aThe Social Security Administration released the federal benefit rate for the 2013 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits as follows: The benefit amount for an individual SSI recipient in 2013 is $710 per month (an increase from $698/mo. in 2012). The benefit amount for a couple who are both receiving SSI in 2013 is $1,066 per.. read more →
(The 15th Annual Elder and Disability Law Symposium was held on October 3, 2012 at the New Jersey Law Center, in New Brunswick, NJ. This year, as in the past few years, I gave the case law update at the opening plenary session by summarizing the top ten (10) or so elder and disability law.. read more →
After John Lopes was admitted to a nursing home, his wife, Amelia, purchased a irrevocable, nontransferable, single premium annuity for $166,878.99 from The Hartford Life Insurance Company. The annuity contract provided for monthly payments of $2,340.83 over a period of approximately six years. In a letter, the annuity company confirmed that no part of the.. read more →
For the past several years, I have represented Thomas Saccone, a retired Newark, NJ firefighter with a severely disabled adult child named Anthony. Anthony lives with his parents, is unable to work, has been found to be totally disabled by the Social Security Administration, and for many years has received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and.. read more →
Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides a funding source to pay nursing home costs for elderly and disabled persons. The Medicaid program was created under Title XIX of the Social Security Act of 1965, codified in the U.S. Code, Title 42, Section 1396 et seq. New Jersey’s Medicaid regulations are found.. read more →
In a landmark ruling released on Thursday, June 28, 2012, the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Affordable Care Act”), President Obama’s health care overhaul passed in 2010. National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 567 U.S.___ (2012). Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act in order to.. read more →
In a recent precedential decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Judicial Circuit held that laws passed by the State of Pennsylvania designed to regulate special needs trusts (SNT) which placed greater restrictions on the SNTs than were contained in federal law governing SNTs “transgress[ed] federal intent” and were preempted by federal.. read more →
An appeals court in New Jersey held that a nursing home resident’s adult child who signed a nursing home admission agreement as the “Responsible Party” can be sued in his/her individual capacity for monies owed to the facility for services rendered to the resident if the adult child fails to use the resident’s financial resources.. read more →
A Pennsylvania appellate court held that son is liable for his mother’s $93,000 nursing home bill under the state’s filial responsibility law. Health Care & Retirement Corporation of America v. Pittas (Pa. Super.Ct., No. 536 EDA 2011, May 7, 2012). John Pittas’ mother entered a nursing home for rehabilitation following a car crash in September 2007… read more →
A New Jersey appeals court recently ruled that a Medicaid recipient’s wife is not entitled to an increase in her minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance (MMMNA) because she did not demonstrate that her financial duress was caused by exceptional circumstances. K.L. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (N.J. Super. Ct., A.D., No. A-3288-10T1,.. read more →
Below are figures for 2012 that are frequently used in the estate and elder law practice or are of interest to clients. Medicaid Spousal Impoverishment Figures for 2012 The new minimum community spouse resource allowance (CSRA) is $22,728, and the new maximum CSRA is $113,640. The new maximum monthly maintenance needs allowance is $2,841. The minimum monthly maintenance.. read more →
Several weeks ago, on Sunday, November 20th, I was a guest on The Caring Generation, a radio show airing on 630 KHOW-AM, a Talk Radio Station broadcasting from Denver, Colorado, and on the internet. The show is hosted by Pamela D. Wilson, who identified herself as the “Care Navigator.” The Caring Generation is about.. read more →
Federal district court in New Jersey denied a Medicaid applicant’s request for an injunction directing the state to disregard his wife’s purchase of a life estate in their daughter’s home when determining his eligibility for nursing home Medicaid benefits. The Court ruled that issues of fact were in dispute, preventing an injunction from being issued… read more →
A New Jersey appeals court held that a Medicaid applicant who transferred money to her daughter and then a few months later received a life estate in her daughter’s home made a gift to the daughter rather than engage in a bona fide transaction involving the purchase of a life estate, resulting in the imposition.. read more →
In an unpublished, per curiam decision, a New Jersey appeals court ruled that a grant of funds awarded by a state agency which were held by an elderly Medicaid recipient in a bank account for the benefit of her disabled grandson are not countable resources that would affect her Medicaid eligibility. I.M. v. Division of.. read more →
A New Jersey appeals court upheld the imposition of a penalty period on a nursing home resident’s receipt of Medicaid benefits, holding that the resident failed to rebut the presumption that a court-ordered payment made to the resident’s adult children for previously uncompensated services provided under a power of attorney was not a valid payment.. read more →
Same-sex domestic partners are closer to receiving the spousal protections that opposite-sex married couples get when they receive long-term care through Medicaid — that is, the healthy partner soon may be able to keep some of the ill partner’s money and remain in the same-sex partners’ home. In New Jersey like most states, nursing-home residents.. read more →
A recent amendment to Section 369 of the Social Services law expands the list of assets which are considered to be in an individual’s “estate,” against which Medicaid could make a claim for recovery, to also include jointly held property, retained life estates, interests in trusts and any other property in which the individual has.. read more →
(The folowing is part of a discussion, taken from a listserv, or electronic bulletin board, concerning the effect of distributions from special needs trusts to pay home expenses on eligibility for public benefits) Question: Mother and her disabled daughter own their home equally as tenants in common. Daughter receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. As.. read more →
A self-settled special needs trust is exempt from being counted as a “resource,” for purposes of determining eligibility for public benefits, pursuant to section (d)(4)(a) of 42 U.S.C. §1396p. (For this reason, this type of trust is sometimes referred to as a “(d)(4)(a) trust.”) Pursuant to this federal law, as amended on August 10, 1993.. read more →
Here are my selections for the top ten (10) twelve (12) New Jersey elder law / public benefits / Medicaid cases decided in 2010: (1) R.C. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services and Hudson County Board of Social Services, OAK DKT. NO. HMA 08047 – 10 (Hudson County, October 22, 2010): Judge Awards.. 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 →
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 →
Lawyers who regularly deal with elderly and disabled clients like I do often confront the issue of client capacity. Under our professional rules, a lawyer may represent a client who has less than full capacity, although a lawyer is precluded from representing a client who lacks capacity. The issue confronting the lawyer involves properly assessing.. read more →
Categories
- Affordable Care Act
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Arbitration
- Attorney Ethics
- Attorneys Fees
- Beneficiary Designations
- Blog Roundup and Highlights
- Blogs and Blogging
- Care Facilities
- Caregivers
- Cemetery
- Collaborative Family Law
- Conservatorships
- Consumer Fraud
- Contempt
- Contracts
- Defamation
- Developmental Disabilities
- Discovery
- Discrimination Laws
- Doctrine of Probable Intent
- Domestic Violence
- Elder Abuse
- Elder Law
- Elective Share
- End-of-Life Decisions
- Estate Administration
- Estate Litigation
- Estate Planning
- Events
- Family Law
- Fiduciary
- Financial Exploitation of the Elderly
- Funeral
- Future of the Legal Profession
- Geriatric Care Managers
- Governmental or Public Benefit Programs
- Guardianship
- Health Issues
- Housing for the Elderly and Disabled
- In Remembrance
- Insolvent Estates
- Institutional Liens
- Insurance
- Interesting New Cases
- Intestacy
- Law Firm News
- Law Firm Videos
- Law Practice Management / Development
- Lawyers and Lawyering
- Legal Capacity or Competancy
- Legal Malpractice
- Legal Rights of the Disabled
- Liens
- Litigation
- Mediation
- Medicaid Appeals
- Medicaid Applications
- Medicaid Planning
- Annuities
- Care Contracts
- Divorce
- Estate Recovery
- Family Part Non-Dissolution Support Orders
- Gifts
- Life Estates
- Loan repayments
- MMMNA
- Promissory Notes
- Qualified Income Trusts
- Spousal Refusal
- Transfers For Reasons Other Than To Qualify For Medicaid
- Transfers to "Caregiver" Child(ren)
- Transfers to Disabled Adult Children
- Trusts
- Undue Hardship Provision
- Multiple-Party Deposit Account Act
- New Cases
- New Laws
- News Briefs
- Newsletters
- Non-Probate Assets
- Nursing Facility Litigation
- Personal Achievements and Awards
- Personal Injury Lawsuits
- Probate
- Punitive Damages
- Reconsideration
- Retirement Benefits
- Reverse Mortgages
- Section 8 Housing
- Settlement of Litigation
- Social Media
- Special Education
- Special Needs Planning
- Surrogate Decision-Making
- Taxation
- Technology
- Texting
- Top Ten
- Trials
- Trustees
- Uncategorized
- Veterans Benefits
- Web Sites and the Internet
- Webinar
- Writing Intended To Be A Will
Vanarelli & Li, LLC on Social Media