Not surprisingly, the King County Law Library staff often receives questions about personal independence and freedom of choice. We see young adults who are seeking financial and physical independence from their parents. We see the children of elderly parents who are concerned about their mother or father’s ability to make reasonable financial decisions and live independently. We see people of all ages who want to ensure that their personal desires for medical assistance are respected and followed.
Fortunately, we have a variety of resources within our collection to which to refer them for their research. For questions about the legal rights of minors and emancipation, we rely heavily on Volume 23 of Thomson-West’s Washington Practice series. Chapter 22 — “Legal Status of Minors: Rights and Privileges Based Upon Age” — is useful for researching how Washington defines rights and privileges for children and young adults. It includes discussions about litigation involving minors, the ability of minors to enter into contracts and the criminal liability of minors and their parents. Chapter 23 deals specifically with the statutory process of emancipation and includes information about the petition process and how to challenge a decree of emancipation.
In terms of emancipation, we also will use a guide available on the Internet from a Web site called Washington LawHelp: http://www.washingtonlawhelp.org. Washington LawHelp is sponsored and maintained by the Northwest Justice Project. It includes a guide called “Emancipation of Minors,” which describes in relatively simple terms the steps a minor must follow to obtain a decree of emancipation. The guide also includes sample forms for the petition and the decree.
We also turn to Washington Practice if the question concerns the rights of senior citizens. Volume 26 — “Elder Law and Practice with Forms” — is an excellent place to begin research about elder law. Bar members will find Chapter 1 — “Developing an Effective Elder Law Practice” — useful if they are considering practicing in this area. The volume also includes good introductions to powers of attorney, healthcare directives, guardianship and basic estate planning. Chapter 5 — “Protecting the Rights of Elderly Clients” — is very useful because it provides checklists for topics such as elder abuse, violation of care rights and violation of financial rights. The library also carries a number of other treatises about various aspects of elder law, including the CLE manuals produced by the King County and Washington State bar associations.
For questions relating specifically to healthcare directives and healthcare decisions for special populations, such as the elderly and same-sex couples, we have good basic guides, including Advance Health Care Directives: A Handbook for Professionals, Health Care Law and Ethics in a Nutshell, and Estate Planning for Same-Sex Couples. We also carry more detailed texts, including all of the related CLE manuals produced by the King County and Washington State bar associations, materials from the American Bar Association’s Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly, and specific treatises, such as The Law of Later-life Health Care and Decision Making.
All of the materials mentioned above are shelved in various parts of the library, so when you need to do research in any of these areas and you don’t have a particular title already in mind, please begin by talking to one of our reference librarians. They can save you time and make sure you don’t miss a valuable resource.
