Earlier in December, Congress passed the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014, or the ABLE Act. The ABLE Act provides individuals with special needs and disabilities to own tax-free savings accounts while preserving their needs-based government benefits. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law. Beginning in 2015, the disabled and.. read more →
Plaintiff, D.W., is a 48 year-old woman with Down’s Syndrome and the mental capacity of a 4-year-old. She requires care 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. She resides with her sister who works full-time. D.W. participates in the Personal Preference Program (PPP) administered by the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS)… 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 →
An appeals court in Maryland has upheld the criminal conviction of a daughter who withdrew funds from a joint account with her father, holding that her father did not intend to make a gift when he put his daughter’s name on his bank account. Wagner v. State of Maryland. Marion Wagner was 84 years old,.. read more →
72nd Semi Annual Tax and Estate Planning Forum Presented by the New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education Wed, Dec 3 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM $220.00 General Tuition S12700W5 Location: Renaissance Woodbridge Hotel 515 US Highway 1 South Iselin, NJ (732) 634-3600 Don’t miss out – register today to hear from a virtual “who’s who”.. read more →
As discussed in a prior blog post, a major overhaul of Medicaid will be introduced in New Jersey in the coming months. The new Medicaid program is called Managed Long Term Services and Supports (MLTSS). The MLTSS implementation date has been repeatedly adjourned, and the next date scheduled to put the new program into effect.. read more →
Appearing Above, Left to Right: NAELA Board member Ron Landsman, Esq., CAP, who filed a brief for the Special Needs Alliance and argued the cause before the Court; NAELA member Donald Vanarelli, CELA, CAP, who represented Mr. Saccone and argued before the Court; and NAELA members Robert F. Brogan, CELA, CAP, and Dan Jurkovic, CELA,.. read more →
In the May 30, 2014 Kongtcheu v. Secaucus Healthcare Center decision, the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey denied the defendant nursing home’s motion to dismiss a claim against it brought by nursing home resident Philbert F. Kongtcheu. In Kongtcheu, the pro se nursing home resident brought a variety of claims.. read more →
Decision-making capacity involves four (4) key abilities: the ability to understand information relevant to a decision, to retain the information relevant to the decision, to use the information relevant to the decision as part of the decision-making process and to communicate the decision once it is made. But since decision-making capacity involves mental abilities, how.. read more →
Even after a guardian is appointed for an incapacitated person, our courts will seek to preserve the incapacitated person’s right to self-determination, to the extent possible. This challenging task was addressed by the New Jersey Supreme Court in M.R., 135 N.J. 155 (1994): Unless they endanger themselves or others, competent people ordinarily can choose what.. read more →
(From the website of the New Jersey Judiciary) The following is the Supreme Court’s schedule for oral arguments on Feb. 4, 2014. The issues before the Supreme Court are outlined in the Appellate Division opinion in each case. (The following statements of issues on appeal are prepared by the Office of the Clerk for the.. read more →
Amicus Curiae Granted Permission To Appear Before The Supreme Court Regarding State’s Refusal To Permit Retired Firefighter To Name Special Needs Trust As Beneficiary Of Pension Benefit For His Disabled Child
On March 13, 2013, the highest court of our state granted my Petition for Certification, in which I asked the Supreme Court to consider the case of a retired fireman and his continuing battle to conduct estate planning for the benefit of his severely disabled son. This is the second time the Supreme Court has.. 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 →
A New York judge held that the trustees of a special needs trust have a duty to the disabled beneficiary to inquire into the beneficiary’s condition and to apply trust income to improving it, and that it is not sufficient for the trustees to simply safeguard the assets in the trust. Matter of JP Morgan.. read more →
New Jersey Supreme Court Rules That Order Awarding Child Support To Disabled Child May Be Modified By Establishing Special Needs Trust For Child
In an opinion that breaks sharply with established practice, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that an application by a divorced spouse to pay child support for a disabled child into a special needs trust should be granted where the proponent shows that it is in child’s best interest to do so. This is a.. read more →
A New Jersey appeals court held that the State did not have a duty to inform a woman with special needs who was residing in an out-of-state residential facility that she was eligible for priority placement for services due to a change in regulations. The court also found that the disabled woman was not entitled.. read more →
Continuing Care Retirement Communities (“CCRCs”) are considered “a viable choice for relatively healthy seniors with upper-middle-class or upper-class incomes.” Begley, T. and Barrett, C., Representing the Elderly or Disabled Client, ¶9.03 at 9-10 (Thomson Reuters 2013). As described in a GAO report entitled “Older Americans: Continuing Care Retirement Communities Can Provide Benefits, but Not Without.. read more →
The settlement of Jimmo v. Sebelius, Docket No. 11-cv-17 (D.Vt., January 18, 2011), a nationwide class-action lawsuit, has resulted in a significant change in Medicare coverage rules. Under the settlement, Medicare will scrap a decades-old practice that required beneficiaries to show medical or functional improvement before Medicare would pay for skilled nursing and therapy services… read more →
New veterans are going online to find camaraderie or get their questions answered. Some websites utilized by new veterans follow: Community of Veterans: http://iava.communityofveterans.org Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America: http://iava.org Veterans Aid: http://www.veteranaid.org/ Veterans of Foreign Wars: http://www.vfw.org VFW Post 1: http://www.vfwpost1.org American Legion: http://www.legion.org Department of Veterans Affairs: http://www.va.gov VA Health Care: https://www.va.gov/health-care/.. read more →
Today, most states authorize the use of some form of psychiatric advance directive (PAD). PADs are similar to the more familiar “advance medical directive,” typically used in connection with end-of-life medical decision-making. An “advance medical directive” (also known as a “health care advance directive” or “instruction directive”) is a written statement made by a patient.. 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 →
Last year, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that “the VA’s failure to provide adequate procedures for veterans facing … delays in the delivery of mental health care violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment [of the Constitution].” In addition, the Court found stark evidence.. read more →
In Bond v. Bond, the Appellate Division considered whether a non-custodial parent’s creation of a special needs trust (“SNT”) can justify the elimination of that parent’s obligation to pay child support. Although it concluded that the non-custodial parent “may utilize a special needs trust to take advantage of government programs to lessen the burden on.. 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 →
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