Avoiding the Ageing Parent Trap, Second Edition

“An invaluable guide.”
Noel Whittaker, International bestselling author and finance writer

Winner of the Australasian Journal on Ageing (AJA) Book Award.
Informative and insightful, this is the essential family guide to navigating elder care and preparing for ageing parents. This is a book that forces us to confront what most of us avoid - planning for our ageing parents. Our natural inclination is to wait and see what might happen. But when it does happen or starts to unfold, most families are unprepared, and the results can be devastating.

Poor decisions, disputes with siblings and partners and the destruction of relationships can be the aftermath. Author Brian Herd should know, recognised as one of Australia’s leading experts in the areas of elder law, and aged care for over 35 years, he has dealt with the fallout from these failures in families.

Avoiding the Ageing Parent Trap is packed full of practical strategies for dealing with family dynamics and managing financial and legal affairs, the overriding goal, is to forewarn and forearm you about your family’s future.

This book is your go-to resource for:

Information and practical case studies to support families in their legal, financial, and healthcare decision-making.
Easy to read and commonsense advice from a leading elder care lawyer, with hands-on experience and examples to demonstrate what to expect, and even better, how to plan and prepare.
Help navigating the best outcomes for aging parents, from estate planning to Centrelink, residential aged care, wills, and financial pitfalls to avoid.


Brian outlines practical strategies for dealing with family dynamics and avoiding the pitfalls. He recounts numerous hair-raising examples of bad ‘family planning’ and even better, what to expect, and how to plan and prepare.

About the Author
Brian is a passionate lawyer, working in the frontier of elder law, or law relating to older people and their families, involving the new dynamic emerging in families – disputes and dysfunction brought on by ageing parents. An award-winning author, and public speaker Brian is recognised as one of Australia’s leading experts in the areas of elder law, retirement, disability and aged care where he continues to win awards as a leading elder lawyer.  he has been involved in countless family experiences, some which are truly eye-opening. He has many stories and practical advice to share and is a regular columnist and presenter on the topic of planning for ageing.