A disability compensation benefit is paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to a veteran who (1) has a service-connected disability (injuries or diseases that happened while on active duty, or were made worse by active military service); and, (2) was discharged under other than dishonorable conditions. There are approximately 23.4 million veterans in.. read more →

Ohio’s First District Court of Appeals has joined other state and federal courts across the country in ruling recently that Ohio improperly imposed a penalty period on a Medicaid applicant whose wife purchased an annuity during the look-back period. The Court held that Ohio’s regulations regarding the purchase of annuities are improperly restrictive, and are.. read more →

A.D., a retired physician, began residing at Bergen Regional Medical Center (Bergen Regional), a nursing home, in October 2004. She was 80 years old at the time. She began receiving Medicaid benefits in late 2004. In 2006, the Bergen County Board of Social Services (Board) discovered two Keogh accounts at Citibank in A.D.’s name valued.. read more →

November 1, 2010 Washington, D.C. VA Begins Paying Benefits for New Agent Orange Claims VA Encourages Affected Vietnam Veterans to File Claims The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun distributing disability benefits to Vietnam Veterans who qualify for compensation under recently liberalized rules for Agent Orange exposure. “The joint efforts of Congress and VA.. read more →

Thomas Saccone is a retired Newark, NJ firefighter. He and his wife’s only son, Anthony, suffers from severe mental disabilities. Tom is a long-standing estate planning client of my law firm. Tom has shown himself to be a devoted husband and father who is relentless in his efforts to plan his estate in order to.. read more →

The two monetary benefits available to disabled veterans are Service-Connected Compensation and Non-Service Connected Pension. Surprising though it may be, however, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) does not consider everyone who ever served in the military to be a “veteran” for benefits purposes. According to 38 U.S.C. §101(2) and 38 C.F.R. §3.1(d), a “veteran”.. read more →

In Mary Elizabeth Walsh-Morales v. Jon D. Morales, Docket No. A0524-09T2 (Appellate Division, November 5, 2010), the state appeals court reiterated the legal standard in New Jersey which must be met before a divorced parent will be permitted to remove a child to another state. Plaintiff, a divorced mother, told defendant, her former husband, that.. read more →

As an elder law attorney, I receive many inquires from potential clients asking me to evaluate a potential lawsuit against a sibling involving a deceased parent’s estate plan. The claim typically seeks to set aside a deceased parent’s will as invalid, the result of undue influence by a sibling. Typically, the potential client seeking a.. read more →

My law firm recently was successful on appeal in overturning the denial of Medicaid eligibility for an incapacitated client residing in a nursing home. In R.C. v. Division or Medical Assistance and Health Services and Hudson County Board of Social Services, OAK DKT. NO. HMA 08047 – 10 (Hudson County, October 22, 2010), R.C., through.. read more →