Elder Law News

A few days ago, I overheard a conversation between two women who I think are in their  80’s. Evidently, the husband of one of them has been ill for about a year. It sounded like among other things, he may have diabetes mellitus that has progressively caused deterioration including retinopathy (impaired and blurry vision) (“he can barely see” and “I have to give him his...

The Veterans Administration provides a Pension and Aid and Attendance benefit for wartime veterans or their widows/widowers who have low assets and whose income is below the MAPR after deducting their uncompensated monthly health care expenses. Throughout the country, vast numbers of elders are being cared for by family members. Often those family members have given up their fulltime work...

When assets are placed into a Trust for benefit of someone (called the “beneficiary”), the terms of the Trust provide the guidance for what the Trustee can do or not do. The Trust’s terms may be broad and vague, or they may be quite explicit. More often than not, the Beneficiary is dependent upon the exercise of discretion by the Trustee, and cannot compel a distribution....

Many of our clients are aged and many of our clients are fiduciaries for other people in  roles such as Agent under Power of Attorney, Estate Administrator or Executor. NJ Rev Stat § 46:2B-19 (2013)    In a typical week our clients have to ask banks to provide documents and services that are required to enable the client to file an application for public benefits, pay expenses for an estate,...

What is known as “HIPPA” was enacted by Congress as the Health Insurance Protection and Portability Act of 1996.  42 USC 1320d-6. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1320d-6  It is designed to protect the confidentialiy of a patient’s medical information. The extensive federal regulations are found at 42 USC part 160....

Many of our clients are transitioning from a status of needing a lot of Medicare coverage to a lot of Medicaid coverage in addition to Medicare.  We all expect Medicare to cover acute medical care needs, skilled care and rehabilitation, while Medicaid could cover the cost of custodial care.  But one important issue is transportation.  If you are on Medicaid, transportation to needed medical...

Merely being married does not always create property rights to assets owned by the spouse. The NJ courts were faced with that question in Fox v. Lincoln Financial Group and Scarpone, Appellate Division A-3189-13T4, decided February 24th, 2015 and approved for publication. The decedent, Michael J. Fox, owned a life insurance policy issued by Lincoln Financial group. In 1996, after divorce from...

There’s a common misperception that putting all assets into joint names or “pay on death” format makes for easier estate administration if a person passes away. In fact, an estate needs cash to pay its taxes and bills. An Executor who is named in a Will to handle the administration only has authority to handle the assets that were in “probate format” —...

Palliative care is a specialized team approach to helping a patient to cope with the debilitating symptoms of certain serious complicated illnesses such as parkinsons Disease, heart failure, kidney failure, or COPD. The patient is receiving curative treatment and emergency room care during acute episodes of illness, and can receive dietary support, pain management, grief counselling, massage...

Trusts are prepared with an eye toward longevity. A trust is designed to protect assets for benefit of a  beneficiary, both now and for the future. The Trust will specify who will manage it now (the Trustee) and will typically contain a list of successor trustees who can step in later if necessary, and a mechanism for someone to appoint a successor Trustee if there ever is an unfilled vacancy....