The New Jersey Long Term Care Ombudsman (NJLTCO) is part of a national advocacy program, authorized by the federal Older American’s Act. The NJLTCO advocates for residents of long-term care facilities by investigating and resolving complaints made by or on behalf of those residents. Examples of the types of complaints commonly investigated by the NJLTCO:.. read more →
Court Dismisses Daughter’s Lawsuit Against Mother’s Estate Lawyer
Before she died, Dorothy Dreher (“Dorothy”) had her attorney prepare a power of attorney naming her son David as her agent. Dorothy later had that same attorney prepare a Last Will and Testament, which favored her son David over her daughter Rebecca. Rebecca became concerned about David’s actions under Dorothy’s power of attorney, and had.. read more →
Top Ten Most Popular Blog Posts on the VanarelliLaw Website in 2021
Listed below are the top ten (10) posts on the Vanarelli Law Office blog and website articles with the highest readership in 2021, as measured by the number of “unique page views” of each blog post. The title of each article is hyperlinked to the original posting on the blog so that each article is.. read more →
Ralph Sandor died on January 20, 2018, at the age of 107. The Court appointed an Administrator Pendente Lite of the decedent’s estate (the “Administrator”). The Administrator filed an action seeking to set-aside gifts made by decedent’s grand-nephew, Anthony Russo, Jr. (“Russo”), by and through a power of attorney. The Administrator alleged that the transfers.. read more →
New Jersey appeals court affirmed denial of Medicaid application for failure to verify recurring bank transactions on applicant’s bank statements even though the transactions may have been part of a scam. G.M. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (N.J. Super. Ct., App. Div., No. A-0433-19, June 16, 2021). G.M. was eighty-three years old, suffered.. read more →
Guardianships and Medicaid Planning – Video 1 On June 15, 2021, I participated in the 2021 Elder Law College given by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education via ZOOM videoconference webinar. I presented a paper and discussed Medicaid planning in the contest of guardianships in New Jersey. Medicaid planning involves the strategic transfer.. read more →
This video series is a must-see for New Jersey residents with questions concerning nursing home law and resident rights. This promotional video for the Nursing Home Resident Rights Video Series was presented by noted Certified Elder Law Attorney, Donald D. Vanarelli, Esq., as part of The Medical Side of Elder Law Lecture Series. The Medical.. read more →
Following their father’s death and the appointment of Brandon Marrazzo (“Brandon”) as executor of the estate, Brandon’s brother Todd Marrazzo (“Todd”) filed a caveat against probate of the will. The brothers litigated the estate case, and eventually executed a consent order resolving their issues. One provision of the consent order permitted Todd the option to.. read more →
The decedent was killed in a motor vehicle accident. After his death, his father was appointed as personal representative of his estate, to administer the non-probate estate and to prosecute a wrongful death action. Plaintiff was the biological mother of the decedent’s two sons. She never married the decedent, and she raised the children on.. read more →
Rita Stein, on behalf of herself and as executrix of the estate of her deceased husband Milton Stein, filed a lawsuit in federal court against the County of Nassau, the Nassau County Police Department, and four emergency responders. Rita claimed that the emergency responders violated her and her husband’s rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth.. 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 →
Most of the cases discussed on this blog (and, I suspect, on most blogs which spotlight developments in the law) focus principally on decisions issued by the higher-level courts, the appellate courts and the supreme court of the state. However, the majority of court decisions in New Jersey and other states are issued by trial.. read more →
Like it has in each of the past six years, the New Jersey Law Journal again published its annual Legal Almanac this year. The Legal Almanac attempts to sum up the condition of the state’s legal profession each year. This year, the Law Journal described the state of New Jersey’s legal profession in four words:.. read more →
Earlier this week I was a participant on a panel held at the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Annual Meeting in Atlantic City, NJ. The other panelists were Linda Ershow-Levenberg, Esq. and Brenda McElnea, Esq., both formerly Chairs of the Elder Law Section of the State Bar Association. The topic was “Representing Clients With Diminished.. read more →
A Union County judge has ordered life support resumed for a patient who has been in a vegetative state for 14 months, restraining a hospital from taking it upon itself to discontinue or suspend treatment, and rejecting arguments that public health considerations take precedence over the patient’s family’s wishes. Ruben Betancourt has been unconscious since.. read more →
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