Here are our top 5 most popular posts in January. The original post date, along with a short summary of the content of each post, are included after each hyperlinked title.

Gift Tax Annual Exclusion Amount Unchanged In 2010 – October 31, 2009. The subject of this post was quite simple: The gift tax annual exclusion amount available to taxpayers in 2010 will remain unchanged at $13,000. Period, the end.

New Statutory Short Form Power Of Attorney And New Major Gifts Rider Form Now Available For New York State – August 21, 2009. This has been one of the most popular posts in the past months. Here, I described the new statutory forms in New York: the new New York Power of Attorney form and the new Major Gifts Rider form.  The statutory Major Gifts Rider form is needed to grant an agent under a power of attorney in New York the authority to make gifts. I also made the new forms available for download in the blog post.

Certain “Blue Water” Navy Vietnam Veterans Now Eligible For Agent Orange Presumptive Service-Connected Compensation Benefits – January 23, 2010. This post describes a recent change in VA policy permitting certain “blue water” navy Vietnam veterans with designated diseases to receive compensation benefits and medical care from the VA without having to prove exposure to Agent Orange during their military service.

VA Compensation Claims and the “Medical Nexus” Requirement – April 23, 2009. This post discussed one of the three criteria that a veteran must meet in order to receive service-connected compensation from the Veterans Administration: proof of “medical nexus”, or medical evidence that the current disability and the in-service disease, injury or event are related.

Medicaid Eligibility Denied Based Upon A Home Transfer To A “Caregiver Child” Who Was Employed Full-Time – December 15, 2009. In this post, I summarized the outcome in the administrative case of A.N. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services and Passaic County Board of Social Services, OAL DKT. NO. HNA 05980-07. Here, I represented the Medicaid applicant, A.N., who transferred his home to his son, T.N., a “caregiver child” under the Medicaid rules. Medicaid eligibility was denied based upon what I consider to be an incorrect ruling that the caregiver child T.N., who was employed, had to provide care on a full-time basis in order to meet the “caregiver child” requirements.