RANCHO BERNARDO, CALIFORNIA – Angelo Parise, who alternates with several other local attorneys, offers free legal advice from 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays at the Rancho Bernardo Senior Services offices in the Bernardo Town Center Plaza Mall. Each client is formally allowed up to 20 minutes of consultation, but the attorneys often give clients more time when needed. While Senior Services focuses on the needs of people 55 or older, a younger person can get assistance as well.
Rancho Bernardo Senior Services is a nonprofit organization founded in 1974. Board President Jo Driscoll said the legal help always has been the most popular among the services offered. Volunteers say that the time slots every Monday are usually filled. In addition to the counseling sessions, the volunteer lawyers also offer to write simple wills for free on the last two Fridays of each month.
People seek legal advice at the center for a wide variety of reasons. Among the issues the lawyers hear about often are problems with building contractors, problems with homeowners associations, trouble paying off debt or collecting debt from others, problems with rental properties, and questions about wills or trusts. Another big issue is fraud, such as scam artists offering to do property reassessments for a fee when the county will do a reassessment for no charge. Parise says that if he and the other volunteers can’t help the clients directly, he gives them a referral to an appropriate professional. If he encounters what looks like a case of elder abuse, he refers the person to the elder abuse unit at the county District Attorney’s Office.
About 100 volunteers provide a wide range of services. In addition to the legal consultations, experts in health services and financial planning also provide counseling. Other services include fee tax preparation, annual flu shot clinics and regular phone calls to shut-ins. The organization maintains referral lists of caregivers, drivers and handymen.
Call Berman & Riedel, LLP today at (858) 350-8855 if you have any questions or concerns regarding the care that an elderly loved one is receiving at a nursing home or other type of elder care facility. Our staff will be more than happy to provide you and your family with an initial free consultation to discuss with you what rights you may have under California and federal law. To learn more about Berman & Riedel, LLP’s nursing home litigation practice, visit the firm’s main website at www.preventelderabuse.com.
