Author: Linda Ershow-Levenberg

The recent New Jersey case of Estate of Bertha Polak is another good illustration of differing viewpoints among family members about the terms of intrafamily loans and whether there is an obligation to repay. This case arose during the estate administration process. This is an unpublished decision of the Appellate Division, meaning it isn’t precedential, but it gives the reader a good...

When a minor child loses a parent, typically the surviving parent is the legal guardian of the child. That can leave the parents of the child’s deceased parent in the lurch when it comes to visitation. They want to maintain the relationship they have forged with their grandchild. The New Jersey statute can be found at NJSA 9:7.1. The liberty interest of the surviving parent to raise the...

If you’ve been appointed as the Guardian of the Property (Guardian of the estate) for an incapacitated person, you probably know that you have a lot of authority and power regarding the ward’s assets. While you do have to file an annual accounting in New Jersey as specified in the Judgment appointing Guardian (NJSA 3B:12-42), in general the New Jersey probate court does not...

The Special Needs Trust Fairness Act of 2015 ( S-349) would correct an error in OBRA ’93, which was a major revision to the Medicaid Act that allowed Medicaid applicants or recipients under age 65 to make penalty-free transfers of their assets or income into a first-party Special Needs Trust for their sole benefit. To qualify for the exemption, the Trust had to be established by a...

Governor Chris Christie has vetoed A-4233/ S-2435 , which means that NJ doctors treating Medicaid can’t get paid for counselling their patients on end of life planning. Perhaps he’s pandering to the absurd claims made in the 2008 Presidential election that by paying doctors to assist their patients to understand the treatment alternatives and choices about foregoing treatment at...

The week before this last big snowstorm, bulbs were pushing up shoots in my garden because it had been rainy and warm. I associate my mother with flowers. Today would have been her 87th birthday. I remember her standing in her backyard garden in shorts and a worn out t-shirt when she was 74, wearing her yellow gardening clogs that looked like Dutch “wooden shoes,” spade in hand and...

Recently I got a call from the child of a client of mine who had just recently passed away. The child was panicky because they could not locate Mom’s Last Will and Testament. Mind you, this particular Mom was a very organized person. Bills were always paid on time; the house was meticulous; papers were looked at, dealt with, and either filed, scanned  or discarded. The Mom had reviewed...

When a minor who has disabilities reaches age 18 and is incapacitated, their parent or custodian will typically file for Guardianship. In some cases, the minor has assets under Court control that are held in a guardianship court account through the county Surrogate. These might be assets that were received through a prior personal injury lawsuit award or settlement, or assets that the  minor...

I’ve been thinking a lot about Power of Attorney issues lately because of a variety of problems my clients have encountered. A power of attorney is a document that reflects a relationship created between one person and another person in which the principal person appoints the other person as their “Agent and attorney-in-fact” with power to carry out different kinds of...

The following case illustrates the necessity to pore through the fine print when making a major investment such as a move into a Continuing Care community. In this case, the individual needed to pursue a lawsuit. Continuing Care Retirement Communities (“CCRC”) in New Jersey are regulated by the NJ Department of Community Affairs (NJDCA). When a person wants to move into such a...