Elder Law News

Today’s elder of the day has just set the record for oldest person to scale Mount Everest; but watch out, there is an 81-year old Nepalese man scheduled to overtake him tomorrow!  The climber was able to reach the summit despite four heart surgeries and a broken hip!

Today’s paper highlighted a possibly record-breaking gathering of people over 100 years old at a nursing home in Somerset County while also alerting the public to a decrease in funding for senior transportation due to low casino revenues in New Jersey.  So the takeaway today is that New Jerseyans are living longer and definitely feeling the pinch for doing so.  Financial planning is key,...

News has broken that Harper Lee, the author of To Kill A Mockingbird, is suing her agent and others for wrongfully transferring Lee’s rights to himself in order to secure himself “irrevocable” interest in the income derived from her book and to avoid paying legal obligations he owed to his father-in-law’s company for royalties that he allegedly misappropriated, the...

In New York, where Medicaid managed long-term care has been implemented for a while now, they are beginning to see two distinct trends: that the HMO’s are looking to enroll healthier elders in Medicaid, and that these same HMOs were “dumping” sicker, more medically frail Medicaid recipients from their plans, or refusing to assess them.  New Jersey’s Comprehensive Waiver...

It’s all too common for elders and their family members to work with caregivers who are not employed through caregiver agencies who are their fiscal intermediaries.  There may be an arrangement to pay by the day or the hour in cash or check.  The caregiver may have to go home for a while and finds another person to “fill in”.  Then that person leaves and someone else is the...

As the following Washington Post Article documents, Alan Wood, the WWII veteran who helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima, passed away at the age of 90 years old.  The photo, which became the subject of the Iwo Jima Memorial in the Arlington National Cemetery, captured a moment of pain and triumph for a generation of veterans.  Mr. Wood poignantly recalled the events leading up to the raising of...

People in nursing homes need advocates and the New Jersey Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman is looking for a few good vounteers to listen to resident’s concerns and be a voice for resident’s rights with the facilities.  Sometimes the best advocates are people who have been through long-term care issues with their own family members, so consider volunteering today!

The fabulous NY Times “The New Old Age Blog” recently focused on the trend of medical-legal partnerships, where elders attend a health clinic and the doctor spots issues affecting the elder’s health and well-being that could be best addressed by an attorney and makes a referral to a legal clinic not too far away.  Many times, seeing an elder law attorney is not too different...

Wanted to take a moment to say happy 80th birthday to a literary giant and Newark, New Jersey’s own, Phillip Roth!  Many of our clients and their family members (and firm attorneys and/or staff!) have some connection to the literary world that Roth has created, especially the Weequahic section of Newark.  Happy Birthday!!

This week, all eyes are on the Supreme Court as they tackle the issue of gay marriage.  While the outcome of the two cases before the court is anybody’s guess, the issues facing gay couples dealing with long-term care costs are real.  New Jersey has “civil unions” which profess to provide all state-based civil rights for gay couples.  Medicaid is a federal-state partnership,...