According to a survey of the legal need of seniors in Michigan, conducted by the nonprofit Elderlaw of Michigan Inc, discloses that seniors need to learn their legal rights like how to plan their estate and whom to appoint to handle their finances in the event they are unable to do so.

Other issues that also arose in the survey: safety and mobility, especially for low-income older people, who have drastically different legal needs than those who have more resources.

“We needed a better understanding of what the needs were of older adults,” said Kate Birnbryer White, executive director of Elderlaw. “We want to make sure that we’re prepared to meet their needs, that we’re putting our resources in the right places.”

The survey, conducted in December, asked 640 people to discuss everything from whether they have a will to whether they’ve received a hard sell from a door-to-door salesman within the past year. A final report on the survey is expected by Aug. 1.

Less than half of those who responded said they felt they knew their rights when they were in the hospital or receiving Medicare or Medicaid to pay their health care bills.

That’s not a problem for Kathleen Richardson, 58, of Okemos. She’s a registered nurse and her husband, Mark Richardson, is a doctor. She also has inflammatory arthritis and coordinates a support group for others with the disease.

“A lot of people, especially older people, are intimidated by doctors,” she said. “The older generation, I think, they were trained to not question what the doctor did.”

Almost one-third of survey respondents had created a health care power of attorney, which designates someone to make medical decisions on their behalf – but even that is not enough, White said.

“Ideally, we would want the goal of 100 percent of people having those documents available should they become necessary,” she said. “It’s really not just an issue for older adults. Any of us could get hit by a truck tomorrow.”

Estate planning

It’s also important for people to think about how they want their estate used after their deaths, White said. But 53 percent of survey respondents said they didn’t understand probate law, and 37 percent didn’t have a plan for their estate.

Only 2.4 percent of people had designated a financial power of attorney, which designates someone to handle their finances when they are incapacitated. It’s a simple form available at most financial institutions.

“They don’t always have to go to an attorney and draft a big document,” White said.

Besides legal issues, safety and mobility are key for low-income folks over 50, the survey shows.

Feeling of security in their estate plans

“Only 20 percent of our lower-income households said they actually felt safe in their house, which I felt was very shocking,” said Keith Morris, director of legal services for Elderlaw. “Only 17 percent of them said they were able to go where they wanted when they wanted.”

A quarter of low-income seniors said they had problems in meeting their bills, and their overall understanding of legal issues was much lower than survey respondents with higher incomes.

Marion Owen, director of the Tri-County Office on Aging, said that information correlates with her experiences at the agency. It distributes information about legal resources to the people it serves through its programs.

“We try to get at people from different angles, whether they’re with Meals on Wheels or in a senior center,” she said.