What is a Special Needs Trust and How Could Your Child Benefit?
Planning for the future of a child with disabilities involves unique considerations. One essential tool that can provide significant benefits is a special needs trust. This type of trust can ensure that your child has the supplemental financial resources they need without jeopardising their eligibility for means-tested government benefits. In this guide, we will explore what a special needs...
New law sets requirements for home caregiver employment in New Jersey
Home health care is a huge industry in the USA with over 3 million workers in 2022. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that jobs will grow by 22% over the next 8 years. New Jersey has thousands of in-home caregiver employees. Many seniors are trying to “age-in-place” and they hire caregivers to help them with their functional tasks of daily living. On January 12, 2024, New...
Tips for Elders who are Moving in with their Children
The years flash by and one day the family starts talking with their aged parents about moving the parent(s) to live with a child. It’s a good idea to talk about this with an elder law attorney because we can identify many issues to be considered. Here are a few of those issues, with general suggestions. Each person’s situation is unique of course, and this article isn’t...
New Bill introduced to Protect Long-Term Care Residents from Exploitation
State Senator Joseph F. Vitale (D – Middlesex) and Sen. Robert W. Singer (R-Ocean), who are strong advocates for New Jersey’s senior citizens, have co-sponsored a new bill to address problems that keep occurring in certain of New Jersey’s nursing homes. In our elder law practice, we have encountered situations in which financial officers of nursing home corporations...
More on the Camp LeJeune Justice Act of 2022
Many of our clients served in the military between 1953 and 1987. Some of them spent time at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, became very sick, and pursued claims at the Veterans Administration for service-connected compensation over the years. We reported in October that now there is a new avenue for civil lawsuits to be brought to obtain possible compensation. On August 10, 2022, President...
What can a Medicaid Recipient do if they get an Inheritance?
Readers of this blog are well aware that the Medicaid programs have strict income and resource limits. Maintaining eligibility is often vital to the well-being of the individual. This is especially true if the person is in a nursing home facility, because there’s usually no other insurance available to pay for that expensive care. What happens when the Medicaid recipient learns that they...
What’s the Difference between an Assisted Living Facility and a Nursing Home?
An Assisted Living residence (“ALF”) is a facility which is licensed by the Department of Health and Senior Services, and subject to the regulations in N.J.A.C. 8:36, to provide apartment-style housing and congregate dining and to assure that assisted living services are available when needed, to four or more adult persons unrelated to the proprietor. Apartment units offer, at a...
Avoiding the Risk of Medicaid Liens
Individuals who receive Medicaid to pay for nursing home care, assisted living or in-home care must meet stringent financial requirements. The non-excluded or inaccessible resources cannot exceed $2,000 at the time of application, and as of the first day of each successive calendar month, must be below that limit in order to maintain eligibility. What resources are “excluded” or...
Ershow-Levenberg Joins Union County Advisory Board on the Disabled
Did you know that Union County has an Advisory Board on the Disabled that advises County government on issues related to people with disabilities? The Board has eleven members, and Linda Ershow-Levenberg has just been appointed to the Board. Members who receive information from the public about disability-related challenges will present the information to the County Commissioners for...
A Guardianship doesn’t have to go on forever
A Guardian of the Person or Guardian of the Estate is appointed by a Court in a situation where an individual is found to be presently “incapacitated” and unable to manage their affairs regarding financial, residential, medical, occupational and other major decisions. If the individual previously signed a durable general power of attorney or medical power of attorney, there...