Debra Schuster | Saint Louis Estate Lawyer

Debra K. Schuster has practiced Elder and Disability law since 1999, having practiced health law since 1991. Ms. Schuster’s practice focuses on elder law issues, a growing area of law with few experienced practitioners. Ms. Schuster works with and advises social workers, geriatric and care managers, financial planners and accountants, psychiatrists and geriatric physicians about incapacity issues and financial exploitation. Ms. Schuster’s practice focuses on multi-disciplinary collaboration with these professionals to address the complex, myriad age and disability issues her clients face.

Ms. Schuster’s personal experience with her mother and grandfather, both of whom had dementia, has given her insight into the stresses that caregivers and families endure when caring for a loved one with dementia, which led her to become a certified Elder and Adult Mediator. Ms. Schuster assists families with facilitated conversation about difficult end-of-life issues when someone should stop driving, move to assisted living or a skilled nursing facility, delegate financial matters to someone else to high conflict matters involving contested guardianship, financial exploitation and the removal of appointees under Durable Powers of Attorney and trustees.

Ms. Schuster is passionate about volunteering in the community. She is past president of the Breakthrough Coalition, a multidisciplinary group of senior care and disability community providers. She is the past Vice President of Operations for Memory Care Home Solutions, past Board member for Brith Shalom Kneseth Israel, was the Co-chairperson of the BAMSL Elder Law Committee.

Ms. Schuster is the mother of two wonderful sons, one who is an attorney in Boulder, Colorado and the other who is completing a Masters of Engineering in Biomedical Robotics at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her dog Yadi, is working as a touch therapy dog and can be seen every day at work, where he provides support, comfort and dog toys to Ms. Schuster’s clients. Ms. Schuster listens with empathy and seeks to understand the unique circumstances each of her clients is going through to provide them with the representation, advocacy and advice specific to their individual situation.

Position	Organization	Location	Duration
Attorney	Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C.	Saint Louis, MO	Present

School	Degree	Major	Graduation
Saint Louis University School of Law	J.D.	Law School	1991
Washington University	Masters	Health Administration	1987
State University of New York at Buffalo	Bachelors	Physical Anthropology	1985

State / Court	Date
Missouri	1991
Illinois	1992

• Member | National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys National and Missouri Chapters
  Member | The Association of Attorney Mediators
  Member | The Life Care Planning Law Firm Association
  Member | Missouri End-of-Life Coalition
  State Chairperson | ElderLawAnswers

• Ms. Schuster was a finalist as “Best Lawyer of the Year” in 2016 by St. Louis Magazine and is the “Face of Elder Law” in the June 2017 issue of St. Louis Magazine. Since 2014, Ms. Schuster has been the chairperson of an ad hoc committee of the Missouri Bar Association that has authored proposed legislation for the passage of the Designated Healthcare Decisionmaker Act.

• Author of a variety of articles pertaining to incapacity planning, ethical issues when representing elderly clients, eligibility for Medicaid nursing home benefits, long-term care insurance claims and appeals, Life Care Planning and Elder Mediation, including “Mediation- A Holistic, Client-Centered Alternative Approach to End-of-Life Treatment Disputes”, (with co-author, Kim Kirn) Life Care Planning Law Firm Association Newsletter, Spring, 2010
  
  “The Evolving Practice of Elder Law… Life Care Planning” (with co-author, Wesley Coulson), St. Louis Bar Journal, Vol. 56, No. 4, Spring 2010.
  
  “Long-term Care Insurance: How to Interpret Policies and File Claims and Appeals”, The Elder Law Report, Spring, 2016

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