Joshua Kelly is an attorney. He joined a local firm when he graduated law school a few years ago, so while he has some experience under his belt, he knows he has a lot to learn.
He recently inherited a new client when one of the firm’s partners retired: the Rogers. The Rogers are quite wealthy, and the firm has managed their wills, prenuptial agreements, and other documentation for years. Before Josh took over, the family matriarch, Judith Roger, was the one who handled everything. Everyone at the firm has told Josh that Judith is extremely intelligent and has incredibly high expectations for everyone around her.
But Josh is establishing his own relationship with the family during a stressful time: Judith is beginning to show signs of decline. She’s struggling to follow conversations about money and the family business, and she routinely forgets to take important medications. Her sons have decided to redistribute some of her unofficial family duties. The relationship with Josh’s law firm has been transferred to Judith’s daughter-in-law, Laura Roger.
Josh and Laura get together for a quick, informal, getting-to-know-you chat. He learns right away that Laura has been assigned the responsibility of managing Judith’s care. Her own parents are in good health, and Judith is the first in that generation on her husband’s side to reach a stage where she needs additional support. As a result, Laura has no experience arranging care for an elderly relative.
Josh also learns that Laura grew up in another state. She married Judith’s eldest son later in life and moved here to be with him. She’s not familiar with the area or any local resources available to her.
When your client isn’t prepared to face the aging process.
Josh has been practicing law long enough to read between the lines, and he suspects right away that Laura didn’t volunteer to take over Judith’s care. He gets the sense that she feels anxious and maybe even a little resentful of her new duties. He assures her that he will help her in any way he can, and they part ways.
Unfortunately, Laura misunderstands what Josh means, and within a few weeks, she’s calling him all the time, for myriad reasons:
She hired a nurses aide to check on Judith every day and make sure she’s taking her medication, but the aide regularly fails to show up, and Laura doesn’t know what to do about it.
At a recent appointment, Judith’s doctor recommended that Judith see an audiologist and a urologist. He gave her referrals for each, but Laura wants to know if there are better options available.
Judith has always been very social and is now complaining about being stuck at home all day. Laura has neither the time nor the interest to drive her around.
Josh is at his wit’s end. He’s growing weary of her requests, none of which he’s qualified to handle. But the Rogers have trusted his firm for years, and he doesn’t want to damage that relationship by telling Laura to stop calling him.
He mentions his frustrations to a fellow attorney, Meghan, who immediately recommends CARESULTANTS. She describes CARESULTANTS as a top-tier elder care service coordinator. “Basically, they handle all the stuff Laura wants you to handle,” she tells Josh. “I refer all my wealthy, comfortable clients to them.”
Josh has nothing to lose, so he calls CARESULTANTS and briefly describes the situation. A CARESULTANT assures him that they can indeed handle all of Laura’s requests—and much, much more. Josh also learns that CARESULTANTS will evolve their service offerings as Judith ages, so Laura isn’t scrambling for a new solution in a few years.
Josh can’t make the call fast enough. Laura is immediately intrigued by his description of CARESULTANTS and promises to schedule her own consultation.
A few weeks go by before Josh realizes Laura hasn’t been calling him. Part of him is grateful for the reprieve, but he’s a little worried. He calls her that afternoon to check-in.
Laura simply can’t stop thanking him for connecting her to CARESULTANTS. She has delegated virtually all of Judith’s needs to them. They fired the flaky nurse's aide and hired a new one who texts Laura a brief update every day. They found the best audiologist and urologist in the city, both of whom Judith will be seeing next month—and a qualified nurse will attend the appointments with her. Judith is seeing her friends on a regular basis with CARESULTANTS handling her transportation.
Laura becomes a bit emotional when she shares how much happier Judith seems. Her own relationship with Judith has improved as well, now that she can simply be her daughter-in-law and not her caretaker. She knows there are surely more challenges down the road, but she’s less worried about them now, since she has her CARESULTANTS team to help her. She repeats, over and over, how grateful she is to Josh for the recommendation.
Josh hangs up the phone feeling a profound sense of relief. He has succeeded in keeping an important client happy and freeing up his time to focus on what he does best. The next day, he asks his new connection at CARESULTANTS to mail him some information for other clients—and buys Meghan lunch as a thank-you.
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For families, CARESULTANTS provides structure, clarity, and peace of mind. For elder and family law attorneys, CARESULTANTS is the solution many of their clients are looking for. If you’re curious about CARESULTANTS and the possibility of referring your clients to us, schedule a brief call to learn more.