Bernard A. Poskus has practiced law since 1978, with most of his practice being devoted to representation of the elderly, the disabled, and those persons who are otherwise disadvantaged.

Mr. Poskus received his Bachelors degree in 1974 from the University of Notre Dame, and his Juris Doctorate in 1978 from the University of Akron. He began his career with Prairie State Legal Services in Ottawa, Illinois, providing free legal services to poor and elderly persons.

In 1981, he became Managing Attorney for Colorado Rural Legal Services in Grand Junction, Colorado, where, among other things, he began a nursing home advocacy project which brought legal services into nursing facilities for the residents. In 1985, he became Supervising Attorney of the Senior Citizens Law Center of the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver. As Supervising Attorney, he handled several major cases involving public benefits eligibility and the rights of garnishees under Colorado 's garnishment procedure. He supervised several attorneys and paralegals providing legal services to elderly individuals throughout the Metropolitan Denver area, and supervised a special grant program providing legal services to the elderly statewide.

He started his private practice in 1989, and since then, has litigated numerous issues concerning probate and Medicaid law, has lectured frequently on legal issues concerning the elderly and disabled to both professional and lay audiences, and has published several articles regarding these issues.

Mr. Poskus has devoted a substantial amount of time to public service, including having served on Governor Roy Romer's Commission on Life and the Law, the Boards of Directors of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, and Total Longterm Care, Inc. He currently serves as Chairperson of the Public Policy Committee of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. He is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Denver and Colorado Bar Associations, and serves on the Elder Law Committee of the Colorado Bar Association.

In 2005, Mr. Poskus was elected a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.  He was further honored by the National Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association when, during its 21st Annual Public Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., it awarded him its 2009 Maureen Reagan Outstanding Advocate Award for his twenty years of service as an educator and spokesperson.

Areas of Practice

• Elder Law
• Probate
• Estate Planning
• Medicare & Medicaid
• Litigation

Bar Admissions

• Illinois, 1978
• Colorado, 1981
• U.S. District Court District of Colorado, 1982
• U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit, 1984
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1999

Education

• University of Akron School of Law, Akron, Ohio, 1978
  J.D.
  
  
• University of Notre Dame, 1974
  A.B.
  Major: Economics
  
  

Published Works

• Rule of Professional Conduct 1.14 and the Diminished-Capacity Client, 39 Colo. Law. 67, (May, 2010)
• Medicaid Eligibility and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Colorado Bar Association, Trust and Estate Section, Council Notes, Summer 2007
• Medicare Practice: A Primer, 24 Colo. Law. 1789, (August, 1995)
• Estate Planning for Medicaid Long-Term Benefits Part I, 18 Colo. Law. 1935, (October 1989)
• Estate Planning for Medicaid Long-Term Benefits, Part II , 18 Colo. Law. 2109, (November, 1989)
• When You Can't Afford a Nursing Home, Senior Edition, USA, Colorado, February, Vol. XVII, No. 2, 1989
• Analyzing and Proving Subjective Pain for Social Security Disability Purposes, 17 Colo. Law. 475, (March, 1988)
• Planning Ahead Can Ease the Burden of Long Term Care Costs - The Dollars and Cents of Medicaid Eligibility, SEI Special Report, January, 1987

Representative Cases

• Estate of Moring v. Colo. Dept. of Health Care Policy and Financing, 24 P.3d 642 (Colo. App. 2001)
• Keith v. Rizzuto, 212 F.3d 1190 (10th Cir. 2000)
• Schaerrer v. Westman Commission Co., 769 P.2d 1058 (Colorado 1989)
• Obert v. Dept. of Social Services, 766 P.2d 1186 (Colorado 1988)
• Luna v. Bowen, 834 F.2d 161 (10th Cir. 1987)
• Valdez v. City of Ottawa, 434 N.E. 2d 1192 (Ill. App. 1982)

Professional Associations and Memberships

• American College of Trust and Estate Counsel
  Elected as a Fellow 2005
  
  
• Denver Bar Association
  Member
  
  
• Colorado Bar Association
  Member, Committee on Elder Law
  
  
• National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
  Member
  
  
• Governor's Commission on Life and the Law, 1990 - 1995
  Member
  
  
• Total Long Term Care, Inc., 1990 - 2001
  Member, Board of Directors
  
  
• Alzheimer's Association, Rocky Mountain Chapter, 1995 - 2000
  Member, Board of Directors
  
  
• Alzheimer's Association, Rocky Mountain Chapter, 1997 - Present
  Public Policy Chairperson
  
  

Past Employment Positions

• Senior Citizens Law Center, Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver, Supervising Attorney, 1985 - 1989

Birth Information

• December 20, 1952, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America