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

2. Overview
AARP Texas and Texas Appleseed released a set of Texas-specific Managing Someone Else’s Money guides in March 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

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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. The Partnership and the Players
MSEM Texas Advisory Committee

7. 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

8. 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!

9. Initial Project Timeline

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

14. Contacts for more information
Bob Jackson, AARP Texas State Director at
Judge Christine Butts, Harris County Probate Court at
Tim Morstad, AARP Texas Associate State Director for Advocacy at or;
Diana Noel, AARP Senior Legislative Representative at