The Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act allows people with disabilities who became disabled before they turned 26 to set aside up to $15,000 per year in tax-free savings accounts without affecting his or her eligibility for government benefits like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This money can come from the disabled individual.. read more →
For additional information concerning special needs trusts and disability planning, visit: NJ Special Needs Trusts and Disability Planning read more →
Recently, the Social Security Administration (SSA) published Transmittal No. 74, revising Part 05 of SSA’s Program Operations Manual System (POMS) covering Resource Exclusions in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program pertaining to Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Accounts. In the introduction to the new ABLE POMS, SSA said: Background This transmittal includes the current published guidance.. read more →
A New Jersey appeals court vacated an order approving a settlement and placing it in a special needs trust (SNT), ruling that there was no “meeting of the minds” between the parties. V.M. v. Jersey Shore University Medical Center, (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div., A-0781-16T1, Nov. 3, 2017). LaTanya Murphy and her adult son V.M… read more →
For additional information concerning special needs trusts and disability planning, visit: NJ Special Needs Trusts and Disability Planning read more →
Our law firm has created a number of Legal Guides for our clients and website guests to provide a better understanding of important and oftentimes complex legal subjects. The Legal Guides are offered free of charge. One of the Legal Guides available to the public discusses Special Needs Trusts and Special Needs Planning. Parents of children.. read more →
Upcoming Presentation on Special Needs Planning and Special Needs Trusts for Community Access Unlimited
Donald D. Vanarelli, Esq. (http://VanarelliLaw.com/) will provide an overview of the use of Special Needs Trusts (SNTs) by disabled persons so as to prevent an applicant’s financial assets and income from impacting eligibility for needs-based public benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, services from the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD), Section 8 Housing and.. read more →
I came across the 2018 version of a Social Security Administration (SSA) publication below. Not only has the agency updated the publication to include Special Needs Trusts, but SSA added information about Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts as well. And the agency included hyperlinks to other helpful information. This may assist applicants with.. read more →
Donald D. Vanarelli, Esq. (http://VanarelliLaw.com/) will facilitate a discussion at the upcoming “Unprogram” presented by the New Jersey Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys on April 25, 2018 at the Wyndham Hotel in the Philadelphia Historic District, 400 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA. The UnProgram is a forum in which elder law practitioners.. read more →
For additional information concerning guardianships and fiduciary services, visit: NJ Guardianship and Fiduciary Services read more →
Donald D. Vanarelli, Esq. (http://VanarelliLaw.com/) will present at the 20th Annual Elder and Disability Law 2-Day Retreat to be held on April 26-27, 2018 at the Wyndham Hotel in the Philadelphia Historic District, 400 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA by the New Jersey State Bar Association Elder & Disability Law Section and the New Jersey Institute for.. read more →
For additional information concerning NJ elder law and special needs planning visit: NJ Elder Law and Estate Planning Services read more →
For additional information concerning special needs trusts and disability planning, visit: https://vanarellilaw.com/special-needs-disability-planning/ read more →
For additional information concerning New Jersey elder law, visit: NJ Elder Law and Estate Planning Services read more →
Happy Holidays to clients, supporters, friends and readers. Listed below are the ten (10) eleven (11) posts on the Vanarelli Law Office blog with the highest readership in 2017. After each hyperlinked blog post title, the original post date is included. Check out the list to see this year’s highlights. Our sincere thanks for taking.. read more →
For additional information concerning special needs trusts and disability planning, visit: https://vanarellilaw.com/special-needs-disability-planning/ read more →
The amount that people with disabilities can deposit in an ABLE account each year without jeopardizing eligibility for needs-based governmental benefits will rise from the current $14,000 to $15,000 starting in 2018. Under the law, total annual deposits to ABLE accounts are limited to the federal gift tax exclusion limit set by the IRS. The.. read more →
The 19th Annual Elder and Disability Law Symposium was held on November 9, 2017 at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick, NJ. As in past years, I presented the case law update at the opening plenary session. This year I summarized 40 elder and disability law cases decided from September 2016 through August.. read more →
The Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 (the ABLE Act) enables individuals with disabilities to save money in a tax-exempt account (ABLE account) which can use for meeting disability-related needs with no impact on eligibility for public benefits based upon financial need. The law states that ABLE accounts should “supplement, but not supplant”.. read more →
For additional information concerning NJ elder law and special needs planning visit: https://vanarellilaw.com/legal-services/ read more →
New Jersey’s ABLE law (the acronym is short for “Achieving a Better Life Experience”) went into effect a few months ago, in October 2016. Under the new law, New Jersey’s Department of Human Services and the Department of the Treasury are required to establish the ABLE Program pursuant to federal law. Persons who became disabled.. read more →
The Memorandum of Intent is a personal letter drafted by you intended to give your trustees insight and information regarding services, supports and other personal matters affecting the beneficiary of a special needs trust you created. This letter does not convey legally binding directions like those in a trust. Rather, a Memorandum of Intent is.. read more →
Many attorneys create trusts, and some even create special needs trusts, often using pre-written templates. So why, you may ask, do you really need an attorney whose practice focuses on special needs planning? It is important that special needs trusts not be unnecessarily inflexible and generic, which is what can happen with a “one size.. read more →
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