WILLS ON WHEELS COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2010

Wills on Wheels is a volunteer committee comprised of paralegals and consulting attorneys who provide low income qualifying adults in the Denver metro area with simple wills, medical directives, and financial powers of attorney.  Wills on Wheels was established by Rocky Mountain Paralegal Association (RMPA) in 1986 for the purpose of providing low-income elderly and disabled adults with simple wills.  We offer opportunities for individuals to make medical and distribution decisions with dignity and respect.

For the year 2010 we received 99 phone calls requesting assistance, information, or presentations. We assisted 29 individuals with estate planning documents from intake to execution.  We’ve been blessed with some real sweethearts and I did one group signing where mother, stepfather, and son all signed together.  Mother was in an apartment, stepfather was in a nursing home, and son lived between the two, but all of them met together at mom’s place. The son brought special star and heart donuts and had drinks, so it was a real party with testators, testatrix, and witnesses!  During our execution in the community room, the cable for the building went out and all the residents rushed down to the lobby to complain.  People were missing their soaps and prospects for Jeopardy didn’t look promising! I believe all was put right in the end and mutiny was averted.  Paralegal Ann Woodley has expertly assisted with several document executions and together we tag-teamed with 8 residents at one session at Francis Heights.  Following that, I snagged a new prospect who was just observing to serve as a witness in another resident’s apartment.  He said, “Nobody ever asked me to do anything like that before!”  He was a good sport and balanced a clip board on his knees while witnessing documents for our disabled client.  I told him he deserved extra brownie points for that one when his documents are ready!

Wills on Wheels conducted three presentations on wills and medical directives in 2010: Hirschfield Towers in Denver on 6/15/10 for 47 attendees; Sakura Square in Denver on 8/16/10 for 22 attendees; and Westgate Apartments in Denver on 8/28/10 for 8 attendees.  The largest group presentation was especially challenging because my part was after a heated residence board meeting and before a free sub sandwich supper provided by the managers, so questions were few!

Our volunteers gave over 88 hours of pro bono time in 2010, not including miscellaneous phone contacts. This committee offers several involvement options:

--phone intake and interviews with interested clients;

--document drafting with simple templates and Bradford Publishing forms;

--witnessing and assisting with in home document executions; and

--educational presentations

If you are interested in being involved in this rewarding pro bono opportunity and love making life easier for the deserving elderly among us, contact Beth Wilkins at 303-299-9484, beth@harrisfamilylaw.com. 

Chair: Beth Wilkins