Bringing Fiduciary Guides to Your State Welcome. Prepared by Bob Jackson, Diana Noel, and Tim Morstad for NCPJ Fall Conference, November 2017

Overview AARP Texas and Texas Appleseed released a set of Texas-specific Managing Someone Else’s Money guides in March 2017. The guides are tailored to the needs of people in four different fiduciary capacities and one supporter capacity: Agents under a power of attorney Court-appointed guardians Trustees Government fiduciaries (Social Security representative payees and VA fiduciaries) Supporters under a Supported Decision maker Agreement

The Need Many older Texans are experiencing diminished capacity Thousands of Texans are acting as fiduciaries Lack of training, information and oversight for fiduciaries

The Vision Create a series of guides that will help those in the position of managing someone else’s money. Use the production and distribution of the guides to deepen and expand important organizational relationships.

The Context AARP supports family caregivers; 3.35 million in Texas Committed to providing quality, helpful resources Build even stronger working relationships with probate court judges, executives of the state’s judicial system and WINGS stakeholders

The Partnership and the Players MSEM Texas Advisory Committee

Advisory Committee Members included: Review and Oversee Content AARP Probate Judge Legal Services Law School Court Administrator Review and Oversee Content Discussion about emerging issues and new statute on supported decision making Final Approval and Distribution

The Process Get all background from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other related projects Establish Advisory Committee Engage pro bono law firm Get to work!

Initial Project Timeline

The Result Distributed printed sets of guides to state elected officials and 30+ Area Agencies on Aging across Texas. Launched protecttheirmoneytx.org in English and Spanish Expanded distribution with version 2.0 in October 2017

Lessons Learned Identify a strong joint partners Create an advisory committee of influential and knowledgeable individuals in elder law and related areas To the extent possible, step through important considerations early on Work with partners to develop a robust distribution plan

Next Steps Continue the search for new and better ways to get this information into the hands of those in need. Update the guides as needed. AARP will use the network created by this project to identify areas in the law that can be improved.

Contacts for more information Bob Jackson, AARP Texas State Director at bajackson@aarp.org; Judge Christine Butts, Harris County Probate Court at christine.butts@prob.hctx.net Tim Morstad, AARP Texas Associate State Director for Advocacy at tmorstad@aarp.org or; Diana Noel, AARP Senior Legislative Representative at dnoel@aarp.org.