Attorneys and paralegals volunteered Jan. 28 to create advance directives documents for seniors in the second round of the project they started in the fall.
The event was the second session for the seniors at Pablo Towers, a HUD retirement community.
The first was soon after Hurricane Matthew in October. Volunteers came out in force and provided legal assistance to 30 seniors.
It was a record number of people helped in a three-hour event, but it didn’t serve all the residents who wanted the assistance.
In the second round, 13 seniors were served for a total of 43 seniors receiving legal assistance at no cost.
Now in its sixth year, the Advance Directives for Seniors Project is presented in three segments.
In the first segment, an attorney speaks in a group information session at the residential facility.
For the recent event at Pablo Towers, Pat Vail and Debbie Lee-Clark were the presenting attorneys.
Residents learned the purpose of advance directive documents: durable power of attorney, designation of health care surrogate, designation of preneed guardian and living will.
Seniors who wanted to have documents created worked with Ellen Hopkins, the service coordinator at Pablo Towers, to schedule a time to meet with an attorney.
Document creation on a Saturday morning is the second segment of the project.
The third segment of the project provides assistance to seniors who were not able to attend the group document creation event but indicated they would like to have the service. Also served post-event may be seniors who want simple wills created.
Attorneys who provided free legal counsel at the event at Pablo Towers were Drew Krieger, Lisa DiFranza, John Germany, Tom White, James Floyd, Debbie Lee-Clark, Vicki Bowers and Tess Arington.
Paralegals and notaries there to assist were Lisa Grosskruger-Edler, Marcelle Gillis, Sophia Davis, Donna Hoffman, Courtney Brown and Margaret Costa.
Florida Coastal School of Law students Christa Hunter, Kassandra Farnsworth and Glaucia Jones helped draft documents.
Seniors leave their appointments with fully executed documents and clear instructions on how and to whom to distribute their copies.
The peace of mind that comes with having advance planning documents in place should not be underestimated.
“I got on the list too late for the first event. Thank you for coming back to serve the rest of us. This really means so much,” said a resident at Pablo Towers,
Transportation and mobility can be barriers for low-income seniors. To eliminate those hurdles by offering the service on-site means that more seniors can benefit from this valuable service.
Sincere appreciation is extended to the volunteers for stepping up for senior citizens who would not otherwise have access to legal assistance.
Attorneys interested in pro bono opportunities in the 4th Judicial Circuit may contact [email protected].