In spite of all of the complaining that lawyers do about their jobs and clients do about their lawyers, law is far from the worst profession one can have, a recent study finds. Of 200 jobs rated by Careercast based on environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress, the 10 most desirable jobs were.. read more →
There were 6 significant cases decided in New Jersey in 2008 in the area of elder law, the majority of which came out of the administrative arena. That is, 5 of the following 6 cases were issued by the Office of Administrative Law. All of the cases involved elderly clients who engaged in Medicaid estate.. read more →
Simply defined, a trust is an agreement between two people — a grantor who donates funds to the trust and a trustee who manages those funds according to the grantor’s wishes, which are laid out in a trust document. The funds in the trust are typically used to assist a person or group, called the.. read more →
A recent question to the Academy of Special Needs Planners (ASNP) members-only Listserv generated a great deal of discussion about when a trustee can or should exercise discretion in approving payments from special needs trust funds for pornographic materials. The member posting the question asked “Does anyone have an argument as to why the trustee.. read more →
The costs of nursing home care can be deducted on federal individual income tax returns as medical expenses under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 7702B because they are considered “qualified long-term care costs”. However, the status of assisted living facility (ALF) costs has not been as clear. To assist readers, below we have summarized an.. read more →
The Social Security Administration, envisaging the near-future prospect of 10,000 baby boomers applying for benefits every day for the next 20 years, has put together a new on-line service that will allow people to get their benefits without ever traveling to a Social Security field office. “We have nearly 80 million baby boomers coming in,”.. read more →
Attached is a one page summary of the tax benefits of tax-qualified long term care insurance for 2009, from the Corporation for Long Term Care Certification. The information is organized by type of taxpayer, so it is a quick reference for individuals or business owners. read more →
In a sense, it seems arrogant to present a list of “best of” posts when my blog is so new, and I am a novice blogging lawyer . My blog went “live” only about eight months ago, as I posted my first article on April 21, 2008. My blog is part of my website (New.. read more →
After receiving complaints from tenants who received letters telling them that they had to vacate foreclosed premises, New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald Chen wrote to three real estate agencies and their attorneys in December 2008 to inform them that it is illegal to evict any tenant in New Jersey just because the landlord owns a.. read more →
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has launched a national rollout of the agency’s Compassionate Allowances initiative, a way to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants whose medical conditions are so severe that their conditions obviously meet the SSA’s standards. “Getting benefits quickly to people with the most severe medical conditions is both the.. read more →
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