In a sense, it seems arrogant to present a list of “best of” posts when my blog is so new, and I am a novice blogging lawyer . My blog went “live” only about eight months ago, as I posted my first article on April 21, 2008. My blog is part of my website (New Jersey Elder Law Attorney, Estate Planning, Guardianship, Probate, Medicaid, Social Security and Divorce Lawyer), which is also new, going live only one month before my blog, in March 2008. Since I am plainly a beginner, could any post I published in the past year qualify for any “best of” list of posts?

Maybe not. But I managed to achieve some successes in the few months since the website and blog went live. When I started eight months ago, my website had an average of “16” unique visitors each day. Doesn’t sound like much, but I bet that many legal websites have similar statistics. By December 2008, the average number of unique visitors each day to my website and blog grew to “333”. Also, GooglePageRank increased from “0” to “4”. Although harder to measure objectively, I also believe that my writing has improved over the past months of posting articles about the law. I also think that the main reason for the growth in traffic was the (hopefully) interesting and useful content that I published.

In blogging, I strive to follow this advise by Brian Clark: “Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.”

Below, submitted for your review and enjoyment, is a retrospective of the “best” posts published on this blog in 2008 (in random order):

• Financial Exploitation of an Elder May Have Negative Consequences if the Elder Later Applies for Medicaid Benefits: This article grew out of my experiences in cases in which I applied for Medicaid benefits on behalf of frail, elderly nursing home residents who had been financially exploited by caregivers. The state Medicaid agency reached different results in the cases, even though I was unable to provide any information about the stolen assets in any of the cases. I later expanded the article into a paper which I presented when I was a Speaker at the 2008 NAELA Advanced Elder Law Institute.
• Top 10 New Jersey Elder Law Blogs: Actually, I compiled a list of 9 elder law blogs because I could only find 9 blogs in the entire State of New Jersey covering elder law issues. I admit that I shamelessly included my own blog in my “Top 10” list. No surprise there, I guess.
• Owner Of This Weblog Recently Obtained The First Order From A Court In New Jersey Authorizing The Establishment Of A Third Party Special Needs Trust Within The Estate Of A Decedent Who Died Without A Will: Here is the story of how Union County Superior Court Judge John Malone, in the first ruling of its kind in NJ (I think), entered an Order authorizing the Administrator of an intestate estate, i.e., an estate of a decedent who died without a will, to establish a Supplemental Benefits Trust within the intestate estate to hold the intestate share of the decedent’s estate which passed to the decedent’s disabled adult child.
• You Should Prepare For Mediation Like You Prepare For Trial: Trials, as a method of dispute resolution, have been trending downward for years. Since the great majority of cases are resolved before trial during mediation or in settlement negotiations while fewer and fewer cases are tried, this article encourages attorneys to prepare for mediation with the same seriousness and discipline they display in preparing for trial, and gives 10 suggestions on how to do so.
• New Medicaid Planning Strategy Involving A Promissory Note and Gift Held to Be Valid in New Jersey In An Important New Case: In a number of posts in 2008, I was among the first to post about new decisions in administrative law cases that changed public benefits laws in New Jersey. This post discussed the G.L. vs. DMAHS administrative law case in which, in the first published opinion in NJ, the Director of the state Medicaid agency affirmed a “promissory note and gift” strategy as an approved estate planning strategy for Medicaid eligibility. I also posted a case involving assisted living facility Medicaid – CMS Never Ending Penalty Period Rule Upheld in Appeal of Denial of Application for Assisted Living Facility Medicaid in New Jersey; a case involving the effect of the joint ownership of a bank account on Medicaid eligibility – In an important case, a NJ administrative law judge decided that a bank account titled to a Medicaid applicant and another person does not automatically disqualify the applicant for Medicaid; and a case involving the return of gifted assets – Payments to a Nursing Home for Care by an Adult Child for the Benefit of his Parent who was a Medicaid Applicant is Held to Be a Countable Resource in Determining Medicaid Eligibility, among others.
• Top 10 New Jersey Mediation Blogs: Although I bestowed on them the honor of being named “the top 10 mediation blogs in New Jersey”, the truth is that the 10 blogs mentioned in this article were the only New Jersey mediation blogs I found in 2008. However, I think that this is an interesting group of mediation blogs that are worthwhile reading.
• Advice for Claimants for Social Security and SSI Disability Benefits: I was a claims representative with the Social Security Administration before I became an attorney. I adjudicated claims for Social Security and SSI benefits for several years. This post advises claimants on how the agency processes claims for disability benefits, and what to expect during the appeals process in a typical case.
• What is Collaborative Divorce?: If you’re married, try hard to stay married. If you must divorce, try to divorce collaboratively, by resolving all the issues yourselves with the help of specially trained attorneys without going to court. It is better for you, your children and your future. Mediated and collaborated divorces have been recognized as superior to litigated divorces: Wall Street Journal article espoused the benefits of mediated and collaborative divorces over litigated divorces.
• The Goal of Divorce Mediation is a Good Divorce: A “good” divorce achieves three goals: attains a “legal” divorce, an “economic” divorce and an “emotional” divorce.
• Receipt of VA Aid & Attendance benefits will NOT make a resident of an assisted living facility ineligible for Medicaid based on excess income: I love making the law more understandable for and accessible to my readers which includes correcting misconceptions, like this one involving VA Aid & Attendance benefits. I also wrote about VA benefits in this article – VA Aid & Attendance Benefits are not countable as income under SSI, and I discussed an ebook about Veterans Benefits here – Survival Guide for Veterans. Proving that the interest in VA benefits is growing, I again blogged about a listserv discussions on the topic here – Are VA Aid And Attendance Benefits Available For The Spouse Of A Veteran And, If So, How Much Can The Spouse Expect To Receive?
• NJ Supreme Court holds that punitive damages are not ordinarily permitted in an estate litigation or will contest even when the proponent of the will has engaged in egregious behavior resulting in undue influence: I enjoy writing about developments in the law of estate litigation / undue influence / contested guardianships since these types of disputes are growing exponentially in New Jersey. In this post, I wrote about the Supreme Court decision in the Madeleine Stockdale case, a well-known and long-running estate litigation which involved claims of undue influence and elder abuse.
• Susceptibility To Undue Influence Does Not Equal Incapacity: If an elderly family member is found to be susceptible to undue influence, does that fact, in and of itself, mean that he or she is incapacitated and in need of a guardianship? This article explores the law in New Jersey on that issue.
• ELDER MEDIATION: An Opportunity for Professional Geriatric Care Managers: My only guest blogger in 2008, Marcie Cooper, geriatric care manager, wrote an article describing the role of the geriatric care manager in the elder mediation process. Marcie posted another article later in 2008 that was also quite good, entitled Elder Mediation and the Social Work Care Manager.
• Nursing Homes Are Forcing Out Frail And Ill Residents In An Effort To Replace Them With Shorter-Term Residents Likely To Bring More Revenue: In this article, I discussed my experience with “nursing home dumps”, in which nursing homes and assisted living facilities transfer residents to another nursing home or assisted living facility, or send them to a hospital or psychiatric facility for treatment and observation and then refuse to take them back.
• Blogging Lawyers: I wrote this article on the anniversary of my 100^th blog post. In the blog post, I discussed the financial and non-financial reasons for blogging. Aside from the issue of financial rewards, I still believe that “[i]t brings great personal satisfaction to help others understand the law”, and that that fact alone makes the blog worth the effort.
• Federal Court Ruling Protects Assets Of Elderly Nursing Home Resident For His Spouse: In this article, I discussed the federal appellate case of James v. Richman, in which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an annuity, purchased by the institutional spouse’s wife in an amount exceeding the wife’s resource allowance permitted under the Medicaid law, may not be treated by the Pennsylvania’s welfare agency as an available resource in calculating the institutional spouse’s eligibility for Medicaid benefits. This case substantially changed New Jersey’s Medicaid law involving annuities.
• Lawyer Preparation For Mediation: Typically, lawyers aren’t trained in mediation techniques. Here, I focused on the steps that lawyers should take in preparing for mediation. I also wrote about steps to take in Preparing the Client for Mediation.
• Life Settlements: Cash For Your Life Insurance Policy Which Substantially Exceeds The Cash Surrender Value Of The Policy: A life settlement is the sale of a life insurance policy insuring the life of a senior citizen in return for a lump sum of cash. I included this article because it is the only article I’ve read on life settlements posted in a law blog.
• Public Benefits Basics – Social Security and SSI Benefits: Hopefully, readers got some insight into the differences between two very important public benefits for the elderly and disabled: Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.
• MEDICAID PLANNING: NEW STRATEGIES, NEW CASES: This article discusses what emerging case law is demonstrating about Medicaid planning techniques. I also wrote a report on new Medicaid strategies, presented on the emerging techniques at county bar associations and blogged about it – I was a speaker at county bar associations discussing new Medicaid planning strategies.

That ends my “best of 2008″ blog post. Hope you enjoyed it. Thank you, readers, for your continuing interest and support.