Blog: News & Insights

When a married person requires nursing home care, the spouse often seeks advice on how to preserve assets and minimize his/her exposure to the high cost of care. Often this will require consideration of how the Medicaid program (MLTSS or NJ FamilyCare) can help out. Assets may be transferred to the “community spouse,” and beneficiary designations may be changed. Some assets will be...

If you have an inadequate health insurance plan or you have changed your situation and need new insurance, now’s the time to go out on the exchange and look around. Open enrollment is from November 1st to December 15th. Today’s NY Times has an in-depth discussion of what’s out there. Take a look also at this very recent NY Daily News article. The American health insurance...

This morning I learned that the first Friday in November is international Love Your Lawyer Day. I had no idea. I think it’s really nice that someone thought up that idea. Lawyers do their best to solve their clients’ legal troubles whatever they may be — contract disputes, family disputes, problems caused by incapacity or denials of government benefits, finding remedies for...

Here’s a situation that came up after parents transferred their home to their daughter and reserved a life estate. The value of the life estate vis-à-vis the whole property is a pro rata percentage based on the age of the life estate holder at the time of the transaction in question. The case is called Ocwen Loan Services, LLC vs. Quinn. The transfer took place in 2004. A year later, the...

The owner of a financial account may choose from a variety of designations and forms of ownership for the account. It may be solely-owned; it may be jointly owned with right of survivorship but no independent access during lifetime; it may be “either-or,” it may be “pay on death to …,” it may be “in trust for …” Each of these carries very different legal...

Sale or transfer of a primary residence is often a major consideration in elder care planning. Property may be transferred from an infirm spouse to the “healthy spouse.” Property may be sold because the homeowner has to move into a nursing home or other care facility. Property may be transferred to the “caregiver child” in connection with a Medicaid application. A...

When a person applies for Medicaid to pay for home care or nursing home care, a penalty will be imposed if assets were given away during the preceding five year “look-back” period. There are numerous regulations in federal and state law  concerning “uncompensated transfers,” which are gifts.  A “gift” is distinguished by law from a “payment for goods...

When you create an estate plan, you are selecting people whom you trust to perform various jobs for you and your beneficiaries. You may be selecting an agent to act as your Power of Attorney. You may select a medical decision-maker in case you become mentally incapacitated. You may have a Trust and select the Trustee who will manage the money for the beneficiaries. And you may be selecting an...

Consumers of health care in old age likely consider nursing home care to be part of the continuum of health care that a patient may require. Yet health insurance plans do not pay for nursing home care because it isn’t defined as “treatment.”  Instead, it is classified as long-term care rather than “health care,” because the care is maintaining the individual and...

The years really fly by. I can’t tell you how many times some one has come in to meet with me who signed a Will 25 years before and never updated it. When major changes occur in your life, it’s important to see your lawyer for a “check up” to make sure that your old Plan is still a good Plan for you. Here are samples of situations I have encountered, which required an...