Elder mediation is a relatively new category of mediation, but one that is becoming increasingly common as the population ages and as families struggle with making collegiate decisions about care, support and accommodation. It involves any aspect of dealing with elderly relatives, particularly with regard to their care and well being, when they may no longer be in a position to handle their own affairs.

When the care of an aging relative falls to the next generation, disputes can often arise over who pays for that care, what the appropriate level of care should be, where that care should be delivered, and how family members divide up the responsibilities for care, both financially and practically.

This allows the aging relative to receive appropriate care, and the younger relatives to provide for that in a way that they agree by mediation is acceptable to all family members involved.

Hampshire mediation can assist with:

Disputes between family members and care providers (care homes or hospitals)

  • Disputes between family members over wills involving money and chattels
  • Disputes between family members regarding what care and support is appropriate for an aging relative, and how best that might be provided
  • Disputes between family members regarding how care is delivered to an aging relative within a care facility, in the elderly relative’s own home, at a younger relative’s home, or in a hospital or nursing home
  • Disputes between family members over who is responsible for meeting the cost for care of an elderly relative
  • Disputes between family members over the type of care and treatment offered to an elderly relative concerning issues such as the balance between private treatment and NHS treatment

Another way to use elder mediation is as a form of preventative care for relatives facing the decline of an elderly member.  Things may be acceptable to all parties now, but if the state of health of the older relative is declining and it seems likely that they may need more care than is currently provided, Hampshire Mediation can help family members to come together and plany famil

Caring for an aging relative can bring up many emotional issues for a family, issues which sometimes have been buried for a long time. It is comforting and helpful to have reached agreement about what each family member will do or contribute (before a family gets into that position)  if and when a particular state of affairs is reached. in a concrete way that all relatives can feel  comfortable with, and which includes the hopes and wishes of each participant.

Elder mediation can also overlap with health care mediation in which Hampshire Mediation can assist with negotiations between a family and a health care facility over the care a relative there may, or may not, receive.  This can apply to both short term hospital stays and to longer term residential arrangements made with care facilities.