To close out 2009, here are our top 5 most popular posts in December. The original post date, along with a short summary of the content of each post, are included after each hyperlinked title.

Gift Tax Annual Exclusion Amount Unchanged In 2010 – October 31, 2009. This blog post’s popularly continued throughout the last quarter of 2009: The gift tax annual exclusion amount available to taxpayers in 2010 will remain unchanged at $13,000.

New Statutory Short Form Power Of Attorney And New Major Gifts Rider Form Now Available For New York State – August 21, 2009. This was remains one of the most popular posts in December. In this post, I described the new statutory forms in New York: the new New York Power of Attorney form and the new Major Gifts Rider form, and I made the new forms available for download.

On Remand, NJ Administrative Judge Again Finds That A Retirement Annuity Owned By A Community Spouse Does Not Preclude Medicaid Eligibility – December 5, 2009. This is one of several posts I wrote on the case of E.F. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS), et al., in which an  administrative law judge has repeatedly held that a annuity owned by spouse of a Medicaid applicant is not countable, only to be followed by a reversal by the Director of DMAHS or an agency denial of Medicaid eligibility on a new basis.

House Of Representatives Passes Permanent Estate Tax Act, But The Fate Of The Bill In The Senate Is Uncertain – December 7, 2009. This post describes one proposal to resolve the problem of the one year termination of the federal estate tax scheduled in 2010.

Federal Appeals Court Rules That Annuity Payments Made To The Spouse of A Nursing Home Resident Are Not Countable By Medicaid – November 13, 2009. This post discusses the Weatherbee v. Richman case in which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that the income from an irrevocable, non-transferable, non-assignable, single premium, immediate annuity payable to the spouse of the Medicaid applicant is non-countable under federal law.