Special Needs News

The Supreme Court of New Jersey recently adopted a new standardized Judgment of Incapacity for Guardianship cases, to be used by the probate courts throughout the state. It’s called the Revised Model Judgment. The Judgment is the final court order signed by the Judge which generally appoints the Guardian of Person and Property and places an array of obligations and limitations on the...

If you receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits and you are the beneficiary of a Special Needs Trust (“SNT”) or a Supplemental Needs or Supplemental Benefits (Third Party) Trust, your Trustee must be careful in the management of the Trust to preserve your benefits. The Trust cannot be used to pay for shelter or food. It is designed to pay for supplemental or...

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are both federal programs providing income to people who are unable to work due to disability. The medical standard is the same: ” inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which...

The Social Security Administration has issued guidance concerning same-sex couples who were married in one state but now reside in a state where same-sex marriage isn’t recognized. Under the Social Security Act, marriage is defined by the state law of the state where the applicant resides: “To decide your relationship as the insured’s wife or husband we look to the laws of...

There is a veterinarian whose practice is next door to my office. He came over today to tell me that he is looking for a family to adopt a  3 year old Tennessee Tree Walker Hound. The dog’s name is Flint, and he reportedly lived for three years with a family who had a child with special needs. According to Dr. Orange, Flint is housebroken and well-adjusted, and has a very mild...

Veterans Compensation pays a monthly stipend based on the severity of a service-connected disability. The recipient may not be totally disabled or unemployable. Social Security Disability insurance, on the other hand, is available to a person who is not engaged in Substantial Gainful Activity (“SGA”) and cannot perform SGA due to a severe, medically-determinable impairment that has...

“Mary” was a vivacious young woman who lived in the family homestead in “The Port” in Elizabeth, east of the Turnpike. She was raised by her mother in the house they shared with several of Mary’s unmarried aunts and uncles. They all retired when the SInger Sewing machine factory closed down. Mary had worked there as well after she graduated high school. She had no...

Sometimes a guardianship must be put in place when a young person reaches adulthood and has severe disabilities that impede their capability to manage their financial or personal affairs. Sometimes a capable adult who never signed any Power of Attorney suffers a severe and traumatic brain injury, and a guardianship is urgently needed to ensure financial protection or arrange for necessary...

The NJ Guardianship statutes and court rules give examples of areas of decision-making that can be excluded from the guardian’s control and reserved to the person under guardianship. A case called Matter of M.R., 135 N.J. 155, 638 A.2d 1274 (NJ 1994) discussed the idea that a person under guardianship may still have the capacity to make certain decisions such as with whom she wanted to...

When a petition for guardianship is filed in NJ, the examining physicians, the court-appointed attorney for the alleged incapacitated person, and the Court are required to consider whether the person lacks the capacity “to care for himself” and to “manage his affairs” in some or all domains. See N.J.S.A. 3B:12-24.1b (the statute) and N.J. R. 4:86-2(b) and 4:86-4(b)...