The Elderly and Civil Procedure: Service and Default, Capacity Issues, Preserving and Giving Testimony, and Compulsory Physical or Mental Examinations

Abstract

This article discusses the important elder law issues in the context of civil litigation and how many procedural rules affect the elderly directly. The author focuses on four main subject areas that affect the elderly the most: (1) Service and default; (2) Capacity related issues; (3) Preserving and giving testimony; and (4) compulsory physical or mental examinations. Within these four main areas, the author gives several hypotheticals from real court cases and relates them to the law of civil procedure and the first year class. The author ends by giving suggestions to first year professors of civil procedure on how to incorporate these rules in class, giving students an opportunity to better understand the relationship between civil litigation and elder law.

Keywords: Civil Procedure, elderly, disability, first year, incompetence, domicile, legal capacity