{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-56-56-3100","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 56, § 56-3100","heading":"Aging Services Division - Duties","body":"A. 1. The Aging Services Division of the Department of Human\n\nServices shall, in accordance with the provisions of this section\n\nand in consultation with area agencies on aging, establish a program\n\nto provide leadership for improving the quality and quantity of\n\nlegal and advocacy assistance as a means of ensuring a comprehensive\n\nelder rights system for Oklahoma’s vulnerable elderly.\n\n2. In carrying out the program established in paragraph 1 of\n\nthis subsection, the Aging Services Division shall coordinate and\n\nprovide assistance to area agencies on aging and other entities in\n\nOklahoma that assist older individuals in:\n\na. understanding the rights of the older individual,\n\nb. exercising choice,\n\nc. benefiting from services and opportunities authorized\n\nby law,\n\nd. maintaining the rights of the older individual and, in\n\nparticular, of the older individual with reduced\n\ncapacity, and\n\ne. resolving disputes.\n\nB. In carrying out the provisions of this section, the Aging\n\nServices Division shall:\n\n1. Establish an Office of Elder Rights and Legal Assistance\n\nServices Development as the focal point for leadership on elder\n\nrights policy review, analysis, and advocacy at the state level,\n\nincluding, but not limited to, such elder rights issues as\n\nguardianship, age discrimination, pension and health benefits,\n\ninsurance, consumer protection, surrogate decision-making,\n\nprotective services, public benefits, and dispute resolution;\n\n2. Designate a person to administer the program, who shall be\n\nknown as the State Legal Services Developer and who shall serve on a\n\nfull-time basis, and other personnel, sufficient to ensure:\n\na. leadership in securing and maintaining legal rights\n\nfor the older individual,\n\nb. capacity for coordinating the provision of legal\n\nassistance,\n\nc. capacity to provide technical assistance, training and\n\nother supportive functions to area agencies on aging,\n\nlegal assistance providers, ombudsmen, and other\n\npersons as appropriate,\n\nd. capacity to promote financial management services for\n\nolder individuals at risk of guardianship,\n\ne. capacity to analyze, comment on, monitor, develop, and\n\npromote federal, state, and local laws, rules and\n\nregulations, and other governmental policies and\n\nactions that pertain to the issues listed in paragraph\n\n1 of this subsection, and\n\nf. capacity to provide such information as necessary to\n\npublic and private agencies, legislators, and other\n\npersons regarding the issues listed in paragraph 1 of\n\nthis subsection;\n\n3. Develop, in conjunction with area agencies on aging and\n\nlegal assistance providers, statewide standards for the delivery of\n\nlegal assistance to older individuals;\n\n4. Provide technical assistance to area agencies on aging and\n\nlegal assistance providers to enhance and monitor the quality and\n\nquantity of legal assistance to older individuals, including\n\ntechnical assistance in developing plans for targeting services to\n\nreach the older individual with greatest economic need and the older\n\nindividual with greatest social need, with particular attention to\n\nlow-income minority individuals;\n\n5. Provide consultation to area aging agencies to ensure\n\ncoordination of their activities with:\n\na. the legal assistance initiatives provided under the\n\nOlder Americans Act,\n\nb. services provided by the Legal Services Corporation,\n\nand\n\nc. services provided under other state or federal\n\nprograms, administered at the state and local level,\n\nthat address the legal assistance needs of older\n\nindividuals;\n\n6. Provide for the education and training of professionals,\n\nvolunteers, and older individuals concerning elder rights, the\n\nrequirements and benefits of specific laws, and methods for\n\nenhancing the coordination of services;\n\n7. Promote and provide, as appropriate, education and training\n\nfor individuals who are or who might become guardians or\n\nrepresentative payees of older individuals, including information\n\non:\neducation and training of professionals,\n\nvolunteers, and older individuals concerning elder rights, the\n\nrequirements and benefits of specific laws, and methods for\n\nenhancing the coordination of services;\n\n7. Promote and provide, as appropriate, education and training\n\nfor individuals who are or who might become guardians or\n\nrepresentative payees of older individuals, including information\n\non:\n\na. the powers and duties of guardians or representative\n\npayees, and\n\nb. alternatives to guardianship;\n\n8. Promote the development of, and provide technical assistance\n\nconcerning:\n\na. pro bono legal assistance programs,\n\nb. state and local bar committees on aging,\n\nc. legal hot lines,\n\nd. alternative dispute resolution,\n\ne. programs and curricula, and\n\nf. other issues related to the rights and benefits of\n\nolder individuals;\n\nin law schools and other institutions of higher education, and\n\npromote other methods to expand access by older individuals to legal\n\nassistance and advocacy and vulnerable elder rights protection\n\nactivities;\n\n9. Provide for periodic assessment of the status of elder\n\nrights in Oklahoma, including analysis of:\n\na. (1) the unmet need for assistance in resolving legal\n\nproblems and benefits-related problems,\n\n(2) methods for expanding advocacy services,\n\n(3) the status of substitute decision-making systems\n\nand services, including, but not limited to,\n\nsystems and services regarding guardianship,\n\nrepresentative payeeship, and advance directives,\n\n(4) access to courts and the justice system, and\n\n(5) the implementation of civil rights and age\n\ndiscrimination laws in Oklahoma, and\n\nb. problems and unmet needs identified in programs\n\nestablished under the Older Americans Act; and\n\n10. For the purpose of identifying vulnerable elder rights\n\nprotection activities provided by the entities under this act and\n\ncoordinating such activities with programs established under the\n\nOlder Americans Act, develop working agreements with:\n\na. state entities, including the state consumer\n\nprotection agency, the court system, the Attorney\n\nGeneral, the state agency responsible for equal\n\nemployment opportunity initiatives, and other state\n\nagencies, and\n\nb. federal entities, including the Social Security\n\nAdministration, the Health Care Financing\n\nAdministration, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs,\n\nand other federal agencies.\n\nC. As used in this section, the term “representative payee”\n\nmeans the person who enters into a contractual relationship with the\n\nUnited States Social Security Administration to receive a social\n\nsecurity recipient’s check and to disburse funds to meet the needs\n\nof the recipient.","path":["OK Code","Title 56"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os56.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"e8dac372a390f4e11a1b41df15894476f3cac37f7255a774344633fccc519990","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-56-56-310","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-56-56-311"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}