A Memorandum (or Letter) of Intent communicates and documents your preferences regarding the care of a disabled family member or friend who is the beneficiary of the special needs trust you created. It provides guidelines for those who will become responsible for your disabled family member after you pass away or become so disabled yourself.. read more →
Summary of Presentation: Pensions and Special Needs Trusts Special Needs Trusts (SNTs): Special needs trusts are estate planning devices that are specifically permitted under federal and state Medicaid law, which further New Jersey’s public policy regarding the rights of the disabled. Types of SNTs: Special needs trusts may be “first party” or “self-settled” trusts (“d(4)(a).. read more →
A Special Needs Trust, sometimes called a Supplemental Needs Trust (SNT), is a trust designed to qualify or preserve the trust beneficiary’s eligibility for government benefits based upon financial need, such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). These needs-based programs are often vital for the beneficiary of SNT, who is an individual with a.. read more →
Video of NJ Supreme Court Oral Argument to Give Public Employee the Right to Direct Pension Death Benefit to Special Needs Trust for Disabled Child
Video of Oral Argument before the New Jersey Supreme Court in Thomas Saccone v. Board of Trustees of the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System held on February 4, 2014 in Trenton, NJ. Donald D. Vanarelli, Esq., legal counsel for Thomas Saccone, a retired Newark, NJ fireman with a severely disabled adult child who receives Medicaid.. read more →
On Thursday, February 4, 2014, I, along with amicus counsel, argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of Thomas Saccone, a retired Newark fireman with a disabled adult child named Anthony. Anthony, now 40 years old, has received public benefits based on need, specifically SSI and Medicaid benefits, since he was age 18… read more →
Agenda Posted Outside of the New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday, February 4, 2014
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 →
New Jersey Law Journal Reports on Oral Argument in Supreme Court Special Needs Trust Case: Court Weighs Designating Trusts as Beneficiaries in State Pension Plans
(A news report published in the New Jersey Law Journal on yesterday’s oral argument in the New Jersey Supreme Court is republished in full below.) Court Weighs Designating Trusts as Beneficiaries in State Pension Plans Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal, February 04, 2014 New Jersey’s high court is deciding whether public employees should be.. read more →
On February 4, 2014, Donald Vanarelli, Esq. argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of Thomas Saccone in a case entitled Thomas Saccone v. Board of Trustees of the Police & Firemen’s Retirement System. Legal counsel for four disability rights organizations filed amicus curiae, or friend of the court, briefs on behalf of Mr… 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 →
(Recently, I was the featured speaker at a meeting of the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators. The subject was special needs planning for disabled spouses and/or disabled children in the context of divorce. The brief introduction to the subject given by the moderator follows, which is followed by a portion of the paper I.. 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 →
The Special Needs Trust Fairness Act, recently introduced in the U.S. House and Senate, would permit competent individuals with disabilities to establish their own self-settled special needs trusts. The proposed law should be quickly enacted. Congress legally recognized the use of self-settled Supplemental Needs Trusts (sometimes called Special Needs Trusts) (“SNTs”) in 1993. SNTs allow.. read more →
New Jersey appellate court ruled that the state can reduce a Medicaid recipient’s allocated hours of private duty nursing [PDN] because the care he received from his school district and his mother limited the state’s duty to provide services. M.F v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, (N.J.Sup.Ct.App.Div., No. A-1790-11T2, Aug. 21, 2013). M.F… 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 →
Justice Laura L. Jacobson, a New York trial judge, held that a trustee of a special needs trust breached its fiduciary duty to the trust beneficiary and ordered reimbursement of nearly $180,000 that was misspent on private caregivers, cab rides, and medications that could have been obtained from needs-based government sources. Liranzo v. LI Jewish.. read more →
A Federal court held that a special needs trust is not valid because it was created by the parents of the beneficiary while the parents were acting as the beneficiary’s agents under a power of attorney. Draper v. Colvin (U.S. Dist. Ct., D. S.D., No. 12-4091-KES, July 10, 2013). Stephany Draper suffered a traumatic brain injury.. read more →
The following post contains a summary of the noteworthy trust cases decided by New Jersey courts in the past year and a half, in chronological order. I also included links to the articles about the cases posted on this blog. (1) Pfeifer v. Langone, 2012 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 429 (App. Div. Feb. 29, 2012)… read more →
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has revised its Program Operations Manual System (POMS) to allow first-party trusts to pay for travel expenses incurred by non-beneficiaries in limited cases. In addition, the revised POMS clarifies the rule that payment of some administrative expenses upon early termination of the trust or otherwise, including trustee fees, will not.. read more →
Presentation on the Impact of Elder Law Issues on Divorce Mediation
On Saturday, April 27, 2013, I presented a session on the impact of elder law issues on divorce mediation at the 2013 Annual Divorce Mediation Seminar by the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators. The topics covered in my session included Social Security, including retirement, disability and survivors benefits, Supplemental Security Income benefits, Medicare, Medicaid,.. read more →
Recently, the New Jersey Supreme Court granted a Petition for Certification I filed asking the Court to review a decision of the appellate division denying a request by my client, a retired fireman, to designate as beneficiary of his public pension death benefits a special needs trust he established in his Last Will and Testament. This.. read more →
The New Jersey Supreme Court has directed that the Court’s function in construing a decedent’s will is “to ascertain and give effect to the ‘probable intention of the testator.’” Fidelity Union Trust Co. v. Robert, 36 N.J. 561, 564 (1962) (further citations omitted). This function applies to the enforcement of the testator’s intent regarding testamentary.. read more →
A California appeals court ruled that a trial court inappropriately awarded trustee fees to the successor trustee of a special needs trust despite clear language in the trust prohibiting a successor trustee from receiving a fee. As a result, the trustee did not receive any of his fees that had totaled over six figures. Thorpe v… read more →
The New Jersey Hospital Care Payment Assistance Program, commonly called “Charity Care,” is a state program for New Jersey residents with low income and resources who have no health insurance and are not eligible for programs like Medicaid and NJ FamilyCare. There are many people in New Jersey who have no insurance or health benefits.. read more →
The parties in this case had a brief relationship which resulted in the birth of a daughter. Several months prior to the child’s birth, defendant/father, Marcos Cozze, Jr., was in a devastating motor vehicle accident which resulted in permanent brain damage. A lawsuit was filed on defendant’s behalf. More than three (3) years later, a.. read more →
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