One of Georgia’s most prominent elder care law firms began on a dare.
Josh Nelson was in college readying for his LSATs, and his mother, Cindy, was worried he wasn’t studying enough.
“He’d always been very bright and had never had to study, and so he wasn’t studying for this either,” Cindy recalled to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I knew he was competitive, and I said, ‘Well, I’ll bet I could beat you on the LSAT.’”
And so, at nearly 50, with a successful executive career in information technology, Cindy sat for the LSAT alongside Josh. She beat him by a point. She registered his humiliation and gave him a rematch and, again, beat him by a point.
Credit: Cindy Nelson
Credit: Cindy Nelson
The mother-and-son duo hauled in impressive scores, and law schools began courting Cindy, who was, at first, reluctant to enroll. But Southern Illinois University offered her a full ride.
“I thought, ‘This is God. I finally need to just get out of the way and follow this path,” she said. “So, I quit my job, and I went off to law school.”
Josh enrolled at Southern Illinois as well, and the duo embarked on their legal educations simultaneously.
Finding a ‘why’
Cindy had a hard time zeroing on in an area of practice at first. She knew she didn’t want to do family or criminal law, but when she attended an elder law clinic on campus, she knew she’d found her “why” for pursuing a legal career.
“I learned that you could work your whole life and do what you think is the right thing — raise your family, save money, and everything’s going along fine. And you think that when you get older, you’re going to have your life savings, and you’re going to have Medicare, and that’s going to take care of everything. But Medicare doesn’t cover everything you need as you age,” she explained. “And so what happens is, many people go broke trying to cover the care that they need.”
It was this realization that propelled Cindy, now 66, to found Nelson Elder Care Law in 2014. The firm now employs five lawyers in three locations — Woodstock, Gainesville and Marietta — and handles issues regarding financial, living situation and health planning. The implications Cindy has seen from lack of planning are nearly endless.
Modes of planning
Medicare, Cindy explained, doesn’t cover things like help with taking medications, personal hygiene, transportation and meal prep. Seniors can be on the hook financially for having a caregiver in the home for a few hours a day or for residential assisted living situations. The Nelson Firm helps clients plan for these instances.
An elder law attorney, Cindy explained, can also help with estate planning through protecting assets like money or real estate. They can facilitate preparation for reception of benefits like those owed to veterans through Medicaid, and they can help minimize family feuds, which can easily pop up after a death. A “clear, comprehensive plan,” Cindy said, can quash arguments over who gets what and keep an estate out of probate court, which means extra expense.
In the process of establishing inheritance, Cindy said, there are also ways to legally protect beneficiaries, such as when a recipient has disability benefits they need to keep or when beneficiaries are underage and need help managing money. Creation of financial and medical power of attorney and of wills are other areas where the Nelson Firm empowers its senior clients by allowing them to ensure their wishes are carried out after they can no longer voice them.
“You get to make these decisions if you make a plan,” Cindy said. “If you don’t, then you’re going to end up in court, and the court’s going to make decisions for you, which might not be the decisions that you wanted.”
A desire to help
Although he initially went into tax law at a separate firm, Josh joined his mother at the Nelson Firm soon into his career. Any remaining LSAT chagrin was likely eliminated by Cindy’s mode of convincing.
“I had to beg him,” she said.
Today, the two are making a transition as Cindy steps back and Josh takes over most day-to-day responsibilities.
The practice took off based on the fact that Cindy joined the profession out of a desire to help, and that’s remained a through line. She gets to know her clients’ histories along the way — she’s helped people from all walks, from World War II veterans to trapeze artists.
“To this day,” Cindy said, “we’re not just selling you legal services. This is not about you buying pieces of paper. This is about educating you about the options you have throughout your life, and I want you to have the best option.”
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