In a recent article published in Inside Jersey magazine, collaborative divorce is described as “the newest method of alternative dispute resolution.” The author explained the collaborative divorce process as follows: Rather than two sides preparing for a knockdown, drag-out fight [in court], the collaborative process is designed to allow spouses to negotiate with each other’s.. read more →
Aging Well is a magazine for professionals involved with the aging and elderly population. Aging Well magazine also maintains a website, here. In the July/August 2009 edition, Aging Well magazine published an article which I wrote entitled “Assessing the Need for Guardianship”. The article attempts to explain the concept of competency or capacity, and the.. read more →
The economic stimulus legislation enacted in February 2009 provides a one-time payment of $250.00 to nearly all Social Security and SSI beneficiaries who were eligible for a benefit payment in any one of the following months: November 2008, December 2008, or January 2009. SSA made these payments in May 2009. I previously blogged about the.. read more →
A. Stepchildren. Care should be taken to identify and address issues of step-children with an estate planning client. Although a client may consider and refer to a step-child as his “child,” for purposes of estate administration, New Jersey’s statutory definition of a “child” includes “any individual, including a natural or adopted child, entitled to take.. read more →
Increasingly, couples are seeking more constructive and less expensive alternatives to litigating their divorce, child custody and support issues in court. One alternative is collaborative divorce (also known as collaborative law, collaborative practice and collaborative family law). In a collaborative divorce, lawyers, mental health professionals and financial specialists work together with the divorcing couple to.. read more →
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the proceeds from a home sale held in an escrow account pending an agreement between a divorcing couple as to their final distribution are countable resources for purposes of determining eligibility under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. In Kelley v. Commissioner of Social Security (3rd… read more →
According to an article in the July 14th edition of the New York Times, a flood of veterans, young and old, are seeking disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for psychological and physical injuries connected to their military service. The backlog of unprocessed claims for those disabilities is now over 400,000, up.. read more →
When advising clients about how to plan for the possibility of needing long-term care, elder law attorneys generally put long-term care insurance (LTCI) at or near the top of the list of planning strategies, provided the clients can afford the coverage and are insurable. But are elder law attorneys walking the walk for themselves and.. read more →
In May of this year, the Internal Revenue Service provided guidance on when a taxpayer may avoid the 10% penalty on IRA distributions before age 59 by claiming to be disabled. In Chief Counsel Advice 200922041, the IRS explained the meaning of “disabled” as it relates to Internal Revenue Code 72(m)(7), the disability exception to.. read more →
Here is updated information on trends in the characteristics and numbers of nursing home residents in the United States. The Division of Health Care Statistics (DHCS), the National Center for Health Statistics, has announced the internet release of Series 13, No 167 of the National Nursing Home Survey (NNHS) Overview Report for the year 2004… read more →
A court of equity in New Jersey is empowered to reform a trust in order to accomplish the settlor’s objectives, even where the terms of the trust are unambiguous. Bogert, The Law of Trusts and Trustees §§991, 994 at Ch. 47; see In re Crichfield Trust, 177 N.J. Super. 258, 261 (Ch. Div. 1980) (“A.. read more →
Here are 10 arguments that can be used effectively when appealing the denial of a Social Security or Supplemental Security Income disability claim by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ): Failure to properly evaluate mental impairment(s). The ALJ may have erred in failing to evaluate the claimant’s mental impairment and resulting functional limitations as required by.. read more →
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has left elderly borrowers vulnerable to abusive lending practices, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The study raises concerns about the adequacy of consumer protections for reverse mortgage borrowers, who are sometimes subjected to misleading marketing and inappropriate cross-selling of other financial.. read more →
According to an article in the July 6th edition of Crain’s Chicago Business, the recession has been a boost for mediation firms as companies try to cut litigation costs. The article listed a number of reasons for the growth of mediation: The trend to mediate more types of disputes. The expansion of mediation to resolve.. read more →
According to a recent study published in the June 2009 edition of the New Media & Society journal entitled doing-the-right-thing-online-a-survey-of-bloggers-beliefs-and-practices, bloggers share a group of ethical principals. This first large-scale survey of blogging ethics identified four underlying ethical principles important to bloggers: truth telling, accountability, minimizing harm and attribution. Truth-telling involves honesty, fairness and completeness.. read more →
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, unemployment among people with disabilities reached its highest rate in June since the government began tracking such data. The rate of unemployment grew to 14.3% in June for people with disabilities. That’s the highest unemployment rate since the government began keeping disability specific employment records. The unemployment rate.. read more →
The following excerpt is taken from a discussion between elderlaw attorneys recently posted on a listserv (or electronic bulletin board) in New Jersey: Q. – Is there a law that mandates that a disabled child maintain his/her eligibility for Medicaid when the child loses eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits as a result of.. read more →
In a landmark opinion that recognizes a new category of lawsuits, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the Federal Nursing Home Reform Amendments (FNHRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1396r et seq, gives residents of county-run nursing homes the right to bring civil rights claims to challenge the quality of their treatment. grammar-v-john-j-kane-regional-centers,.. read more →
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