I was fortunate enough to be raised in Oakridge during the 1980’s when every day was spent hiking the mountain in my back yard, exploring for treasure, building forts, and riding my bicycle up Salmon Creek river for a cool dip on a hot summer day. 

The late 1980s brought financial hardship to our family when the Spotted owl demanded that we stop chopping down the beautiful old-growth forests. The Federal Government curtailed the timber industry and my father lost his job.  As a result, our family lost our home to foreclosure and, because everyone in town needed a job, work was hard to come by. We took up residence in my grandparent’s home for two years while my father bounced from one part-time job to another, often holding down 3-4 part-time jobs at a time. 

​I grew up being very close to all of my grandparents and many of my great-grandparents. These close associations nurtured in me a fondness for the older generation. I enjoyed listening to the stories of the way things “used to be,” and found strong role models to pattern my life after. However, I was also a first-hand witness of the tragedies of aging. At the age of 19, I gathered with my family around my great-grandmother’s bed as she lay dying from cancer to pray that the Lord would ease her pain and take her quickly to his home. Shortly after that my cousin and I began making regular trips to the memory care home in Thurston, Oregon, to visit another great-grandmother, Pauline, who had Alzheimer’s disease and who had recently lost her husband to the same disease. I remember one conversation with Pauline that has always stuck with me. Pauline had 6 children, all of whom turned out to be wonderful people. I asked her “how did you get so lucky to have such great kids?” Her reply took me by surprise. “I loved my kids so much,” she said, “that it was punishment enough just to know that I was disappointed with them.” This was a statement of fact. No matter what happened to our family, I always knew that we were loved.

I am now a husband and father of three amazing children. Family is the most important part of my life. I want my clients to feel that they are a part of my family. I take time to get to know my clients, their stories, backgrounds, and all of the interesting details. 

Becoming an Elder Law Attorney seemed to be a natural fit for me. I lost my own father to a tragic accident in 2007, and his father died the next year following a massive heart attack. Not knowing the laws regarding incapacity, death, and probate became very real for me.  I watched the emotional and financial toll these tragedies took on our family and felt powerless to provide any assistance. I knew I wanted to do something that would allow me to make a real difference in the lives of my closest family members. Being an Elder Law Attorney has been a huge blessing for my family and for hundreds of other families in the Willamette Valley. I see a lot of life’s tragedies but feel grateful that I am able to offer a helping hand to protect our elders and bring peace to their loved ones. 

I attended Brigham Young University receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature in 2010. Afterward, my wife and I moved back to Oregon in order for me to attend Willamette University College of Law where I graduated with a Juris Doctor degree. Upon passing the Oregon state bar I went to work immediately with an Elder Law firm in Salem, Oregon, practicing for two years in the areas of estate planning, probate, and Medicaid. I then took a job and residence in Lake Oswego with another well known Elder Law practice and continued in the areas of estate planning, probate, trust administration, guardianships, conservatorships, Medicaid and Veterans benefits where I practiced for 2 more years before opening Rose Elder Law LLC.

We regularly assist clients in creating thoughtful estate plans that will protect their families and estates against impoverishment from Medicaid spend-down. In addition, many of our clients are simply planning for the future with trusts, wills, powers of attorney, and advance directives.

Her professional background is in Real Estate, Hospitality and Non-Profit and she’s currently a Municipal Planning Commissioner.

She spends her downtime laughing at her Irish terrier, gardening, reading, volunteering, cooking, and working on various projects. Her current project is the rehab of a vintage travel trailer. She loves to travel and SCUBA dive and tries to combine the two whenever possible.

As a former military spouse, she “speaks acronym” with the best of them and has been certified as an HSA disability dive buddy and volunteered with Wounded Warrior SCUBA programs.

She earned degrees from the University of Oregon and Willamette University College of Law. Her mission in the practice of law is to honor, educate, and protect the rights of her clients through her focus on estate planning, long term care planning, and Medicaid qualification.