ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND LEGAL NEEDS THE LEGAL NEEDS OF OLDER PEOPLE IN NSW December 2004 ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND LEGAL NEEDS Volume 1 THE LEGAL NEEDS OF OLDER PEOPLE IN NSW Sarah Ellison, Louis Schetzer, Joanna Mullins, Julia Perry, Katrina Wong December 2004 LAW AND JUSTICE FOUNDATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES ISSN 1832-2670 This report is part of the Access to Justice and Legal Needs monograph series published by the Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales. The Foundation seeks to advance the fairness and equity of the justice system, and to improve access to justice, especially for socially and economically disadvantaged people. The series is aimed at researchers, policy-makers, government, the legal community and others interested in legal need and access to law and justice. It is a scholarly, refereed series. Monographs are refereed by at least two appropriate external referees who are independent of the Foundation and any other organisations/authors involved in the publication. Editors: Managing Editor: Geoff Mulherin Principal Editor — this edition: Christine Coumarelos © Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales December 2004 This publication is copyright. It may be reproduced in part or in whole for educational purposes as long as proper credit is given to the Foundation. Any opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation's Board of Governors. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data: The legal needs of older people in NSW. Bibliography. ISBN 0 909136 87 4. 1. Older people - Legal status, laws, etc. - New South Wales. 2. Older people - Services for - New South Wales. 3. Legal Aid - New South Wales. I. Ellison, Sarah. II. Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales. (Series : Access to justice and legal needs ; v. 1). 347.944 Law and Justice Foundation of New South Wales Level 14, 130 Pitt Street Sydney NSW 2000 GPO Box 4264, Sydney NSW 2001 Phone: +61 2 9221 3900 Fax: +61 2 9221 6280 Email: [email protected] <http://www.lawfoundation.net.au> Cover photo: courtesy of Tony Miller, Over the Horizon Publications. Foreword The objects of the Law and Justice Foundation are to contribute to the development of a fair and equitable justice system which addresses the legal needs of the community, and to improve access to justice by the community (in particular, by economically and socially disadvantaged people).1 In 2002 the Foundation commenced the Access to Justice and Legal Needs research program, which aims to examine the ability of disadvantaged people to: ! obtain legal assistance, ! participate effectively in the legal system, ! obtain assistance from non-legal advocacy and support, and ! participate effectively in law reform processes. The main purpose of the program is to provide a rigorous and sustained assessment of the legal and access to justice needs of the community, especially disadvantaged people, which would provide evidence to assist government, community and other organisations develop policy and plan service delivery. The research is a challenging program involving an interconnected set of projects employing a range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. An important feature of the program is the examination of the particular access to justice and legal needs of selected disadvantaged demographic groups. This report is a qualitative study examining the legal needs of older people. Other groups to be examined as part of the program include homeless people and people experiencing a mental illness. These groups have been chosen principally because less is available in the literature concerning their legal needs. 1 Law and Justice Foundation Act 2000 (NSW), s. 5(1). iv The Legal Needs of Older People in NSW Given the ageing of the population over the last twenty years and the likely continuation of this trend in the coming decades, there is a pressing need to consider the particular legal issues confronting older people, their ability to access legal services, and the issues within the legal system which present barriers for them. This report attempts to address this need, within the scope of the research methodology. This report into the legal needs of older people is based on a review of existing literature, consultations with legal and non-legal service providers, academics, and older people themselves, and seeks to canvass many of the particular issues relevant to older people in NSW. While the report ‘stands on its own’, it is also important to consider this report in the context of the relevant data on legal barriers and legal need for older people contained in other quantitative and qualitative components of the access to justice and legal needs program. The following reports, in particular should be considered: ! Public Consultations Report (August 2003) ! Quantitative Legal Needs Survey — Bega Valley (Pilot) (November 2003) ! Data Digest (February 2004) ! The Legal Needs of Homeless People (to be published 2005) ! Quantitative Legal Needs Survey – Six Regions (to be published 2005) ! Legal Needs of People with a Mental Illness (to be published 2005) Geoff Mulherin Director Law and Justice Foundation of NSW December 2004 Contents Foreword ......................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments ...................................................................................... xi Access to Justice and Legal Needs Program: Terms of Reference ........................................................................... xiii Program Aim ............................................................................................. xiii Objectives ................................................................................................. xiii Program Components .....................................................................xiv Executive Summary .................................................................................. xv Background ................................................................................................ xv Aim and methodology .............................................................................. xv Legal Services .......................................................................................... xvi Accommodation related legal issues for older people ..................... xvii Health related legal issues .................................................................... xxii Financial and consumer related legal issues .................................... xxv Discrimination ....................................................................................... xxviii Elder abuse .............................................................................................. xxx Substitute decision-making and end of life issues .......................... xxxii Grandparenting .................................................................................... xxxiv Conclusion ............................................................................................ xxxvi 1. Introduction............................................................................................. 1 Why do older people have particular legal needs? ............................. 2 Are older people disadvantaged? ........................................................... 5 Ethnicity ...................................................................................................... 5 Family status............................................................................................... 6 Geography .................................................................................................. 7 Income ........................................................................................................ 8 Housing and other accommodation ......................................................... 10 Disability and health .................................................................................. 11 Strategies to address the needs of older people ................................ 11 Aim of the present study ......................................................................... 12 Structure of Report .................................................................................. 13 vi The Legal Needs of Older People in NSW 2. Methodology ......................................................................................... 17 Definition ................................................................................................... 17 Background paper ................................................................................... 18 Literature review ...................................................................................... 18 Interviews with service providers, interested stakeholders and academics ............................................................................................... 19 Seeking the views of older people ........................................................ 22 Focus group discussions .......................................................................... 22 Individual submissions and contributions ................................................ 25 Attendance at relevant forums and conferences ............................... 26 Developing a framework for analysis ................................................... 27 3. Legal services .....................................................................................