Consumer, Health, and Estate Law

This unit examines common consumer-facing legal matters including residential real estate transactions, patient and elder-care rights, estate and end-of-life planning, and basic criminal law concepts. Students will practice analyzing real-world documents and decision-making tools to protect clients’ legal and financial interests; the unit builds on foundational legal concepts from earlier units and readies students for advanced application and advocacy in the final unit.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze the legal steps, roles, and documents involved in residential real estate transactions (listing, agency relationships, purchase agreements, mortgages, and closing) to determine parties’ rights and obligations
• Evaluate patient and elder-care protections, long-term care options, and retirement financing methods to recommend appropriate legal and financial strategies for hypothetical clients
• Apply estate-planning principles by distinguishing wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney, and living wills, and by outlining required procedures and tax considerations for basic estate and funeral planning
• Demonstrate understanding of criminal law fundamentals by summarizing definitions and classifications of crimes, arrest and trial procedures, and the intersection of criminal issues with civil consumer and family matters