The most significant demographic trends in the United States reflect the “greying” of our population. In 1900 3.1 million Americans (4 percent of the population) were over the age of 65. In 1998 the figure increased to 34.4 million. By 2010 the number of Americans over the age of 65 is expected to increase to 40.1 million, almost 13.3 percent of the nation’s total population, and in 2030 that percentage is projected to rise to 20.1 percent. Moreover, the proportion of those over eighty-five years old is increasing even faster. The entrance of the “baby boom” generation into the ranks of the retired will produce what President William Jefferson Clinton has called “one of the central challenges of the coming century.” The need for legal services for the elderly is, of course, great. Although very large numbers of older Americans are impoverished, many others have net worths above the national average. In 1998 approximately 43 percent of family households with a head of household over the age of 65 had incomes in excess of $35,000 annually. These middle- and upper-class individuals require the assistance of lawyers in many issues of traditional family law – premarital agreements, support, custody, visitation – as well as sophisticated and detailed financial planning.