For senior citizens, their loved ones, and caregivers, many, many questions can arise. Finding answers can seem overwhelming and very time consuming. In Virginia, there is an information rich 112-page book that covers all aspects of senior living.
For more than three decades the Virginia State Bar has published the Senior Citizens Handbook: Laws & Programs Affecting Senior Citizens in Virginia. The latest edition addresses financial assistance, health care, long-term care, planning for the future, and legal rights and also includes an extensive list of community resources all over the Commonwealth.
The financial section addresses Social Security, pensions, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap-Food Stamps), and federal tax relief.
Health care covers Medicaid, Medicare, and Alzheimer’s.
Long-term care provides information on nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day care, home day care, continuing care communities, housing, and reverse mortgages.
Planning for the future includes divorce and the elderly, real estate transfers, probate and estate administration, funeral services, and Social Security.
Protection of legal rights covers when do you need a lawyer, how to find a lawyer, selecting and working with a lawyer, extensive consumer guides, discrimination, grandparent rights, personal safety and security, elder abuse, and alternative dispute resolution.
The resource guide is a 10-page list of agencies and organizations in local communities throughout the Commonwealth.
The Senior Citizens Handbook can be downloaded for free.
Last published in 2013, as there are updates they are posted.
A printed copy of the Handbook can be requested from the Virginia State Bar by contacting Rodney Coggin at coggin@vsb.org or 804.775.0585.
At this time, similar publications are not provided in Maryland or the District of Columbia.
