After a Death

Elder law does not stop at the funeral. When someone dies, the estate has to be administered, and how much friction that involves depends almost entirely on the planning that came before.

If assets were held in a funded trust or passed by beneficiary designation, administration can be relatively quiet. If they were not, probate is likely. Our guide on how long probate takes if there is no will covers the timeline questions families ask first, and 7 things you must do immediately after someone dies in Utah is a practical starting point in the first days.

Common Elder Law Mistakes Salt Lake Families Make

• Waiting for a diagnosis to start planning. The diagnosis is often the moment the window starts closing, not the moment to begin research.
• Using a form power of attorney with no thought about scope. Too little authority makes it useless. Too much, in the wrong hands, is an invitation to exploitation.
• Creating a trust and never funding it. Assets not retitled are assets not covered.
• Adding a child to a bank account or deed as a shortcut. This exposes the asset to the child’s creditors and divorce, can create gift and Medicaid transfer issues, and can accidentally disinherit siblings.
• Ignoring beneficiary designations. Retirement accounts and life insurance pass by designation and can quietly override a will.
• Naming the wrong person out of birth order or guilt. The right agent is trustworthy, available, and financially competent, not simply the eldest.
• Never revisiting the plan. Deaths, divorces, moves, and law changes all age a plan. The 2024 renumbering of Utah’s advance directive statute is a reminder that the ground shifts.
• Assuming Medicare covers long-term care. It does not function as a custodial long-term care benefit, and this misunderstanding is expensive.

How to Choose a Salt Lake Elder Law Attorney

Elder law rewards judgment more than form-filling, because the documents are only as good as the decisions behind them. Useful questions to ask any attorney you are considering:

• How do you assess capacity, and what happens if you conclude a client lacks it?
• Who is your client if an adult child brings a parent to the meeting, and how do you handle a conflict between them?
• Will you help fund the trust, or does that responsibility land on me?
• How do these documents interact with my beneficiary designations?
• What are the tradeoffs of the approach you are recommending, and what are the alternatives?
• How do you charge, flat fee or hourly, and what is included?

Be cautious of anyone who sells a single product to everyone who walks in, pressures a same-day signature, or bundles legal documents with an annuity or insurance sale. Also be direct about scope. Some matters call for a litigator, a certified specialist, or a dedicated Medicaid practitioner, and a good attorney will tell you when your situation is one of them.

Working With a Salt Lake Elder Law Attorney at Our Firm

Jeremy Eveland is an attorney licensed to practice law in Utah whose practice includes estate planning and the elder law matters that grow out of it: durable powers of attorney, advance health care directives, wills and revocable living trusts, guardianship and conservatorship questions, business and real estate assets held by older clients, and probate and estate administration.

The starting point is usually a conversation about your situation rather than a document order. What assets exist and how are they titled? Who would you trust to act, and are they actually willing and able? Is there a business, a rental property, or a blended family in the picture? Is capacity a live question right now? Those answers determine what you actually need, which is sometimes less than people expect and occasionally more.

Frequently Asked Questions About Elder Law in Salt Lake

What does a Salt Lake elder law attorney do?

A Salt Lake elder law attorney handles the legal issues that come with aging: durable powers of attorney, advance health care directives, wills and trusts, guardianship and conservatorship, long-term care and Medicaid questions, probate, and elder abuse or financial exploitation. The defining feature is the focus on incapacity during life, not only on distributing assets at death.

What is the difference between elder law and estate planning?

Estate planning focuses mainly on what happens to your assets after you die. Elder law includes that, and adds planning for the years when you may be alive but unable to manage your own decisions. That is why powers of attorney, health care directives, and long-term care planning sit at the center of elder law.

What is the difference between guardianship and conservatorship in Utah?

Guardianship generally involves decisions about the person, such as living arrangements and medical care. Conservatorship generally involves decisions about property and finances. Both are addressed in Utah Code Title 75, Chapter 5, Protection of Persons Under Disability and Their Property. A court may appoint the same person to both roles or divide them.

Can my parent still sign a power of attorney after a dementia diagnosis?

Possibly, but it depends on whether they have legal capacity at the time of signing, not on the diagnosis label alone. Capacity can fluctuate, and a diagnosis is not automatically disqualifying. Because this window can close, it is worth addressing quickly rather than waiting. If capacity is already gone, guardianship or conservatorship is generally the remaining path.

What is the Medicaid lookback period?

Federal law at 42 U.S.C. Section 1396p sets a lookback period for asset transfers. For disposals of assets made on or after February 8, 2006, the lookback date is 60 months before the relevant date. Transfers for less than fair market value within that window can trigger a penalty period. Current Utah eligibility details are published by Utah Medicaid.

Does Medicare pay for a nursing home?

Medicare is not designed as a long-term custodial care benefit, which is the source of a great deal of expensive confusion. Families generally look to private funds, long-term care insurance, certain veterans benefits, or Medicaid for extended custodial care. Check current details against official sources, since program rules change.

Should I just add my child to my bank account or deed?

It is a common shortcut and frequently a costly one. Adding a child as a joint owner can expose the asset to that child’s creditors and divorce, create gift and Medicaid transfer complications, and unintentionally disinherit other children, since jointly held property often passes to the surviving owner regardless of what your will says. A properly drafted power of attorney or trust usually accomplishes the goal without those side effects.

How do I report suspected elder abuse in Utah?

Utah Code Section 26B-6-205 requires any person who has reason to believe a vulnerable adult is being abused, neglected, or exploited to immediately notify Adult Protective Services or the nearest law enforcement office. You can report by phone Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, at 1-800-371-7897, or online 24 hours a day through Utah Adult Protective Services. Call 911 in an emergency.

Do I need a trust, or is a will enough?

It depends on what you own, how it is titled, and what you want to happen if you become incapacitated. A will speaks only at death and does not avoid probate. A funded revocable living trust can avoid probate and provide a successor trustee to manage assets during incapacity. Neither is automatically the right answer, and a trust that is never funded provides very little.

When should I contact a Salt Lake elder law attorney?

Earlier than most people do. Good prompts include a new diagnosis, a move toward assisted living, documents more than a few years old or drafted in another state, a bank refusing a power of attorney, signs of financial exploitation, or a blended family with competing expectations. Planning options are broadest before a crisis and narrowest during one.

This article provides general information about elder law in Utah and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws, program rules, and eligibility figures change, and every situation depends on its own facts. For advice about your circumstances, speak with a licensed attorney.