In this case, a New Jersey appeals court held that a disabled New Jersey resident eligible for Personal Care Assistance (PCA) services since 2009 was no longer eligible for PCA services under the Medicaid requirements. J.R. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, Docket No. A-0648-14T3 (App. Div.,  April 18, 2016 J.R. was diagnosed.. read more →

A trial court ruled that the plaintiff, who brought but ultimately withdrew the complaint in a contested guardianship case, must pay the legal fees of both the alleged incapacitated person and the court-appointed evaluator.  Matter of Madeline H., 31441-I-2015 This contested New York guardianship case was settled after extensive conferences pursuant to a stipulation of.. read more →

Below, in chronological order, is the annual roundup of the top 10 national elder law decisions for the year just ended, as measured by the number of “unique page views” of case summaries on the ElderLawAnswers website. Florida’s High Court Bars Non-Lawyers From Engaging in Medicaid Planning Florida’s Supreme Court ruled that non-lawyers who engage in various.. read more →

In this case, an Ocean County judge ruled that litigants in domestic violence cases who want to introduce evidence contained on their cell phones, such as texts, emails, social media messages, or audio/visual evidence, must first provide such evidence to the court and the adversary in tangible form, such as on a printout or a.. read more →

The decedent, William Anton, was survived by his wife, with whom he was in the midst of divorce proceedings, and by his three children. A few weeks before his death, Mr. Anton, along with his son-in-law Keith, met with an estate attorney. After Mr. Anton told the attorney that he did not know where his.. read more →

The 17th Annual Elder Law Retreat, presented by the New Jersey State Bar Association Elder and Disability Law Section, was held on April 21 – 23, 2015 in Philadelphia, PA. At least two significant events occurred at the Retreat this year. First, I was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing my “advocacy in elder and.. read more →

A federal district court ruled that a public housing authority properly counted distributions from a special needs trust as income in concluding that the beneficiary of the trust was ineligible for a Section 8 housing voucher. DeCambre v. Brookline Housing Authority (D. Mass., No. 14-13425-WGY, March 25, 2015) Kimberly DeCambre, a disabled, 59 year old resident.. read more →

A New Jersey appeals court rejected a surviving spouse’s public policy argument to adopt a rule that marriage creates a “presumptive right” to a deceased spouse’s life insurance benefits when someone else was designated as the beneficiary of the policy, holding that the creation of any such presumptive right would have to come from the.. read more →

On December 3rd, I presented at the 72nd Semi-Annual Tax and Estate Planning Forum sponsored by the NJ Institute for Continuing Legal Education. My presentation focused on recent developments in planning for disabled beneficiaries, including my recent victory in the New Jersey Supreme Court in the Thomas Saccone v. Board of Trustees of the Police and.. read more →

New Jersey trial judge ruled that a litigant may not appear at trial in a divorce case through an agent appointed by the litigant in a power of attorney (POA). Marsico v Marsico, Docket No. FM-15-1152-13-N (Chancery Div., Ocean County, Hon. L.R. Jones, J.S.C.) Louis and Beverly Marsico are both in their eighties, and married.. read more →

Although the petitioner in this case, A.G., succeeded in obtaining Medicaid benefits after filing a complaint in federal court (which I’ve blogged about in the past here, here and here), the State of New Jersey recently denied benefits back to the date of the original application after an administrative appeal was filed in the state.. read more →

This is the agenda posted outside the New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday, February 4, 2014 when the Court heard oral argument in Saccone v. Board of Trustees of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System in which the Court will decide whether public employees should be allowed to direct their pensions’ death benefits to special-needs.. read more →

In this case, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted  summary judgment for plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that the State of New York failed to render final decisions following Fair Hearings within the ninety-day period following the filing of Fair Hearing requests as required by federal and state.. read more →

In an interesting case of first impression, the New Jersey Appellate Division held that the sender of a text message can potentially be liable if an accident is caused by texting if the sender of the text knew or had special reason to know that the recipient would view the text while driving and thus.. read more →