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Michael O'N. Barron - St. Louis, MO
8151 Clayton RoadSuite 201 St. Louis, MO 63117
Barron Elder Law, P.C.
St. Louis Elder Law Lawyer
Overview
I am a native of St. Louis and a graduate of St. Louis University High School and St. Louis University. I went to the University of Michigan for my law degree and then spent most of my career working with companies in the propane business helping them with their problems with government price controls...
I am a native of St. Louis and a graduate of St. Louis University High School and St. Louis University. I went to the University of Michigan for my law degree and then spent most of my career working with companies in the propane business helping them with their problems with government price controls...
I am a native of St. Louis and a graduate of St. Louis University High School and St. Louis University. I went to the University of Michigan for my law degree and then spent most of my career working with companies in the propane business helping them with their problems with government price controls. That work ended in the 1990s and, after getting a Master's Degree in Tax from Washington University here in St. Louis, I joined a law firm in St. Louis that worked in the estate and Long Term Care planning fields.
Attorneys who work in the Elder Law field realize that it usually takes some triggering event to motivate a couple to get serious about planning for their family's future and the possibility of Long Term Care needs. Often it takes the unexpected death or disability of a friend to convince a person that it's time to plan.
For me it was the death of my father in an automobile accident. He was 54, in good health, driving home from a golf tournament when a truck pulled over into his lane and he was killed in a head-on collision. My father had not experienced a triggering event in his life and there was no plan for my mother after his death. His life insurance had been cancelled for non-payment of the premium, he was not a saver and, although he was running the family business, he had no ownership interest in the company. My grandmother owned 100% of the company's stock and the company owned my mother and father's home and automobiles. Literally, all my mother owned were the clothes in her closet.
Fortunately, my grandmother was persuaded to deed my mother her home and there was a modest settlement with the truck's insurance company.
But that isn't the end of the story. My grandmother went to pieces after my father's death. He was her only child and she spent the next 17 years in a nursing home using up all the proceeds from the sale of the family business.
Over the years I have blamed myself for not talking to my parents and grandmother about planning. Like many of us I assumed that life would take its usual course. My grandmother would die first leaving everything to my father. When he died, he would leave everything to my mother and she would be taken care of. But life plays tricks on us and my family's experience persuaded me that first I should get my own house in order and now do everything I can to motivate and educate you about planning for your families and the possibility of long term care.
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